The robins are back and just for fun I setup the birding rig (K10D, A*400 f2.8, AF 1.7x Converter, and AF360FGZ for fill) and took a few shots in the yard. Probably the first time in a couple of years that I broke out the birding stuff.
No great shots - I just wanted to see how well the lens / camera combo worked. I also wanted to see how well the anti-shake worked. So - just for the technical exercise, here's a little jpg of a robin: http://markcassino.com/b2evolution/media/_IGP4349.jpg And here's an 'actual pixels' shot of the bird's head: http://markcassino.com/b2evolution/media/_IGP4349ap1.jpg And shoulder: http://markcassino.com/b2evolution/media/_IGP4349ap2.jpg Those were shot at ISO 400 in RAW DNG mode, adjustment in ACR in the form of minor tweaks to the color temp and levels. I boosted detail / sharpness to 60 in ACR as well. The image was opened as an un-interpolated 10 megapixel shot (no upsampling or downsampling of the actual pixels shots.) My only complaint - the slow shutter flash sync does not work with the A* 400 lens. Checking the manual - it's not intended to. That feature (for whatever reason) is reserved for F, FA, FAJ, DA, etc lenses. So working with fill flash, which is pretty essential for birding, still requires shooting in manual mode to get the slow shutter sync for pre-F lenses. As it worked out in this case, the shot was taken at 1/180th anyhow. The effective aperture was f8 (f 4.5 on the lens, with the 1.7x multiplier effect taking it to f8.) Flash was a -0.5 compensation for fill. The lens / camera was on a ball head, left in free floating position (i.e. not clamped down) so it could be moved quickly. I hadn't noticed the in-camera flash compensation adjustment before, so that was a nice discovery - much more convenient than fussing with the dial on the flash. Overall I'm pretty happy with the level of detail and sharpness, though I still have some reservations about how bird feathers are "rendered" by digital cameras, not just the K10D. As for anti-shake - well - DUH! - I input the lens and teleconverter focal length as 550mm, not close to the 680mm it really is (which, I guess, would of called for a 700mm setting on the camera.) So A/S set to the wrong focal length looked like crap. Next time I'll try to do the arithmetic right and see how A/S works when correctly setup. While the camera is loosely mounted on the tripod, the whole intent is to hold it steady so the A/S may not be applicable. - MCC -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mark Cassino Photography Kalamazoo, Michigan www.markcassino.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
