JVS: First Pentax shots/posts

All comments gratefully received! The kestrel is a crop from a shot that was pretty sharp full-size. The robin I thought should have been sharp but isn't and I'm not sure why. I know I haven't got the hang of manipulating the camera settings, so perhaps someone could point me in the right direction. Thanks!

kestrel
[IMG]http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i479/jvs49/IMGP0678crop4-1.jpg[/IMG]

robin
[IMG]http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i479/jvs49/IMGP0693resized-1.jpg[/IMG]

Hi Vern, these are a good start, they are well composed I think you do indeed have the eye Just some minor adjustment needed to your shooting style!

A good rule of thumb to remember is that to avoid camera shake your shutter speed should be close to the reciprocal of your focal length. Both of these were shot at 300mm, so ideally you should be aiming for a shutter speed of 1/300. The first one is 1/400 so that's okay, but the 2nd one is 1/15 which is why there is so much camera shake evident. You can see the classic double image on the back of the bird's head.

The 2nd thing to remember is that most lenses, but especially consumer zooms, are a bit soft when used at the maximum (lowest f-number) aperture. Both of these were shot 'wide open' at your maximum aperture of 5.8. This probably accounts for the softness in the 1st shot (along with the fact that it is a big crop). If possible try and stop down a bit, to say f8.

You could also look up techniques to minimize camera shake. These include tripods and handy things to rest your camera against like walls and trees. Plus how you stand, and hold the camera.

I'd echo what Tim has said with one addition. I don't know if it is correct, but thought I read somewhere that when doing the shutter speed/focal length calculation for digital cameras you should take into account the crop factor thing. So 300mm would be 1/(300x1.5)= 1/450. Open to confirmation?

And don`t forget you can raise the ISO to compensate and also give a faster shutter speed. Your second was in shutter priority so presumably you set the speed at 1/15, a bit optimistic for hand held at 300mm.

Davex.

I always hope the extra help from the shake reduction would easily get you over the 1.5 crop factor thing Barrie, and then some. The focal length = shutter speed thing is just a guide though, as you might have a particularly steady hand, or a severe case of the DTs

Have you reasd all the posts about drink on this forum.

Thanks to everyone, esp davex for your very gentle "bit optimistic" comment - I can hear the disbelief in that phrase that anyone would do what I did! However, I didn't deliberately set the shutter speed at 1/15 - I'm not that familiar/confident about the camera settings and am still trying to work out why the speed was so slow. I read somewhere about trying the different programme settings one at a time to see the difference between them, but am maybe a bit impatient! I have lots of photos I'm happy with from my earlier cameras, but have a lot to learn about using one with the flexibility of the K-7. The aperture/shutter speed/ISO relationship is obviously pretty fundamental, but takes a lot of experimenting/experience to be confident about, I think. Also hard to tell just how good the shake reduction is, though I take the point about tripods/fixed objects for steadiness.
Early days!

The Kestral is difficult to comment on because of the large crop, the fault here probably lies with the lack of a suitable lens, I bet I would have struggled with the Bigma to get close to this little beauty. You shot at 1/400 and ISO 200 but at f5.6, upping the ISO to 400 or even 800 would have got you more depth of field and given you more leeway with the focus.

The Robin shot deosn't seem to have anything sharp so I'm guessing you hit the nail on the head and the Robins eye was pin sharp, problem is 1/15th is nowhere near fast enough to freeze the movement of these little critters so you get movement blur.

As for working out shutter speed V focal length you dont have to count a 300mm as a 450mm, it is still a 300mm lens.

Hello JVS

As mentioned by Gareth the technical stuff has been mentioned already - good advice by those in the know in my opinion.

I have not checked the exif data of your shots so I do not know what lens you have used but the mention of consumer zoom does not bode that well in terms of sharpness - I am not knocking them I have a Sigma 70-300 and love it but at the 300mm end it just cannot compete with my £16 ancient manual focus 300mm prime. In other words they all will have their strengths and weaknesses it's just a case of identfying them and then avoid the weaknesses and concentrate on the strengths for the best results - with my sigma it is best to shoot at f11/ 200mm or thereabouts then crop the shot and it it much sharper

Consumer zooms seem to be a bit hit and miss - one copy will be good at 300mm another of the same model wil not be - mine is not but it is very good up to 200mm.

The main thing for me in these shots is your composition is good as already mentioned and presumably the fact that you have waited and got the eye of each bird in each shot before firing the shot - well done

In terms of sharpness you may get many soft shots and one will suddenly stand out and will be spot on and the one makes it worth while - if you have not already done so try continuous shooting mode - it may seem like cheating but it works.

It may also pay off to check the reviews of the lens you are using as this should tell you which apeture the lens is best at - with the sigma 70-300 it is f11.

Regards


Stu.

Lots of food for thought -thanks.
One thing I pick up here, I think, is to try for a bit more depth of field for sharper focus. Centre-weighted focusing can lead to too small an area of the photo being sharp - is this correct? (leaving aside any camera movement blur for the moment) Hence suggestions to narrow the aperture slightly.

These two seem better - the bird was closer for a start and there was a handy fence to lean on for a steadier camera. I'd be grateful again for technical comments on the camera settings.
Pheasant1
[IMG]http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i479/jvs49/IMGP0573resize.jpg[/IMG]
Pheasant2
[IMG]http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i479/jvs49/IMGP0578resize.jpg[/IMG]
thanks,

The two pheasant shots seems reasonably sharp to me for a consumer zoom. I'm not sure if you've said which one you use yet, but from the f5.8 I'm guessing the Pentax 55-300?

One question - are you shooting in JPEG or RAW? If RAW then you'll will have to do some sharpening in your photo editor. If you're shooting JPEG the camera will do some sharpening for you.

One last point, about shooting wide open. It isn't so much to do with the focusing, more to do with the lens's optimum aperture. For most lenses - especially zooms - optimum aperture is a stop or two below the maximum. In some lenses shooting wide open will result in softer images and chromatic abberations.

The pheasant shots are good especially wide open and 1/20th sec.
I think your going to have to wait for brighter weather when the
same exact shot will probably be f/8 at 1/250th (ish) and will be
sharper. If possible with the 55-300mm try for f/11 or half a stop
under that to get maximum sharpness and DOF.

Using 320ISO or 400ISO will give you a faster shutter speed but
400ISO for birds on a K-7 is a bit noisy, but you haven't much
of an option at this time of year. Luckily the pheasant wasn't
moving if it had been 1/20th would have just been a blur.

These are all JPeg shots with the DA 55-300mm lens. I haven't done very much RAW shooting yet, still experimenting. Thanks for the tips re best aperture for the lens and speeds. One more question for now - how do you get to the exif data for posted photos? I assume from Stu's comment above that there's a way to see the data, but haven't worked out how.

EXIF information can be accessed via photoshop, in my version its under File >
file info >
in the window that appears is a drop down box default on "general" change this to EXIF and the info will appear.

Alternatively look for a program online (freebie) called PhotoMe, this also gives access to loads of additional EXIF info that photoshop wont display.

Also try some Noise reduction software, I use "Neat Image, also free but with a few restrictions unless you buy it, that would allow you to try shooting at ISO 800 when the lights poor. Neat Image also has a noise profile availabe for the K7.

Easier still; install Firefox as your browser, then just right click on any image.