• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

300mm Connundrum (1 Viewer)

QuestionableCarrot

QuestionableCarrot

Well-known member
Hi

Just got myself a K-x with 50-200 kit lens and obviously need more length if i want to shoot birds/wildlife etc...

Does anyone have experience of using the DA L 30mm kit lens AND the SMC 300mm (its a little more expensive).

Can I assume the more expensive lens is the one to go for or is the DA L kit lens just as good?

Anybody out there that shoots with a K-x and 300mm lens please lets see some pix!

QC
 
I guess nobody has any experience of the aforementioned items?
Click to expand...

Or maybe no ones been online and seen your post yet, you need to have a bit more patience than that QC if your going to shoot birds|:d|

As for the lenses I'm not sure from your post which ones your refering to, if your talking about the DA*300mm then you wont find a better quality lens, you wont find much change from £1000 either|8.|

Heres a couple of websites you will find of interest: first one is a must for any Pentax K mount user http://kmp.bdimitrov.de/index.html
The second is the Pentax Gallery where you can search for images taken using specific Pentax Lenses http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/home#section=HOME&subSection=0&subSubSection=0&language=EN

Hope this help,
 
As you talk about a kit version do you mean the 55-300mm?If that's the case, I have used the metal mount version with a K-5 [and previously with a K20D]. The advantages of the more expensive version are a metal mount, lens hood and 'quick shift' focussing which enables you to fine tune the focussing manually while in AF mode. Optically I believe they are the same. Performance wise the lens is pretty sharp and gives good results - it's small and light in comparison with similar lenses. On the downside the AF is'nt mega quick and it is a bit noisy in use.

some k-5 samples

http://www.flickr.com/photos/greypoint/sets/72157625487932074/

some k20d szamples

http://www.flickr.com/photos/greypoint/sets/72157607104487487/


If you're talking about a different lens entirely - then apologies!
 
Thanks for the replies guys. Yep i guess Im not that patient :)

I know whats happened - they are the same lens. I just figured the expensive one was a better one - just a company trying to dig its claws in.
The kit lens 300mm seems to be a good one. Couldnt not afford the big bucks ones.

QC

Thanks Impotent and Grey for those thoughts and links. Thank you!
 
Last edited:
Greypoint - how do you find using the K-5 in the field , and also, compared to previous Pentax models ?
 
Well i have been posting images with the Kx and K5 and the DA L 55-300mm. For its price, a fine performer this lens is.

i have recently acquired a DA*300mmf4 ED IF. Its early days and need to use it a bit more. but from what i see till now, it is 'exceptional'!!!!!!!!!!!!

do visit my users gallery for images

Arijit
 
I have the DA*300mm too and love it. It has produced some great images since I've had it, not only birds but the larger insects too.

Here are a couple of examples:
 

Attachments

  • Chaffinch male feeding young female 2 for web upload.jpg
    Chaffinch male feeding young female 2 for web upload.jpg
    276.9 KB · Views: 163
  • Dragonfly PSE9 test 1.jpg
    Dragonfly PSE9 test 1.jpg
    153.8 KB · Views: 128
Musoman said:
Greypoint - how do you find using the K-5 in the field , and also, compared to previous Pentax models ?
Click to expand...

I'll just jump in here and say in most respects I find the K5 is not that much different from its predecessors, it handles extremely well and with the grip attached is equaly easy to use in portrait mode (the K10/20D grip was not exactly the nicest grip i've used) Coming up from the istD then K10 then K20 and skipping the K7 I did find it a bit strange getting used to the new layout of buttons (none on the left of the screen) but the dedicated liveview button is a vast improvement (not that I use it) and the dedicated ISO and Exp.Comp. buttons on the top now free up the front (or rear) command dials for other things, assuming your one for customising your button/dial layout. Although with the high ISO performance I'm now using TAv mode for shooting birds so my front and rear dials are controling aprture and shutter anyway.
 
I was interested in the K-5 IQ and AF accuracy / speed and high ISO quality. I get noise at ISO 400 on my K200D and no live view, which is something i miss when i had a Canon 40D
 
K5 noise handling is very good, I wont even bother comparing it to the K200D.

AF accuracy is a bit of a tricky one to answer as I dont know how "your" lenses are going to perform with any particular body, the K5 can store adjustments for up to 20 individual lenses if you feel you need to tweak the focus on any of them.

Liveview? cant say as I've used it yet on the K5, I used it once or twice on my K20D to assist in composition when my tripod was up to its top legs in sea water (crouching down to the viewfinder would have got me a wet backside8-P) but access to liveview on the 20D was a joke, the K5 has a dedicated button on the body, you press the button the camera goes into liveview, when you half press the shutter for AF the liveview zooms in to show where the focus has locked.

For images taken with the K5 have a look at the PPG link I posted in my first reply to this thread.
 
I had a look at your own link,

Interestingly, the shots with your K10 and K20 look just as impressive to me. |:d|
 
I had a look at your own link,

Interestingly, the shots with your K10 and K20 look just as impressive to me.
Click to expand...

All of the stuff shot at ISO400 and higher on the K10&20D will have been through noise reduction software, they are not straight out of the camera.

I bet you could get equally good shots with the K200D if you shoot in good light, ANY camera will perform better if the light is good, just search the PPG for shots taken with it.
 
I actually did a search of my cam while i was checking the other stuff, Yes i agree, with good light, possibly - the K200D has poor IQ at low ISO's but shooting in decent light at 200 or 100 ISO is ok.

I have the 80-320 and it performs pretty good in the right circiumstances
 
The 80-320 is an outstanding lens for the money, optically I found it as good if not better than my Sigma 50-500 (which cost almost 5 times as much) the only thing that lets it down is the long throw of the focus and its tendency to hunt when it cant lock on, sadly mine went to ebay along with other bits when I was raising funds for the K5. The black headed Gull and the Barbary Ground Squirrel in my PPG were shot with the 80-320.

Try this on your ISO400 shots http://www.neatimage.com/
The unregistered version wipes the EXIF from the saved file but if its important you can simply drop the filtered file as a new layer onto a copy of the original and flatten it;)
 
Thanks , i have used NI before, but now i use Noise Ninja as a permanent plug-in for my CS4 Extended - a really good noiseware proggy.

Sadly there's no talent plug-in |:d|
 
eenymac said:
I have the DA*300mm too and love it. It has produced some great images since I've had it, not only birds but the larger insects too.

Here are a couple of examples:
Click to expand...

Just a thought..........

It really does seem strange that examples of lens quality are offered using images that have clearly been through some form of sharpening via image editing software.
If the lens is that good.......WHY..??? :eek!:
 
Last edited:
it does seem a bit silly doesn't it|:d| but most images coming out of a digital camera will need some form of post processing.
But you can still see what the lens is capable of producing and thats what counts.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 13 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

T
Camera choice for birding around 3000 Euros with lens?
Replies
3
Views
1K
Tsvetan
T
G
Kowa TSN-884 Spotting Scope with 25-60x Wide Angle Zoom only $2,499.99
Replies
0
Views
1K
gr8fuldoug
G
B
Digiscoping Project - Beginner Questions
Replies
4
Views
2K
Jefrs
J
ammadoux
Olympus vs Nikon
Replies
0
Views
3K
ammadoux
ammadoux
T
Juggling with Magnifications
Replies
10
Views
2K
William Lewis
W

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top