[jacamar]

Great loon photos Steven - the first one with the youngster peeking over Mom's back is really unique - How was the fishing?

Thanks Robert - yes, I did venture out in the canoe with both a camera and a fishing rod a few times but the best fishing was from the cottage dock - two 16" Largemouth Bass (released) and one that took my lure. I was hoping the pair of Kingfishers on the lake would be cooperative photo subjects but I couldn't get within a couple of hundred feet of them.

[dadipentak]

Both with K-3, DA*300mm and 1.4x TC

Nice! Which TC?

---------- Post added 07-30-17 at 08:59 AM ----------

By way of illustrating my commentary regarding how I use the F*600/4:

[jacamar]

Nice! Which TC?

Thanks Dave. HD Pentax-DA 1.4x AW

[exposeric]

Something completely different when I had a K5II, a 2 element fluorite telescope optic (Borg 300mm f/4.5) + Takahashi 1.6x barlow (total 480mm, f/7.2). Owls are usually deep in shadows and had to expose at 1/125s on a tripod. Not the sharpest pic of an Eastern Screech Owl but it is representative.
Link to: OWL

Interesting - your setup must be heavy - do you use it mostly for astro or birding?
Best regards
Eric

[Shedking]

It was wet and windy on Cornwall's "Tin Coast" last week, so I packed the full WR rig : K-S2 and 16-85, with the 55-300 PLM in the bottom of the bag, just in case.

Two hours of salt spray later, the sun comes out, as does the local raptor. It's asking a bit much of the 55-300, hand held, in that wind, but I get one shot in thirty to "stick".

But that 55-300 PLM is so dark, I'm up to 2000 ASA.

Back home, I remember I've got a copy of Franzis' Denoise Projects, and never installed it.

The second image is Denoised with all the defaults. Literally two clicks work. There are some spots that will need to be retouched, but I think that is pretty impressive.

Does anyone have any experience with Denoise?

[timw4mail]

Vivitar Series-1 500mm f8 (T-mount):

[aslyfox]

[ K 3 + SMC Pentax-DA L 55-300mm F4-5.8 ED - 1/1250 sec. f/8 300mm ]

File Date

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cropped, clarity adjusted, no other pp

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a larger pollinator

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cropped, clarity adjusted no other pp

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same pollinator - starting its take off

cropped, clarity adjusted and image flipped no other pp

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[jacamar]

Otters are a rare sighting for us - the last one was against the snow on the far side of a lake about 8 years ago. We saw these a couple of weeks ago in Algonquin Park, three of them diving and feeding among the weeds - very lithe but never a clear shot and in harsh sunlight and reflections from the water, vegetation and their coats. Thought you might be interested to see these anyway.





K-3, DA*300mm, Pentax DA 1.4x TC

[aslyfox]

a series

same photo of a bee winding around the flowers, here I caught I as it came around from the back side

File Date

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no crop no pp

File Date

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some crop, clarity pp nothing else

File Date

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maximum crop no pp

K 3 + DA L 55 - 300 mm

[goldenarrow]

Interesting - your setup must be heavy - do you use it mostly for astro or birding?
Best regards
Eric

I don't use it for astro, I have a larger 10 lb., 6 inch mirror scope for that. I think this one is only 3+ lbs. including the camera. The helical + extension tubes + step rings I use are mostly AIR. That does make it somewhat fragile, so in the field I have to be careful not to abuse it. I did a lot more birding just before getting this particular lens and that older setup was 5+ lbs. and awkward. So, I don't have much to show for it (just a few Owl pics). But the older heavy setup did teach me that birding amongst trees, bushes, grass that manual focus was a lot more useful than autofocus. So, in many birding situations, it can get more keepers than an autofocus setup.

LeConte's Sparrow with heavy Celestron 500mm lens:


People complain about Pentax autofocus speed and such but I have found that the center spot focus indicator works just fine with non-SLR lenses. I mention this to Canon users and they knee-jerk ask me, "where's the lens chip???". I say that I don't need one, I use Pentax!!!!

I'll get back to birding eventually and will use the new lighter setup......

[WPRESTO]

Otters are a rare sighting for us - the last one was against the snow on the far side of a lake about 8 years ago. We saw these a couple of weeks ago in Algonquin Park, three of them diving and feeding among the weeds - very lithe but never a clear shot and in harsh sunlight and reflections from the water, vegetation and their coats. Thought you might be interested to see these anywayK-3, DA*300mm, Pentax DA 1.4x TC

We've seen otters a few times while out walking Tralee. One memorable time in winter along a half-frozen river where one came up onto the ice, barking in its ottery way to the other. Of course I did not have a camera along, but capturing anything would have been extremely difficult. Like all mustelids, they have two modes: 1) deeply asleep and hidden; 2) incessantly on the go with manic intensity. Those I've observed rarely stay still long enough to frame an image properly.

[aslyfox]

Otters are a rare sighting for us - the last one was against the snow on the far side of a lake about 8 years ago. We saw these a couple of weeks ago in Algonquin Park, three of them diving and feeding among the weeds - very lithe but never a clear shot and in harsh sunlight and reflections from the water, vegetation and their coats. Thought you might be interested to see these anyway.





K-3, DA*300mm, Pentax DA 1.4x TC

we saw an otter heading upstream in the Yellowstone River just up from the rapids

I had the wrong set up - the K 3 + HD PENTAX-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6 ED DC AW

Focal Length
450.0mm (35mm equivalent: 675mm)

but I did get this photo that I have been able to make presentable.

didn't have a long opportunity to take photos

[normhead]

People complain about Pentax autofocus speed and such but I have found that the center spot focus indicator works just fine with non-SLR lenses. I mention this to Canon users and they knee-jerk ask me, "where's the lens chip???". I say that I don't need one, I use Pentax!!!!

The people complaining about Pentax AF speed are invariably either inexerpeiced or not familiar with modern Pentax equipment. If every time someone muttered something about Pentax single point AF someone said "It's not the camera it's you" it would stop real quick.

[swip]

we saw an otter heading upstream in the Yellowstone River just up from the rapids

I don't think this is an otter. It looks more like a muskrat or similar species.

[aslyfox]

Looks a little chubby for an otter. Muskrat perhaps? It would be easier to tell for sure if we could see the whiskers.

I don't think this is an otter. It looks more like a muskrat or similar species.

no offense

but I was there and it was an otter, I know the difference and I could see the otter tail clearly, none of the others there including a ranger disputed it

my inability to catch a better photograph does not alter that fact