On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 03:54:09PM -0500, Christian wrote: # Really those are all pretty bad. I wouldn't be happy with any of them.
I'm certainly not. I should probably also post some uncropped versions. # Perhaps it is also the white on white subject and your tripod/head # combo might not be steady enough. Wind will play a factor too. I think that all of those played a hand in it. The tripod isn't bad, much better than previous ones I've had, but perhaps not up to the job. There doesn't seem to be any good specifications for judging a tripod's performance though. It was also a bit breezy, not quite windy. Also, it did cloud over a bit while I was shooting. Another factor that also played a part is the 20km or so of atmosphere that I was shooting through: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=855+Embedded+Way,+San+Jose,+CA+95138&daddr=Lick+Observatory,+Santa+Clara,+California+95140&hl=en&geocode=&mra=ls&sll=37.343056,-121.637222&sspn=0.010031,0.009549&gl=us&g=Lick+Observatory,+Santa+Clara,+California+95140&ie=UTF8&z=12 It's a 22 mile drive according to the directions. # # I think getting better magnification with lenses and TCs is better # than That's what my experience has been in some cases. I need to learn which ones. I seem to have better luck with the moon and both TCs than just the bigma. # just cropping the image. Use higher ISO so you can stop down and use # faster shutter speeds. Get a better platform to shoot from. Yes, higher ISO would help. # # Here is what 500mm +1.4x TC sharpness should look like :-) # http://birdofthemoment.blogspot.com/2009/01/another-from-south-texas.html Yup, that's much better. I've gotten a couple of decent birdshots with bigma and 1.4x. I certainly don't claim that the experiment was definitive. About all that I proved was that if you don't do it right, teleconverters won't improve the image quality. The next step is to figure out "what doing it right" is. I'm also beginning to suspect that in some circumstances, my camera body may be a limiting factor. Granted, it's more often the photographer that limits the camera than the camera that limits the photographer. -- Photographs are like sentences, the best ones have both subjects and verbs. Larry Colen [email protected] http://www.red4est.com/lrc -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
