Do I need a Big Un or a Wee un? Birdie Lens Conundrum

Hi folks

Relative newbie here and not as au fait with camera settings and the four-thirds rule as maybe I should be.
I am happily snapping away at birds in forests, river banks and even cliff edges when the opportunity arises.
However as you can all appreciate the little critters tend to be about 300 yards away and its impossible at times to discern if its their leg they are eating in the photo are a piece of food. Significant cropping leads to noise bigger than AC/DC in a portaloo and its all lost in the maelstrom.
The options that are available to me at the moment are the following:

The DA L Kits lens 55 - 300
The rather salubrious DA* 300mm Prime
And the affectionately known "Bigma" 150 500

Money being no option I would of course opt for Pentax's pedigree prime lens and consider the Sigma for another body but unfortunately this carrot cant afford it so whats most practical?

As mentioned focal length is the most important factor but would the DA* 300 crop ok to such an extent that a Sigma wouldnt be needed?

Your thoughts and experiences with these lenses and any helpful anecdotes you may wish to throw in.

Thanks

QC

I would choose the Bigmos (150-500mm). The 150-500mm leaves some room to crop at 500mm even and at 400mm the lens is still pretty sharp and leaves a lot of room for cropping.

I have the 150-500mm only for 1.5 weeks now but it's already my favourite lens and some of my best shots I have ever made are made with the 150-500mm.

One of my last shots : http://s692.photobucket.com/albums/vv288/porntani/?action=view¤t=IMGP0891.jpg

Eric

Thank you for the swift response and its nice to hear that there is someone out there using this beast and enjoying it into the bargain.
Unfortuantely I cannot view that file because it failed - perhaps you are on Flickr?
Whats your setup?
QC

Hi QC, to look at your options individually;
55-33 is a fine lens in whatever dress it wears (plastic or metal mount) IQ is very good particularly up to 250mm however, focus speed is slow, the full metal mount version scores here with quickshift, but still not ideal.

DA*300mm, a superb lens, but the lack of zoom could be an issue, if this is not a deal breaker then go for it.

Sigma 150-500, a fantastic lens with usefull zoom and a great OS, focussing is generally reliable, but can hunt in low light. This is my choice.

Bye the way a BIGMA is the 50-500, I may be wrong but I do not think this comes with HSM and OS, like the 150-500.

Davex.

PM sent for my Photobucket album.

I use a K-r and shoot without tripod or monopod. Have shot with monopod but did not like it because it makes me less mobile.

yes it does,currently £950

previous one (which i have) does not

Thank you gents.

A fantastic forum - truly.

May I ask the pertinent question. Is the 150 500 optically better given that it is longer to begin with. Theoretically the larger 50 zoom would be a tad inferior?

I would love to see some more photos with this lens on birds if possible? And that goes for the DA* 300 as well.

Ty QC

I've just put up a comparison of two of those lenses and a 500mm :

link

For what it's worth I think the 150-500 may be your best birding lense out of the lot, however the DA*300 is much lighter to carry around all day, and has the best IQ. You can easily add say a Tamron x1.4 lense to it to take you to 500mm - though the IQ is so high that even big crops are not an issue.

Either of those outfits would be great for birding.

Well I am totally confused now.

Would it be possible to marry a DA300* with teleconverter to my K-x and yield good results?
Where would one come across a teleconveter and which one for that matter?

Whenever anyone asks about the DA*300mm, I tend to link to this post. Note the large photos of the birds are '100%' crops, i.e. enlarged to 100% in photoshop then cropped to fit the screen.

I absolutely love this lens, but if it's purely for shooting birds, I think you'll find the zoom to be better, purely from a flexibility point of view.

NeilP who posts on here has the 150-500 and a large selection of photos on his blog. Seems to do the trick for him!

Dan

It works well with 1.4x (Tamron) or 1.5x (Kenko SHQ) converters as well, both 100% crops:

https://www.pentaxuser.com/photo/kinfisher-redux-17891/large

https://www.pentaxuser.com/photo/kingfisher-17187/large

John

I use the DA* 300mm for most of my wildlife shots, you can use the Pentax 1.7X AF converter with it but need to stop down to F8 really.
You can have a look at my bird shots at srmillerphotography

Hi Mille19

Just looked at your images - very impressive. I assume most of them are with the DA*300 and the teleconverter?
Is marrying the converter to this lens easy, and what magnification do you get?

Thanks

QC

Dan. Before I bought this lense I would have agreed with you wholeheartedly ...... but not now. Since the lense focuses down to 1.4 metres it's unlikely you'll get any birds closer than that ! I've also never had a problem getting a whole bird in the frame - unless we are talking about ducks, geese or swans from within a few metres then really there is no problem at all.

The Sigma 150 500 is back in front then?

Tell me this folks.

I like to walk around the trails and snap what I see (think its the best way). Is it possbile to shoot good pics with the 150 500 handheld? I've heard this is realistic with the OS.

QC