Ducks and stuff

Went to one of the local parks yesterday and took quite a few pics of the ducks and geese on the lake there. Tried several times to get flapping ducks, only one sequence was sharp.




Squabbles tended to break out when there was food around (courtesy of families with bread, really should have taken some along myself), and I like this one for its energy. Photoshopped a twig out of the top right, although I really want to try this one again and get it better.




Both with the K10D and Tamron 300mm f.2.8 at either f/4.5 or 5.6. The second was at 1/500s which did a fair job of freezing the water droplets.

It's made me want an autofocus 300mm lens... now where could I get myself one of those...? That's definitely one I'm going to be playing with this saturday at SRS.

Dan

Both shots are excellent Dan but No1 is my favorite Great timing and colours.
So are you going to take the plunge on an AF 300mm : What one are you looking at getting.

Lovely photo's. My favourite is number 2 - love the motion of the birds and the water. That Tamron 300mm is a lovely lens. I do sometimes wonder with those action shots whether an AF lens at f4 would actually provide that many more keepers that this older MF lens which provides so much light in the VF at f2.8?

Well SRS are having their Pentax day this saturday, so I'm going to have a play with the DA* 300mm f/4 SDM. Bit more than I should really be spending, but I've got a 1.7x AF converter that I could spare, and the Tamron would go, so they should cover more than half the cost of the Pentax.

True, but it's as much down to reactions as to amount of light, I figure the camera and lens combo might be quicker than me. I'd guess I might improve on my 5% success rate with these pics. Also, the Pentax should be considerably lighter, which would mean I took it out more. I think the Tamron is mostly lead, with some cast iron parts.

Dan

That's very true, hadn't thought of that. I seem to be lugging around heavy lenses ATM.

BTW chirpy what is the weight of that 500mm Sigma :

I love no2 Dan great action, but reckon cropping an inch of right side would improve it even more, IMHO of course
Lilly

It's 3150g - heavy. It does have a very good carry-handle/tripod mount which you can use. I use the manfrotto long lens gimbal mount on a tripod which allows you to move the camera+lens with a finger tip and it stays where you point it when you let go. Not a walk-around lens

Lovely Pics, Nice one