[onlineflyer]

Backyard cardinal taken through our patio window, K-5iis with A* 300mm and F 1.7x AF adapter

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Last edited by onlineflyer; 12-20-2016 at 06:10 AM.

[gifthorse]

A bit of a surprise in that the temps have been dropping to the mid-teens at night here.

[Arjay Bee]

Same kingfisher - different day.

[jacamar]

Good that we have some action on the feeders until the weather Improves. These are American Goldfinches.



Edit - Red-breasted Nuthatch taken the following day in better light. Not as skittish as the Goldfinches.

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Last edited by jacamar; 12-30-2016 at 11:06 AM.

[normhead]

Today, getting back into the swing of things....
K-3 and Tamron 300 and 1.7x.

ISO 640, ƒ5.6, AV (1/250, 1/80)

Lots of wasted shots, you go away a few weeks and you forget what you're doing.

But I did capture the Downy woodpecker I've been seeing for a while. The black oil feeders were out of seed when we got home, but the suet feeders were still doing well. This guy was taking advantage.

[skierd]

[normhead]

Well, I've been back from the south for a week or so, and so far haven' had much sun. We had some today, but by the time I was out in the blind it was mostly gone.

K-3 and Tamron SP AF 300 2.8 with HD DA 1.4 TC for 420mm ƒ4.
640 ISO, ƒ8 (or ƒ5.6) 1/250s - 1/500s.

Male Downy


The male Downy left with the arrival of the Male Hairy


Later the female Hairy turned up


Various Goldfinches

For some reason they just love this old feeder I haven't used for a few years. I put it up as an extra resource when I was gone for 9 days. They love it so much I can't bring myself to take it down. All these guys are perched on nearby branches waiting for their turn.








And of course the regulars....








I wonder if anyone else has tried an A-400 on a K-1

K-1 and SMC Pentax A-400.
3200 ISO, ƒ8 or 6.3.

I ask you, has any A-400 ever been shot at 3200 ISO before? Perhaps a Pentax first.

I was working pretty close to minimum focussing distance at about 275mm K-3 mm, and small fast birds with MF is not treat, but everything is possible.





My 4 for 40 keeper rates is actually respectable for the little guys, although I did lower my standards a little to achieve that.

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Last edited by normhead; 01-05-2017 at 03:11 PM.

[bluestringer]

Taken last month.................Tufted Titmouse.....

[normhead]

Still with the K-1 and A-400









The main issue is 600 FF is sort of a minimum for birding. The 400 on a K-1 is not much better than a DA*60-250 on APS-c.Believe it or not, I bought this lens from a man who used it as his long lens for weddings on film.

And then back to the Tamron 300 and 1.7x

[bluestringer]

Hawk..............K50, HD 55-300.................

[Arjay Bee]

You may recall the kingfisher images above and a page or two back taken in my parents' back yard. They have been living in the same house since the mid 1950s and have watched a large number of generations of birds in their back yard. Ten years ago they had hibiscus shrubs/trees growing in their back yard up against the second floor living room windows. They cut their home grown persimmons in half and leaned out the open windows to spear them on to the tops of pruned hibiscus branches and this would attract the small birds called white-eyes - and also keep the flock off the persimmon tree itself. These birds became accustomed to people watching them from behind the window and this allowed the following pictures taken through window glass. All *istDL2 and 50-200, ISO200 1/125sec and F8. Late afternoon on a wet day so on board flash used as well. Fairly high cute factor ranking as they are quite aggressive wee things.

[normhead]

Very cool

[normhead]

More experimenting....

K-1 with the A-400 F 1.7x AF adapter

This image maxes out everything


These it's hard to tell if the image would have been sharper shooting without the 1.7 and enlarging.










The problems of narrow DoF shooting at 680mm was not anticipated. Just when I finally convince myself I should sell the lens, I find something it can do. Is that first image worth keeping the lens for? I'm not going to get as good an image with my K-3. I'm not going to get as good an image with a shorter combo. But, I got 1 shot I consider exceptional out of 155 images. Is the gain worth the pain? How does one make these decisions?

I'm guessing for these shots, the star in the FA*400 ƒ5.6 would make a difference. Although the first shot would suggest with better technique I might be able to do a lot better on the others. After all, if you can do it in one, you should be able to do it in all of them.

[gifthorse]

Dark eyed (Oregon) junco


Goldfinch


Yellow-rumped warbler


Downy woodpecker

[Unregistered User 8]

I just found this thread, and all I can say is WOW !!! Some great images here. This was taken with my K-3 and DA* 60-250.