[snostorm]

Hi all,

I was sitting around waiting for hummingbirds with my K-5IIs, FA* 300/4.5 + F 1.7x AFA on a tripod, and had the Q + DA 55-300 with me for opportunistic handheld shots of whatever might show up in the surrounding area. I noticed a largish Jumping Spider appear on a fence post right in front of me, and backed off to the MFD of the lens (4.6ft or 1.4m) and grabbed a couple of shots since this was the closest thing to macro that I had with me. Earlier, I had grabbed a couple of shots of honey bees at the entrance to their indoor hive exhibit at the Nature Center.

These aren't great macro shots, by any means, but were relatively easy to shoot, even handheld since the critters weren't even aware that I was there. I probably should have used the pop up flash, since the angle wouldn't have been much of a problem at 4.5 ft, but didn't think of it at the time.

In the future, I plan to stick my Raynox DCR 250 in a pocket before heading off with the Q+DA55-300 to give me better macro capability, I'll also stop the lens down and use flash. . . live and learn. . .
Here are the shots:







These are much better than I had expected. NR and some significant sharpening applied in PP. Handheld with available light. Lens wide open at 300mm.

I'll include a couple of shots I got of a Red Bellied Woodpecker from about 35-40 feet, lens wide open and handheld at 300mm. These are pretty similar to what I can get with 500mm from about 12-15 feet with a K-5, and the RBWP didn't even know I was there, so they were easier to get from a subject intimidation standpoint. Also with this setup, from this kind of distance, DOF pretty much covers the entire bird while the DSLR setup would definitely have parts of the bird OOF. I probably should have backed off on the zoom a bit to get the entire bird in the frame, but I get a bit giddy having this much reach





Scott

[crewl1]

Nice shots! The 55-300 looks like such a well behaved lens on the Q in your hands.
I need to re consider getting one again.
On my K-5 I preferred my Tamron 70-300 but on the Q the purple fringe makes it unusable.

[hnikesch]

Hi all,

These are much better than I had expected. NR and some significant sharpening applied in PP. Handheld with available light. Lens wide open at 300mm.

I'll include a couple of shots I got of a Red Bellied Woodpecker from about 35-40 feet, lens wide open and handheld at 300mm. These are pretty similar to what I can get with 500mm from about 12-15 feet with a K-5, and the RBWP didn't even know I was there, so they were easier to get from a subject intimidation standpoint. Also with this setup, from this kind of distance, DOF pretty much covers the entire bird while the DSLR setup would definitely have parts of the bird OOF. I probably should have backed off on the zoom a bit to get the entire bird in the frame, but I get a bit giddy having this much reach
Scott

Nice going Scott, you got that 55-300 down pat, nice shots

Hans

[hnikesch]

Nice shots! The 55-300 looks like such a well behaved lens on the Q in your hands.
I need to re consider getting one again.
On my K-5 I preferred my Tamron 70-300 but on the Q the purple fringe makes it unusable.

Larry I fount the 55-300 to slightly sharper than the Tamron 70-300 on my Kr and Q. I like the 55-300 on the Q almost as much as my 135

Hans

[barondla]

Super shots snostorm! You really have the 55-300 turning out nice results. Handheld no less. Love the woodpecker. I gotta practice more.

Agree with having second camera combo ready when using big lenses. Something always happens too fast when using big lens. Great to have the backup camera for those situations.
thanks for sharing
barondla

[snostorm]

Nice shots! The 55-300 looks like such a well behaved lens on the Q in your hands.

you got that 55-300 down pat,

You really have the 55-300 turning out nice results. Handheld no less.

Thanks!

I think that part of the secret is that with my PP workflow, I can shoot at higher ISO to get faster shutter speeds, essentially disregarding noise. All of these shots are at ISO 800 and above, shot in jpeg. The WPs are at 800 and 1000, the bee is at 2000, and the spiders are at 1250. In all cases, shutter was at 1/640. I shoot in Natural mode, Custom Image Sharpening turned down to -4, High ISO NR set at Low for all ISO settings, so most of the NR and just about all of the sharpening is handled in post. I never intend for any of these shots to be printed really big -- my main display outputs for the Q shots are posting on the web, display on my 7" and 10" tablets, with some occasional printing up to 8x10", so I can get away with quite a lot in PP.

Scott

[GibbyTheMole]

Very cool! The 55-300 is one of my favorite lenses on the DSLRs, but I haven't used them much on the Q yet. Your pics give me a hankerin' for using it on the Q, though!

[Montanaminded]

Dear Mr Snostorm,
I have a Q-1S.

I want to adapt a scary good deal lens to it. The lens is the DA 50-200 WR 4-5.6.

HOW did you mash those two together if I read your post right.

I would think the combination would be very nice.

Thanks in advance for any info you can fling my way.

Montanaminded

[Sandy Hancock]

I have a Q-1S.

I want to adapt a scary good deal lens to it. The lens is the DA 50-200 WR 4-5.6.

HOW did you mash those two together if I read your post right.

I would think the combination would be very nice.

You will need a K to Q mount adaptor. The OEM Pentax one is beautifully engineered but costs a lot more than the third party versions.

[Montanaminded]

Thanks for the reply...yes, I went the cheap way....