This is a very good lens for adapting to the Q. It's light, sharp wide open and a good size for handholding, especially now that we have SR available. On the Q, it's a 558mm 35EQ f2.8, and equivalent to 365mm f2.8 on a Pentax DSLR.
This post only uses this lens as a close focusing tele, and not at anywhere near the 1:1 macro magnification that it's capable of.
All of the shots in this post were handheld, and before the v1.1 FW update, so no SR was available, and I was still struggling with MF to some degree before Focus Peaking. I am reasonably sure, except for the Hawk shot, that I pretty much nailed the focus on these though.
Q + D FA 100 f2.8 Macro, 1/100, f2.8, ISO 800. This is the same captive Screech Owl as in the FA 50/1.4 shot. The higher ISO and faster aperture were needed because this room is mainly lit by skylight, and it was an overcast day. The front of the lens is resting on the 1" square mesh to throw the mesh completely out of focus, and to stabilize the camera. Cropped to 8x10 from the sides only, sharpened and resized for the web.
Q + D FA 100 f2.8 Macro, 1/100, f2.8 , ISO 640, -1.3 Ev comp. This is a Map Turtle from the same exhibit as with the A110 70mm f2.8 from a previous post, but on a different day, and at a different angle. IMO, this is a better shot as I think that the D FA renders a bit better than the A110 70 + diopter, and the transition from focused areas to OOF areas is much smoother. In use, the dedicated macro is much easier to use because I have an infinite possibility of working distances and subject magnification vs an essentially fixed working distance and mag with the achromatic diopter -- there is a very limited range between MFD and ∞ focus. I used -1.3 Ev comp to get a higher shutter speed and brought up the exposure, sharpened, cropped to 8x10 from just the sides, and resized for posting in PP.
Q + D FA 100 f2.8 Macro, 1/100, f2.8, ISO 640, -1.7 Ev comp. Again, I used Ev comp to get at least a 1/100 shutter speed.
Q + D FA 100/2.8 Macro, f8, 1/160, ISO 125. I used f8 thinking DOF, but it might have done more harm than good because of diffraction. Focus was on the middle duck. In any case the fine detail on the wings feathers is still pretty good. Cropped to 16x9, sharpened, and resized for posting.
One last one, and this one required significant PP. This was right after getting the first of my K to Q adapters, Nov of 2011, late afternoon Q + D FA 100 f2.8 Macro, f2.8,
1/100, ISO 125, -1.7 Ev to get the shutter speed. Brightened, sharpened significantly, uncropped and resized for posting. Handheld with no SR.
This was an incredibly rare photo op for me -- the only time I've been able to get this close to a feeding Red Tailed Hawk. I only had the relatively new Q and the 100 macro, so I did what I could, shooting quickly and slowly stalking closer with no cover and no additional support. I would rather have had my K-5 and FA* 300 f4.5, but the Q did very well. I haven't experienced much subject sensitivity to shutter noise, but I have to think that the silent Q had something to do with my success here.
Any 100mm dedicated macro should do well on the Q -- a very versatile lens as a tele, and then there's macro. . .
Scott