HD Pentax 55-300 WR - couple of test shots

Hi to anyone thinking about the new 55-300 lens.
I've just bought one and here's a couple of shots. You know how it is: get home with new lens and just got to stick it on camera and shoot something!
The dog got in the way and caught the first one and I feel happy with the result - I know it probably wasn't the most taxing of circumstances for the lens but I think it's a decent result.
97.5mm 1/100 f8 ISO 1600 and cropped



That's all I had time for on that day but on the next I was able to get outside and lurk in the shed, K5II on tripod and aimed at the bird feeder. Both at 260mm 1/500 f5.6 ISO 400 first one, ISO 200 for the second. Both heavily cropped, sharpened in LR4.





I didn't really know what to expect with regard to quality when I bought the lens - I'd sometimes used the 55-200 kit, never thought too much of it and expected (definitely hoped for) an improvement with this one.

Any opinions please?

The dogs impressive. Birdfeeders are hard to focus on. It looks
to be focused on the green perch. Try to get f/8 or f/9 with
this lens.... it should be really sharp.

--

Hi
Nice shots. How do you find the focus speed. I have the DA Version and have been happy with the results, BUT, it does hunt for focus at times, especially at air shows.

John

Known issue - mine does as well, so I don't use it at airshows!

Does anyone know if the new HD version has the same issue?

I suspect it will, not least because it seems hunting is associated with aperture size, and the HD version of this lens is seemingly identical to the other variants other than the HD coating of course, so you'll still be at f5.8 wide-open at 300mm which AF systems don't really like too much.

Hi Algi, yes I see what you mean about it being focused on the feeder rather than the bird. I thought I'd got sufficient depth of field to get away with it but obviously not quite!

Hi John, the focus speed sometimes seems a bit slow presumably as perhaps it's way off to start with and has a long way to go. I don't have experience of a faster focusing lens to compare with. It is a bit noisy though.

The last couple of days have been so murky and low in light that I've not had a chance to experiment further and get used to it yet.

The only other long lens I've used is a Pentacon 300mm but at 2.2 kilos it's quite a lump. The convenience of the Pentax is really pleasing and showing that it can deliver as long as I think about what I'm doing! Plus the flexibility of not being fixed at 300mm.

Thanks for the feedback. I think I'll stick with my DA 55-300. I'm not sure if I'd get a lot of use out of a fixed 300mm, I might see about renting one to try out.