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Forum: Pentax Forums Giveaways
12-10-2014, 05:19 PM
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Forum: Lens Clubs
02-27-2014, 04:06 PM
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Forum: Lens Clubs
02-27-2014, 03:55 PM
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Forum: Lens Clubs
02-26-2014, 08:45 PM
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Forum: Lens Clubs
02-26-2014, 08:42 PM
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-22-2013, 07:29 PM
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I've not had many chances to get back out and take more shots yet. I found that I have trouble stomaching ISO above 400. I know that the K-30 is supposed to handle that fine, but I still get twitchy with the loss of detail.
I'm learning to work with the AF better, though I do have to often tweak it still (the "very sharp twigs" comment have me quite a chuckle in the 'yeah, that's it' way.). I'm trying to find my comfort zone/sweet spot. Definitely having better luck at the longer lengths, seems I get almost no shake blur once I have it over 1/150 or so. I've taken my ND filter off that I was trying to use for a while to speed things up. I also have a hood now. That was the case for my test shots I posted, but not before those.
I have done some tripod testing and still not getting the sharpness I would expect. I get it sometimes, but not as often as I think I should.
Anyway, still want a lot more tests, practice, and chances to take it out with new teqniques before I give up.
Thank you all for all of your help. It is very much appreciated.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-14-2013, 07:36 PM
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Also grabbed this the day before (the day I posted this and you all helped out) with the DA 50-200mm WR to start testing the higher ISO/Shutters you were suggesting.
Same hawk, same place. Still haven't gotten a good shot at this fella.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-14-2013, 07:30 PM
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So after taking your advice and messing around, I went back out the last few days and have been taking more shots, allowing my ISO to level up and keeping my shutter speed up. Here's one snag that I would have had some trouble with in the past. This was one of those where you catch it out of the corner of your eye and spin and shoot, so not bad for what it is. It's also cropped a bit, as I was not all that close.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
09-14-2013, 07:18 PM
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Out and about today and grabbed this one with the Promaster 28-70mm 2.8
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
09-13-2013, 09:29 AM
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I almost always use this lens when people ask me to do photos for a party or other event. It's one of my very favorites.
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
09-12-2013, 02:26 PM
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Welcome! Yes, I am a fan of the older lenses myself. Being poor helps that a lot.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
09-12-2013, 01:00 PM
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I have the Rokinon version of this lens and I love it. Extremely sharp. I've taken pictures directly into the sun with no issues.
It's very hard to focus.
I noticed the scale issue as well.
I haven't pixel level checked my corners and edges, but I haven't seen anything stand out. I hear there's a lot of variation on QC, like others said.
I also have a Samyang 85mm that is amazing. However, it suffers from a common problem of aperture sticking until it gets a fix done on it. I just haven't sent it in yet because it doesn't happen all the time. Probably should sooner than later though.
Took these with the Rokinon 14mm
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-12-2013, 09:49 AM
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And here I've been trying to shoot at less than 1/100 with my Sears 60-300 and Vivitar Series 1 (ver1 - Kiron) at full focal lengths and getting frustrated. Talk about front heavy....
I knew the shutter speed made a difference. I could see that. I guess I didn't realize how much it scaled up when you extended the range.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-12-2013, 08:50 AM
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All very good info. Thank you.
I have been very confused by the whole full frame vs crop sensor difference in focal length stuff I've read. Still pretty new to this. Just got my camera back in late May. Been trying to read up and learn as much as I can.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
09-12-2013, 08:41 AM
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Is it too late to join in?
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-12-2013, 08:24 AM
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Thanks.
I have my AF set to center. Again, I don't really use it though. On occasion, I let it focus, then fine tune it using the switch on the body, but that's pretty rare and was more to try and get better shots.
I'm leaning towards my shutter speed and shake being the primary problem now.
Still, nothing but Pentax can fix it going past infinity as far as I know.
I will do some experimenting, including what you suggest. Going to put it up against my 50-200 and my Tele-Tak for some comparison.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-12-2013, 08:11 AM
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Here's a couple of shots I've taken with it that were keepers for me from my last outing with the lens. All of them taken from a Kayak where I could be fairly stable and come up on them slowly. Pretty sure I was using an ND filter, but not positive. Probably shot most of these over 1/100 as it was a nice day at the time.
These were the keepers. There were hundreds I didn't keep.
I don't know the EXIF on these at the moment, but will try and post it later.
Blue Heron
Blue Heron
Blue Heron
Killdeer
Belted Kingfisher
Unknown Bird
The images are better on my Flickr account, but it's blocked here from work, so I can't link to it right now. Look up Noskovus there to see better and more pics from the 55-300.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-12-2013, 07:55 AM
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I am probably overly critical of my photos, but I always think they look grainy when I shoot over 100. Probably just me being picky.
My 50-200mm is much more consistent for me. In fact, until I read the reviews and saw that most considered the 55-300mm much better, mine was collecting dust.
So....
So far, I think I am going to: Turn my ISO up if I have to (thinking about going past 800 makes me twitch, but I will play around with it) in order to keep my shutter speed at least past 1/100 or higher if I can. (I'm used to slower than that, so, again, I will play around with it.....baby steps, people.).
Still need to figure out if I can get it fixed for going past infinity.
And if I'm still having issues (getting better results from similar lenses in similar situations is why I started wondering if something was wrong in the first place.) I may see if I can send it in for that?
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-12-2013, 07:28 AM
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Definitely wondering if that is it, or at least part of it. I have been trying to shoot faster (though not as fast as you suggest) because I thought I may still be getting shake.
Still see more softness than I do on other lenses, though at similar settings and lengths (I'm considering the Tele-Takumar a similar length because it's 200mm for Full Frame and the 55-300mm is for crop, right? - Still not totally sure on that.)
And then there's still the infinity issue as well.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-12-2013, 06:46 AM
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I almost always shoot at 100 ISO. I do almost everything I can to avoid going over that.
I try and always shoot at f8 with this lens.
Most of the time I'm using the 55-300 is in the open, midday, on decent days.
Shutter speeds are what I adjust to compensate for the ISO and occasional ND Filter (If I have enough light). I will usually never go slower than 1/30, as I know there's a good chance I won't get a steady shot. From 1/30 and faster, I usually don't have issues with shake on other lenses, so I don't think that's the problem here...though perhaps it's more sensitive?
I use my Tele-Takumar 200mm 5.6 more now because of the issues I've had with my 55-300. It's heavier and I don't seem to have the issues I have with the 55-300 with it either.
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