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Forum: Lens Clubs
03-03-2017, 08:22 PM
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Excellent shot. I miss that SMC 500mm f/4.5
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Forum: Lens Clubs
03-02-2017, 09:56 PM
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Nice set Norm. I really like the Nuthatche facing down (3rd from the bottom). I am really considering to buy K-1 or K-3 again with Pentax SMC A 600mm f/5.6 (if I can find one). I really miss the Pentax gear :D
---------- Post added 03-02-17 at 11:00 PM ----------
Nice set, love the colors.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
12-27-2016, 08:25 PM
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Forum: Lens Clubs
12-26-2016, 07:22 PM
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Some recent shots of Northern Harrier and Short-eared Owl.
K-3 and SMC A 400mm f/5.6
1/640, ISO-400, f/7.1
 IMGP8823 by Ludovit Tatos, on Flickr
Short-eared Owl
K-3 and SMC A 400mm f/5.6 1/200, ISO-1600, f/6.3
 IMGP8738 by Ludovit Tatos, on Flickr
K-1 and SMC 500mm f/5.6 1/250, ISO-1600, f/8
 IMGP0734 by Ludovit Tatos, on Flickr
K-1 and SMC 500mm f/5.6 1/160, ISO-1600, f/8
 IMGP0609 by Ludovit Tatos, on Flickr
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Forum: Lens Clubs
12-15-2016, 11:06 PM
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Picture taken last summer. Me and friend of mine were shooting shorebirds (mostly Greater Yellowlegs). We were at the water lever with front tripod legs in the water. We were so focused on Greater Yellowlegs that we almost missed this Great Blue Heron walking right in front of us...very very close. All I saw was the head of the Heron in the viewfinder. Sun was getting low creating a nice colorful background of the water and the grass in the distance.
Pentax K-50 and SMC 500mm f/4.5
1/1000, ISO-1600, f/11
 IMGP4790 by Ludovit Tatos, on Flickr
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Forum: Lens Clubs
12-14-2016, 10:07 PM
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Interesting bird. Nice shot.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
12-14-2016, 09:21 PM
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Thank you. She was noise also :-)).
---------- Post added 12-14-16 at 10:32 PM ----------
Thank you for the kind words. I really like SMC A 400mm f/5.6. It take some practice to get sharp BIF pics with it. The hardest ones are when bird sneaks up on you really close range and
I have to scramble to turning focusing ring fast as I can to catch up. All my lenses are manual focus. For sure I miss some shots because manual focus, but I get fairly high number of keepers also.
---------- Post added 12-14-16 at 10:38 PM ----------
Recent shot of Short_Eared Owl. This one sneaked up on me. I almost missed this shot. I never cranked the focusing ring so fast, make sure I will get it in focus :D
K-3 and SMC A 400mm f/5.6
1/1250, ISO-1600, f/7.1
 IMGP6816 by Ludovit Tatos, on Flickr
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Forum: Lens Clubs
12-13-2016, 10:46 PM
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Bald Eagle near the trail, looking down on me.
Pentax K-50 and SMC A 400mm f/5.6
1/800, ISO-1000, f/7.1
 IMGP2230 by Ludovit Tatos, on Flickr
---------- Post added 12-13-16 at 11:58 PM ----------
Nice shots Kameko. How did you like the DA 560?? Was it sharp wide open at f/5.6?? By next summer I want to get long prime, manual focus or AF it makes no difference to me, but it has to be fairly sharp wide open.
My SMC 500mm f/4.5 is super sharp from f/8 to f/16, but in darker conditions I need wider aperture.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
12-13-2016, 09:27 AM
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Awesome shot. Amazing blure at f/7.1
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Forum: Lens Clubs
12-12-2016, 09:49 PM
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Here are shots of Short_Eared Owl from last weekend. Any of you who like owls as much as I do would appreciate this. Me and my friend tracked this owl down. We crawled (laid flat) to get this shots in wet grass and mud. Inch by inch we were able to get in good range to take shots. This owl was really tolerant to us and let us take the shots (Thank you owl :-))).
I wanted to keep aperture at f/7.1 to retain sharpness (sweet spot for this lens), but that forced me to shoot at 1/160 and I didn't want to go over ISO-1600. Amazing, how good the K-3 can stabilize the sensor considering shooting 400mm lens x 1.5 crop factor = 600mm. Also this smaller and lighter lens was much easier to crawl with :-)). My friend with his Canon 500mm f/4 had to work a little harder (but he more likely got better shots).
Not the best light conditions, shooting at 1/160 shutter speed. Dark overcast and soon as we were done shooting, it started to drizzle. We lucked out.
K-3 and SMC A 400mm f/5.6
1/160, ISO-1600, f/7.1
 IMGP7337 by Ludovit Tatos, on Flickr
 IMGP7324 by Ludovit Tatos, on Flickr
 IMGP7320 by Ludovit Tatos, on Flickr
---------- Post added 12-12-16 at 11:02 PM ----------
Awesome shots. It seems that K-1 and D FA 150-450mm can track very well. Well done.
---------- Post added 12-12-16 at 11:45 PM ----------
Nicely put Norm, well written.
Well, this statement is partially true. I shoot mostly wildlife and wild as they get. Every animal, birds etc has a different tolerance to humans. For example Short_Eared Owls.. migratory bird. When first few owls arrived this fall they were very shy, hard to get close to them. As season progress they get used to people and get more tolerant once they realized we are not threat to them. I wear full camo, don't make noise and moving slowly helps me to get even closer. The owl knows I am there...in many cases is looking directly in to my eyes when flying by. I wouldn't say that they"don't care"...they are just a little more tolerant, but very much still wild birds. It is all about the food and least amount of energy to spend for them. Soon as the feeding grounds opens up north, they will be gone.
Another good example is Belted Kingfisher. I go during the season to one wildlife preserve and there are some Belted Kingfishers. Same birds, same spots, very territorial. I saw these birds and they saw me probably hundreds of times and I still can't get close to them. Some birds or animals keep the distance from humans more then others.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
12-04-2016, 11:06 PM
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Some shots of Short-Eared Owl from today.
K-3 and SMC A 400mm f/5.6
1/500, ISO-1600, f/5.6
 IMGP6950 by Ludovit Tatos, on Flickr
 IMGP6902 by Mako_Elite, on Flickr
1/1250, ISO-1600, f/7.1
 IMGP6816 by Mako_Elite, on Flickr
1/800, ISO-800, f/7.1
 IMGP6773 by Mako_Elite, on Flickr
This one with Pentax K-1 and SMC 500mm f/4.5. There was very little light left and the K-1 has no problem to shoot at ISO-3200. I am blown away what this sensor can do.
1/400, ISO-3200, f/8.0
 IMGP8669 by Mako_Elite, on Flickr
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Forum: Lens Clubs
12-02-2016, 10:17 PM
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Thank you both for the valuable info. I will stick with prime lenses (sharpness). There are few long primes on my list FA *600mm f/4, SMC A* 600mm f/5.6, DA * 560mm f/5.6, Sigma 500mm f/4.5. But more likely I will buy SMC A*600mm f/5.6.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
12-01-2016, 11:07 PM
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Thanks Terry for the respond. I have few more months to decide before I pull the trigger and buy new lens. I wish Pentax would come out with new 500mm or 600mm f/4 with fast focusing like new HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm F4.5-6.3 ED PLM WR RE.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
12-01-2016, 08:36 PM
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Very nice shot...love the colors. How do you like the D FA 150-450? I can't decide to buy DA L 150-450mm or older prime SMC A* 600mm f/5.6. I shoot mostly wild birds so reach and sharpness is most important. I can live without autofocus.
How sharp is 150-450mm shot at 450mm wide open aperture?? Does it need to close aperture some to get sharpness at full telephoto (450mm) ??
Any info would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
11-28-2016, 10:27 PM
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Very nice set. I love the bottom picture of the Kestrel??
---------- Post added 11-28-16 at 11:32 PM ----------
Thank you!
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Forum: Lens Clubs
11-26-2016, 06:42 PM
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New shots from yesterday afternoon. It was rainy and windy for a while here and Short-Eared Owls were not hunting (too windy to be able to hear the prey (Voles) ), but yesterday it was nice and calm and owls were everywhere.
I took both of my camera setups with me. K-3 with SMC A 400mm f/5.6 for brighter conditions and K-1 with SMC 500mm f/4.5 when gets darker. I end up using K-1 setup later and I am glad I took it with me and get some awesome shots,
otherwise impossible to get with K-3 due to big advantage of the K-1 sensor in darker conditions shooting higher ISO.
Here are some shots from K-3 and K-1
K-3 SMC A 400mm f/5.6
 IMGP6353 by Mako_Elite, on Flickr
 IMGP6351 by Mako_Elite, on Flickr
 IMGP6413 by Mako_Elite, on Flickr
Here some shots with K-1 and SMC 500mm f/4.5
 IMGP7777 by Mako_Elite, on Flickr
 IMGP7905 by Mako_Elite, on Flickr
 IMGP7893 by Mako_Elite, on Flickr
---------- Post added 11-26-16 at 07:53 PM ----------
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Very nice shot. I don't mine to shoot birds and to show their habitat in the background. It will tell more about the bird.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
10-24-2016, 06:02 AM
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Forum: Lens Clubs
10-15-2016, 07:23 PM
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Forum: Lens Clubs
10-14-2016, 08:00 PM
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Here is a shot of Great Blue Heron. Me and my friend were shooting shorebirds at the water level,,,front tripod legs in the water and we almost missed this heron just walking right in front
of us really close. This is only slightly cropped image. The background came out nice with orange glow created with sun setting low. I love the output of this old lens.
Shot with K-50 and SMC 500mm f/4.5
 IMGP4790 by Mako_Elite, on Flickr
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Forum: Lens Clubs
10-02-2016, 01:22 PM
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Strange day today at the marshlands. Tons of birds, but they were all way more spooky than usual. Hunting season might have to do something with it.
Normally I can get decent range with K-3 and SMC A 400mm f/5.6, but today only American Robins let me get close :D.
Since I had my K-1 with M* 300mm f/4 with me I took a shot of Mount Baker in the distance.
K-1 and M* 300mm f/4
 IMGP6608 by Mako_Elite, on Flickr
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Forum: Lens Clubs
10-01-2016, 07:49 PM
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Nice set. Pics looks awesome. What camera and lens did you used?
---------- Post added 10-01-16 at 07:55 PM ----------
Nice Turkey vulture??
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Forum: Lens Clubs
10-01-2016, 02:47 PM
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From last weekend..shore birds resting. Long-billed Dowitcher(left) and Lesser Yellowlegs (right). Shot with K-3 and SMC 500mm f/4.5
K-3 and SMC 500mm f/4.5 ISO-400, 1/640, f/11
Long-billed Dowitcher(left) and Lesser Yellowlegs (right)
 IMGP3048 by Mako_Elite, on Flickr
 IMGP3062 by Mako_Elite, on Flickr
 IMGP3043 by Mako_Elite, on Flickr
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Forum: Lens Clubs
10-01-2016, 12:11 PM
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RobG, try to use quick shift focus. When I first started to use my 55-300mm WR I didn't use quick shift focus that much. Later on I appreciated what this feature has to offer.
I start using it almost like a semi-hybrid manual/AF. It made a world of difference. Every time I picked the object to shoot I would manually thru quick shift focus focused on the object and then
let the AF takes over either in AF-S or AF-C...this way the hunting you experiencing will be minimized since you are helping AF to hone on the object. I am not sure if Canon or Nikon lenses even have quick shift focus.
We are blessed that Pentax using this in most new lenses.
Try to use it all the time and it will became natural. Don't give up on that DA *300mm f/4 it is a superb class lens (I wish I have one :D)
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Forum: Lens Clubs
10-01-2016, 10:20 AM
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I think SMC A 400mm f/5.6 is way underrated lens IMHO . One of my favorite lenses. I never leave home without it. Razor sharp around f/7.1 and even wide open still acceptably sharp. Great combo with K-3 making it effectively (600mm) and on K-1 if you can get close to subject it is superb.
---------- Post added 10-01-16 at 10:24 AM ----------
Love the output from this lens. Shallow DoF really brings the bird out in front and fall colors are awesome. Just start to turning colors in my backyard.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
10-01-2016, 06:47 AM
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Lovely shots there Norm.
100% correct. I shoot all the time with my friends and almost ALL are using Canon 1Dx II with 500mm f/4 or 600m f/4 and I had no problem to keep up with AF with them when I had 55-300mm WR on K-1.
I think it is more of the technique issue. I loved the shift focus with 55-300mm WR and used it all the time to prefocus where I would expect the bird to be and let the AF takes over from there...it helped tremendously with AF speed. Most of my pictures would be dead on sharp even when I took lot of pictures of the owls flying towards me at full speed and K-1 and K-3 had zero issues to keep up.
K-1 seems slightly faster in AF.
I sold all my autofocus lenses and now saving for one long prime AF telephoto like FA*600mm f/4 or DA 560mm f/5.6 or even superb zoom like D FA 150-450mm.
Point here is folks, like Norman said, don't buy into Canikon propaganda that you need $18,000 + setup AF system. Pentax system is just fine :D
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