Crop Engine - Long Range Applications
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So far, I've only had a sample shot of the Moon as a long reach application of the Q crop engine capability.
Frankly, that's not a generic application for most folks.
I'd probably get bored with shooting the Moon after the nth time. (Full Moon... Lill' bit done Moon....Half boiled Moon...
yawn..... )
Before I got the Q, I thought of the crop engine capability making a 200mm lens a 1100mm lens.
Wow! no need to buy a expensive 500/4.5, I imagined.
But when I finally got one, I realized that it would be a tall order.
1. With the small sensor and pixel density, any good lens would still do fine. Bad lenses, would have their bad points accentuated by the crop factor.
2. Its MF only, and not that easy for live subjects that would shift about (still doable though).
3. At these magnification and pixel density, any mis-focus is very apparent.
4. Its still a crop engine at the end of the day.
Perhaps on best of conditions (perfect focus; very good lens at max sharpness; stopped down less than diffraction limit of about f4.5-f5.6 for the small sensor, ideal DOF ) , the result will still be stunning at 100% crop. Otherwise, I'd be happy to walk away with an image that was good up to 50% crop (thats already very very good over what can be cropped out of any APS-C sensor)
Since I'm not a birder nor have the field craft and tenacity of one under our tropical heat (my :thumbsup: to the birders out there) , I opted for the easy way out to showcase what is possible with the Q+telephoto lens.
Went to the Zoo for a short while and got some animal shots instead.
All shots taken with Pentax Q and FA*80-200/2.8 at f4.
Cropped about 1/10th for composition Cropped about 40% for composition Cropped about 1/10th for composition
Those familiar with the Zoo will roughly know how far these fellas are and how much cropping or lens firepower is needed to get shots this close.
Edit : For those not familiar with the Singapore Zoo : Distances are typically 6-12m away as a moat separates viewer to animals.