That's impressively sharp, Mark - You would pass the test for Animals Animals stock agency :) when I first joined there was a sheet of info send out taht said, among a list of requirements, "razor sharp" was imperative.... emphasized with the line: "No fuzzy robins please."
ann Mark Cassino wrote: >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 > > > > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
