|
Forum: Lens Clubs
05-17-2016, 06:06 AM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
05-21-2016, 06:21 AM
|
| |
Trying out the Sigma 150-500mm HSM with the newly acquired Kenko 1.5x Pz-AF TC. Not sure if there is any degradation cause by the TC?
|
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
05-19-2016, 08:08 AM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
11-22-2015, 08:52 AM
|
| |
Unless you have a defective lens, which is highly doubtful, you should be able to get decent shots with regularity. The Bigmas do take some real working experience to get your method right.
Lots of people give up and quit.:( Don't be one of them! We can use you in this thread and will help you in any way we can.:D
Regards!:)
On a side note....
This is my first morning shot today to use the back AF button on my Bigma, and it works wonderfully. It has practically eliminated hunting and even appears to give me sharper more accurate results. This is going to make Bigma shooting much more enjoyable!
My only problem now is that I have several bags of those Bigma Hound Hunting Biscuits I bought on Amazon to try and slow the hunting....and now I don't need them! :lol:
My first squirrel today....Stubby Squirrel (he agreed to pose!:D) shot using the back AF button.
 IMGP2816-800-NB by James Williams, on Flickr
A little birdie sample using the back button.
 IMGP2821-800-NB by James Williams, on Flickr
|
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
11-22-2015, 12:59 PM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
11-22-2015, 02:35 PM
|
| |
Nice one Rupert, I envy you and your Cardinals. I can not even find one here.
I think that one needs some of those low calorie seeds, nice capture.
I should have added that I find f6.3 is not very useful on very distant subjects. If you close enough, say less than a hundred feet, I find it to be ok. I am rarely ever that close, so I primarily stop down. With the K3 I do not worry too much about high ISO until I am over 2000.
Here is another shot from this summer I never did anything with. Awhile back I picked up DXO Optics Pro 10 when it was half off. I am still trying to figure it out. I have used Lightroom since version 1. It certainly is different. I do not think I would processed this one like this out of Lightroom. Going to take awhile experimenting on this some more.
 Great Blue Heron-1.jpg by Michael, on Flickr
|
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
11-22-2015, 03:07 PM
|
| |
Nice shot!:) Get him more seeds! :D
He looks like some of my fat squirrels! Nice shooting! :)
That's a cute little birdie...love the colors, nice shooting too! :)
Thanks!:) Got lots of them here Scorpio!
F6.3 0r 6.6 will get you a shot......f 8 will get you a better shot. Most of my shots are wide open to keep the ISO down and the speed up. It can work if you have the right kind of light, even if it is low light.
Old Bigma @ f6.7 .....a crop from about 60 feet away. Luck is always welcome too!
 IMGP4055-800 by James Williams, on Flickr
F7.1 and ISO 160 will get you better than wide open too.
 IMGP9648-800 by James Williams, on Flickr
That is another one of your better shots of the Herons! :D:D
Winter is coming fast, there will still be a lot of birds to shoot here since I put out feed twice daily. You guys get out some feeders and you will have plenty to shoot....word travels fast when birds find a free meal! :lol:
Regards!:)
|
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
11-03-2015, 06:58 PM
|
| |
I was looking through my old shots of the Big Birds and saw this one...it brought a smile to my face....I recall the day very well. It was so hot in mid July and this youngster was just learning to fly. He came down from the nest to the cedar fence where I had put out a bowl of cool water for them. He had never seen water before and stepped into the bowl....he looked down at his feet for over 5 minutes as if he was both amazed an baffled. Finally, he took a few sips and moved along, but in a short time he was back standing in the bowl...cooling his feet?
Anyhow, it was so funny:lol: ...I just wanted to share!
Shot with my first Pentax....a DS.
Regards!:)
EDIT: I like this one so much for the memories that I decided to print it for my office photo wall. It was taken a long time ago in terms of the camera and in processing skill and technology. So...I worked on it a little before printing....
What do you think?
 Bird in Bowl by James Williams, on Flickr
Attachment 287439
The old Pentax DS delivered some nice shots for me when I first got it. I had gone to Wolf Photo with intentions to buy a Nikon D70 but when I saw the smaller Pentax and the salesman, a man I knew well, offered to let me shoot a few in and around the store with both the DS and Nikon.....and then he would print them right there as I waited....I gave them both a try. The DS felt better and the prints that came out, about a dozen, let me pick the ones I liked best. The DS had better color and I bought it. The salesman was a Canon shooter but he was impressed with the Pentax and for a new shooter like me, he thought it was the best value and gave the best result. Been happy with Pentax ever since! :D:D
|
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
11-03-2015, 08:07 AM
|
| |
Thanks Scorpio:)......They were fun and exciting times!:D
No Big Birds here nowadays, but there is no shortage of handsome squirrels. This one found a morning treat today.....:D
 IMGP2617-800-NB by James Williams, on Flickr
Regards! :)
|
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
08-03-2015, 04:20 PM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
08-02-2015, 06:52 PM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
07-24-2015, 10:35 PM
|
| |
The remarkable Pin-Tailed Whydah's courtship dancing. Taken from Sigma 150-500mm + K-S1.
|
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
07-02-2015, 10:31 AM
|
| |
As noted by others, these long teles require some learning. I've not been very successful at shooting birds in flight with my 120-400 OIS until I used these settings.
Monopod, rigid mounting (Arca-Swiss) with tripod foot.
Lens OIS off.
K3 set at: TAV, f8.0, 1/800; SR off; MF or AF-S; RAW only; Burst mode.
For birds at a nesting site, MF works pretty well. This was shot at 320mm, moderate PP, heavily cropped.
I lucked into a feeding frenzy and got more than 300 shots with AF-S and manual prefocus, all at 400mm. This is one of the better ones, with moderate PP.
In the feeding frenzy session 54% of 329 shots were in sharp focus, judging by feather detail; very few were badly out of focus. This one was exported from Lightroom, DNG to JPG, with only the default 25 sharpening applied--no other PP.
So it seems that with the K3, if the shutter speed is 1/800 or faster, neither OIS nor IBIS is needed, as long as the light is good and the platform is as stable as a monopod. I'm liking the 120-400 more and more.
|
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
05-12-2015, 02:42 PM
|
| |
I am the Grand Rapids area. Nice shot of the Kingfisher. I am hoping to find some more interesting subjects in the future. I was going to get a 150-500 this year but then Sigma discontinued it in Pentax mount so I picked up a used 50-500 instead.
|
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
05-07-2015, 04:44 AM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
02-24-2015, 09:40 PM
|
| |
Thanks Xanis.
The lens is ideal as an affordable intro to wildlife lenses. It works well when used within its limits, that is, stopped down a bit, tripod and/or fast shutter speed, subject not too distant, good light, boosting contrast in PP. It is quite lightweight for a 500mm lens (1.3kg - the 150-500 and 50-500 are each close to 2kg). Focus can hunt at longer FLs when the light is not great, as you would expect given the maximum aperture (f6.3 above 320mm). MF is good. It's a good lens for the money.
|
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
02-19-2015, 06:49 AM
|
| |
Sigma 50-500 EX DG
#1 - Egret.
#2 & #3 - Australasian grebe.
|
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
02-18-2015, 01:02 PM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
02-08-2015, 04:15 AM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
01-22-2015, 11:03 PM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: General Photography
01-18-2015, 09:59 PM
|
| |
It seems there are advantages to walking around with a 500 mm in fatigues. No one has yet asked me to do a wedding.
|
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
01-16-2015, 05:44 PM
|
| |
First random shots with my recently delivered Sigma 150-500 (handheld). So far my feeling is like this will be the most difficult-to-use lens which I currently have. But OK, I did not expect it to be easy... :)
 |
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
01-06-2015, 10:18 PM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
01-10-2015, 02:04 AM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
01-05-2015, 04:00 PM
|
| |
| |
