K5 and IQ

Hi Stan,

You should be able to get decent sharpness with the 55-300mm. But there have been discussions previously about the lack of sharpness with this lens, and certain possible reasons.

I found that i couldn't get a decnt focus, especialy at longer focal lengths, and the reason was because I had a UV filter on. Others have had problems using a CPL filter on it too. So, if you have got a filter on it, take it off and have a go like that and let us know how you get on.

If it's not that, maybe someone else can help you. But I've found that lens pretty sharp on the K-r.

Cheers,

ds

I'm getting better results with the 55 - 300 DA on my K5 than on my old KR.

Autofocus is better, metering seems better and the quick focus ring sorts out occasional hunting when at wrong end of range. Curiously, spot AF is less necessary on the K5 than on the KR for wildlife. Spot or centre metering is recommnded with this lens.

My 'Swallowtail in Greece' on the gallery on here is taken with that lens on the K5 which I remain very excited about every time it comes out of the bag! Sad but true

It should be razor sharp on the K-5 even at 300mm and crops
aren't usually a problem. The big advantage is the high ISO
400ISO is good and 1600ISO is only slightly more noisy.
Recovery of underexposed shots is excellent.

Personally I would prefer the K-5 to any new lens.

For best results with the 55-300mm it needs to be between
f/8 and f/11. Most poor results with any lens are usually
due to camera shake.

I've used the 55-300 on the K20, K7 and K5. It is perfectly sharp on all three. Results from higher ISO on the K20 and K7 will be fine in bright conditions. Noise is much more noticeable in darker scenes and of course you can't tweak exposure as you can with the K5. Personally I'd first concentrate on optimising results with exisiting kit, trying out tripod mounted, cable release, mirror-up on a still subject.

If you are using the tripod to get sharp shots then as said use f8 to f11 also use the 2 second self timer to release the shutter. And keep the shutter speed above 500th of a second.

And Turn OFF the Shake Reduction ( SR )

Any of the remote or delayed release modes turn SR off automatically.

There is no need to change the setting manually for these.

It might help to check the focus is right using AF and also
do a few shots using MF.

I would second what Neil (darkskies) says about the 55-300 lens. I have had two problems with it, neither of which were the lens at fault:

1. I couldn't get a sharp image - until I removed the UV filter and then hey-presto it was razor-sharp!

2. My K-x was seriously front-focussing so I applied an AF Focus adjustment in the debug menu and all was well. With the K-5, images with this lens are razor-sharp with no AF adjustments.

Also, the AF with the 55-300 is transformed when using it on the K-5 as opposed to the K-x. It hunts very little, is reasonably quick to lock on and produces accurate focus almost every time.

It's a great lens and one of my most used, I think you need to see if you can get it performing as you would expect before upgrading the camera, but if you decide on a K-5 you will not be disappointed.

Regards
David