[luftfluss]

Sunrise this morning, I am interested in the camera shake conversation goin on as I hand hold most of the time and shake is a problem as I got very average owl photo's yesterday due to shake any tips I would appreciate.

65mm f/4.5... it looks like the clouds are sharp, so the close branches are out of focus because of the large aperture.

[luftfluss]

Perhaps I am incorrect on this. I was only parroting what Adam told me when I asked this question.

I've been a little critical of the FA*400mm f/5.6 on digital - it felt at times like it couldn't handle the pixel density of the K-3, but I'm wondering if slightly higher ISOs are the way to go - I was more pleased by the sharpness of this sparrowhawk visiting our garden in rather poor light, hence ISO1000, than with some of my other shots at lower ISOs.It might be something entirely else, but worth exploring.

My experience with shake reduction on a telephoto, my A*400 f2.8 only. I have tried various "lens" settings on my K-3II with this lens. With and without the 1.4-XL and the AF1.7. All on a rather heavy and stable Bogan tripod, with and without SR enabled. Always with a wired remote. So far SR seems to produce better results, but not always. Operator error is usually the case there! Last night I spent about 3 hours reviewing many SR discussions and recommendations, something I should do more often. There seems to be no set in concrete answer for older telephotos and SR so I just experiment with my equipment to see what works best for me. Against the advice of more experienced users and Ricoh/Pentax, I have SR on most of the time with my tripod. I recently, for the first time, tried the 400 on my equally beefy and sturdy Bogan monopod. That I may not try much, the lens is like a nose heavy 13 pound weight on a stick, even though I have a camera strap and a lens strap [attached to the lugs] for safety! I was overly careful, which was not enjoyable! But the SR worked well on the monopod with the lens and AF 1.7 length set at 550. Next time I dare to try the monopod I will set the lens length at 700. This is my experience, others will no doubt vary. On a side note, I had to decide what my first shot with my new camera was.... Haha!

It's been my recent experience, shooting at focal lengths up to 700mm, that as long as your hands are on the camera - even when mounted on a tripod - SR ON is the way to go.

Having just migrated from a K-5 II (16 MP, AA filter) to a K-3 II (24 MP, no filter) I've found I need to increase shutter speed by 1/2 stop or so when photographing critters. When photographing something perfectly static, like a large tree, I can keep the shutter speed as low on my K-3 II as I did on the K-5 II, but once the birds are involved, the higher-specified camera is more demanding. Just my .02

[Canada_Rockies]

It's been my recent experience, shooting at focal lengths up to 700mm, that as long as your hands are on the camera - even when mounted on a tripod - SR ON is the way to go.

That makes a lot of sense. I usually use a cable release, but when it is warm enough that my shivering won't move the rig 20 degrees/millisecond I'll do some trials with the M 400/5.6 with and without the 1.7x using the shutter release SR on and off.

Having just migrated from a K-5 II (16 MP, AA filter) to a K-3 II (24 MP, no filter) I've found I need to increase shutter speed by 1/2 stop or so when photographing critters. When photographing something perfectly static, like a large tree, I can keep the shutter speed as low on my K-3 II as I did on the K-5 II, but once the birds are involved, the higher-specified camera is more demanding. Just my .02

That makes sense. It takes a slightly larger movement to switch to the next pixel on the older less dense sensor.

Amazing what discussions on this forum can come up with!

[marcusBMG]

my A*400 f2.8

OOOh la la... quelle optique!
Excuse my brief french digression. my 2c: well worth diy'ing something like I did to balance my horrendously nose heavy tamron 200-500mm. Pic here is using a macro rail. I later diy'ed a rail from Aluminium bar (I had previously posted [#19433] about this rig but the pic is down). .... found it

Attached Images

View Picture EXIF

File Date

 

---

Last edited by marcusBMG; 01-07-2018 at 12:14 PM.

[aslyfox]

My experience with shake reduction on a telephoto, my A*400 f2.8 only. I have tried various "lens" settings on my K-3II with this lens. With and without the 1.4-XL and the AF1.7. All on a rather heavy and stable Bogan tripod, with and without SR enabled. Always with a wired remote. So far SR seems to produce better results, but not always. Operator error is usually the case there! Last night I spent about 3 hours reviewing many SR discussions and recommendations, something I should do more often. There seems to be no set in concrete answer for older telephotos and SR so I just experiment with my equipment to see what works best for me. Against the advice of more experienced users and Ricoh/Pentax, I have SR on most of the time with my tripod. I recently, for the first time, tried the 400 on my equally beefy and sturdy Bogan monopod. That I may not try much, the lens is like a nose heavy 13 pound weight on a stick, even though I have a camera strap and a lens strap [attached to the lugs] for safety! I was overly careful, which was not enjoyable! But the SR worked well on the monopod with the lens and AF 1.7 length set at 550. Next time I dare to try the monopod I will set the lens length at 700. This is my experience, others will no doubt vary. On a side note, I had to decide what my first shot with my new camera was.... Haha!

that rig will draw some attention if you take it out to play where others can see it

[ccc_]

in the midst of interstate traffic we found this one

[stihlmania]

You've effectively got a 1000mm f/4,5ish lens there on APS-C - you could do some nice moon shots with that

My one and only attempt [15 shots] with that combo - A ☆ 400/ 1.4XL/ AF1.7- Phoebe in the rain. [I hope someone looking at this thread does not look at my camera lens length setting in the exif! haha!] Oh , almost forgot, SR on!

---------- Post added 01-07-18 at 02:16 PM ----------

OOOh la la... quelle optique!
Excuse my brief french digression. my 2c: well worth diy'ing something like I did to balance my horrendously nose heavy tamron 200-500mm. Pic here is using a macro rail. I later diy'ed a rail from Aluminium bar (I had previously posted [#19433] about this rig but the pic is down). .... found it

Monfrotto does make a longer plate [220mm] for my 501 system, $50 bucks on flea bay. Biggest issue is the plate hitting the bottom of the lens when adjusting to correct the nose heavy design, with only 1 mount hole to hold the plate on.....

Attached Images

View Picture EXIF

File Date

 

[Kombivan]

Good Morning everyone and thank you for your input, so if you overestimate the size of your lens basicly the shake reduction should work against you by over correcting so best to have the correct final size got it, I have been experimenting with the high iso might have to get myself a new fishing rod holder for my waist and get the old mono-pod out. I lost the comfortable one I had.

[stihlmania]

that rig will draw some attention if you take it out to play where others can see it

Usually the type of attention, birders and many photographers seem blissfully unaware that they do this, that scares everything away you have spent hours waiting to photograph! I try to hide my set up, as much is possible, behind a tree, a shrub or a bush. I can be an anti-social old fart when I am around my lens! Haha!

[Racer X 69]

Good Morning everyone and thank you for your input, so if you overestimate the size of your lens basicly the shake reduction should work against you by over correcting so best to have the correct final size got it, I have been experimenting with the high iso might have to get myself a new fishing rod holder for my waist and get the old mono-pod out. I lost the comfortable one I had.

That's a decent result.

But since the lens was set at 28mm, wouldn't this be better shared in the 28mm lens thread here?

[stihlmania]

It's been my recent experience, shooting at focal lengths up to 700mm, that as long as your hands are on the camera - even when mounted on a tripod - SR ON is the way to go.

Having just migrated from a K-5 II (16 MP, AA filter) to a K-3 II (24 MP, no filter) I've found I need to increase shutter speed by 1/2 stop or so when photographing critters. When photographing something perfectly static, like a large tree, I can keep the shutter speed as low on my K-3 II as I did on the K-5 II, but once the birds are involved, the higher-specified camera is more demanding. Just my .02

Ok, time to muddy the waters. Just took some test shots with the A ☆ 400 and the AF 1.7, SR off. I did do one other thing after luftfluss mentioned his concerns high ISO, I re-set mine to Auto 100-6400, [I had the max set to 800] upped the shutter speed and f stop and now I have male cardinal pictures that I don't trash the second I see them! My photo lab background is still in my memory, I never shot ASA 800 film [or higher] unless it was infrared and then the grain did not matter. It seems the K-3II can do higher, than I am use to, ISO. Much more testing on my part is needed, again! The discussions here have been very informative and keep me testing to see what I can do with my gear and I do thank everyone who does offer an opinion on how to use our cameras! I also included 2 photos of a deer browsing on the juniper in my front yard. Only this one deer does this as junipers [cedars are what the locals call them] are not a good choice of food for deer.

[ccc_]

Usually the type of attention, birders and many photographers seem blissfully unaware that they do this, that scares everything away you have spent hours waiting to photograph! I try to hide my set up, as much is possible, behind a tree, a shrub or a bush. I can be an anti-social old fart when I am around my lens! Haha!

I come that way
but if a gigungo lens will justify it...i'll explain it to the treasury...i'm sure she'll understand

[luftfluss]

Ok, time to muddy the waters. Just took some test shots with the A ☆ 400 and the AF 1.7, SR off. I did do one other thing after luftfluss mentioned his concerns high ISO, I re-set mine to Auto 100-6400, [I had the max set to 800] upped the shutter speed and f stop and now I have male cardinal pictures that I don't trash the second I see them! My photo lab background is still in my memory, I never shot ASA 800 film [or higher] unless it was infrared and then the grain did not matter. It seems the K-3II can do higher, than I am use to, ISO. Much more testing on my part is needed, again! The discussions here have been very informative and keep me testing to see what I can do with my gear and I do thank everyone who does offer an opinion on how to use our cameras! I also included 2 photos of a deer browsing on the juniper in my front yard. Only this one deer does this as junipers [cedars are what the locals call them] are not a good choice of food for deer.

Nice work! I wasn't happy with my Adaptall 300/2.8 + 1.7x AFA until the total aperture was down to f/8 (at least)... but your A* 400/2.8 is probably a bit sharper. IMO the biggest challenge is getting enough depth of field, since the TC does not help with that.

Here's a cardinal shot from last May, ISO 2200. K-5 II + Adaptall 200-500/5.6 @ 400mm + Tamron 1.4x TC:



One of the great things about digital is we get to experiment and push boundaries without it costing in film and developing.

[luftfluss]

Amazing what discussions on this forum can come up with!

Thank goodness. I need these discussions to keep learning.

[stihlmania]

Nice work! I wasn't happy with my Adaptall 300/2.8 + 1.7x AFA until the total aperture was down to f/8 (at least)... but your A* 400/2.8 is probably a bit sharper. IMO the biggest challenge is getting enough depth of field, since the TC does not help with that.

Here's a cardinal shot from last May, ISO 2200. K-5 II + Adaptall 200-500/5.6 @ 400mm + Tamron 1.4x TC:



One of the great things about digital is we get to experiment and push boundaries without it costing in film and developing.

With the 400 at f 2.8, the depth of field can be measured in inches when focused between 15 [minimum distance is 14] and 20 feet!! F/8 is where I normally want the f stop for depth of field. I am still learning to forget my film ways! Haha!