[crewl1]

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I see you have the plate slid pretty far back on the gimbal mount - did you get it to balance properly?

Not perfectly. That is a 60mm, I have a 70 and 100 on order.

Haha, nice setup! I see why you need the sight after trying out my Sigma 150-500 with the Q.

It is a pain trying to find anything without it, more so if it is a bird in a tree. Every leaf looks like the next one
With the DA*300 I could use the scope turned off - put the target in the middle of the view and I was in the vicinity.
With the Bigma at 500 I have to use the lighted red dot otherwise the critter is gone before I can find it in the frame.

How do you like the 150-500 with the Q?

[crewl1]

I just received my K and C KIWI adapters and I must say that they both seem to work perfectly. I've had no problems with the K one being a too tight fit, with the lenses I've tried, as people reported. The only thing is the short throw of the aperture mechanism that makes hard to use. I guess the official one got a longer throw and clicks? I took some shots and a video of the bird feeder through a window from the porch. Here's the video, Pentax DA* 300mm F4 wide open:

Looks really good in full screen HD. The official adapter does not click it just goes smoothly from wide open to full closed, you can put it anywhere in between stops.

[Sandy Hancock]

I haven't had much time to play with my new Pentax Adaptor Q, but here's a moonshot with the DA*300.

[VisualDarkness]

Not perfectly. That is a 60mm, I have a 70 and 100 on order.
It is a pain trying to find anything without it, more so if it is a bird in a tree. Every leaf looks like the next one
With the DA*300 I could use the scope turned off - put the target in the middle of the view and I was in the vicinity.
With the Bigma at 500 I have to use the lighted red dot otherwise the critter is gone before I can find it in the frame.

How do you like the 150-500 with the Q?

I haven't really done any good testing to I'm not going to give my opinion just yet. Though I can say that I find it extremely hard to use without a a scope, as you say.

Looks really good in full screen HD. The official adapter does not click it just goes smoothly from wide open to full closed, you can put it anywhere in between stops.

Does it have a longer throw than one cm or so at least? One the pics it look like it got about one third of throw, compared to the KIWI that got it's throw just a bit inside the "on-off" on this pic: http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=320997760466

[flylow7f39]

I haven't really done any good testing to I'm not going to give my opinion just yet. Though I can say that I find it extremely hard to use without a a scope, as you say.

Does it have a longer throw than one cm or so at least? One the pics it look like it got about one third of throw, compared to the KIWI that got it's throw just a bit inside the "on-off" on this pic: http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=320997760466

Your eBay link would not work for me, is this the one Pentax K (A) Adapter (mit Blendensteuerung) für Pentax Q-System | eBay

[VisualDarkness]

Your eBay link would not work for me, is this the one Pentax K (A) Adapter (mit Blendensteuerung) für Pentax Q-System | eBay

Yeah, you found the one, strangely the link work just after I posted but not now. Maybe Ebay changes the addresses pretty often?

[snostorm]

Does it have a longer throw than one cm or so at least? One the pics it look like it got about one third of throw, compared to the KIWI that got it's throw just a bit inside the "on-off" on this pic: http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=320997760466

Hi VisualDarkness,

The throw of the Pentax Adapter's aperture control is about 1/4 turn, or about 45mm. It's very smooth and easy to set at whatever point you want. They went to a lot of trouble to make this very easy to use and precise. The 3rd party adapters just attached a pin to the ring, and added detents for approximate f-stops. The Pentax has to use a 4-5:1 reduction (maybe a ring gear?) -- I think this is impressive -- it allows us infinite control over the aperture in the lens, which is important with the Q since our usable aperture range can be so limited by diffraction. If I find that my lens is sharpest at 2.125 stops down from wide open, I can set this pretty precisely, easily, and repeatably. Add shutter mechanism and the build quality, and you've got a very expensive to build adapter.

Scott

[mgbirder]

If I find that my lens is sharpest at 2.125 stops down from wide open, I can set this pretty precisely, easily, and repeatably. Add shutter mechanism and the build quality, and you've got a very expensive to build adapter.

Scott

just got my (correct) Fotodiox adapter delivered today :-) I tried our the Sigma 150-500 and came to a similar conclusion as Scott, at 500mm the sharpest image is at 3 clicks, i only did a brick wall test today but the reach of the Q at 500mm is outstanding, i could practically single out a region of 3 standard bricks on a wall aprox. 30 meters away. The Red Dot Sight is definitely a must at 500mm.

[hnikesch]

Just got to Florida and it was cloudy, first walk around looking for birds with my 135 mtg to the Q. Found a Glossy Ibis a first for me, a tri colored heron and a not hungry (any more) Snowy Egret. Not bad for my first walk. The combo Q+135 is not as easy as I had hoped, Hard to focus on moving birds and I miss the zoom on my Kr 55-300 DAL combo. But hand held with 750mm FOV I guess I can't complain.

Hans

[crewl1]

just got my (correct) Fotodiox adapter delivered today :-) I tried our the Sigma 150-500 and came to a similar conclusion as Scott, at 500mm the sharpest image is at 3 clicks, i only did a brick wall test today but the reach of the Q at 500mm is outstanding, i could practically single out a region of 3 standard bricks on a wall aprox. 30 meters away. The Red Dot Sight is definitely a must at 500mm.

Good to hear MG, I look forward to your work with that combo. I posted some results of my testing with the 50-500 in the thread. https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-q/209474-adapted-lenses-tested-q-r...ml#post2227738

[crewl1]

Just got to Florida and it was cloudy, first walk around looking for birds with my 135 mtg to the Q. Found a Glossy Ibis a first for me, a tri colored heron and a not hungry (any more) Snowy Egret. Not bad for my first walk. The combo Q+135 is not as easy as I had hoped, Hard to focus on moving birds and I miss the zoom on my Kr 55-300 DAL combo. But hand held with 750mm FOV I guess I can't complain.

Hans

That is awesome work there Hans! I wouldn't even try hand held myself. Enjoy your vacation

[hnikesch]

Not being happy with the images with the 135 I changed to the old 42mm 200 f4 and shot a few more. It seems a little sharper, or it could be me. Hand held @ 1/160 sec. with FOV of a 1000mm, hoping for a sunny day.

Hans

[crewl1]

Looks like the 200 works better - and still handheld? Are you a surgeon or diamond cutter?

I noticed lots of magenta fringe on the 135, can it be removed in post?

[hnikesch]

That is awesome work there Hans! I wouldn't even try hand held myself. Enjoy your vacation

I am trying to live up to Scott hand holding his 55-300 zoom, I think more practice should work. I did find leaving SR running (always on) really helps.

Hans

[VisualDarkness]

Pentax Q + DA*300 is an awesome combo! The "reference" pics are taken with K-5 and a 20mm so you can see just how far away the subjects are, no way cropping would do equally good!

Looks quite nice too! I borrowed my brothers Sirui travel tripod but it was way harder to use for this setup than my way heavier big Feisol + Giotto combo.


Safe distance technical shooting:
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I actually wasn't even sure it was a bird there as it was just a dot. The camera combo saw the woodpecker though!

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