Long Range Birding setup

Interesting. Im just about getting to grips with my Q + DA*300mm set up. Still waiting for a sunny day and time to visit a couple of places that it will work well. One is Oare Marshes in Kent where the waders sit out, but too far away for a conventional set up.

I had a go yesterday there on a hunting egret, using the Q liveview with focus peaking and got some ok shots. Main problems were lack of shutter speed and fitting the bird in! These are slight crops or cropped to square.



Little egret Egretta garzetta-8 by Neil Phillips, on Flickr



Little egret Egretta garzetta-3 by Neil Phillips, on Flickr

A 50% crop of the same bird with K5


Little egret Egretta garzetta-5 by Neil Phillips, on Flickr

More shots here

I have found finding birds in the first place is an issue so I'll definitely have a look at the sighting scope.

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It's quite easy to guess the centre on the very clear
bright framelines on the Q viewfinder which also works
well for anyone using glasses.

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Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi

I'll repost mine from the other thread in case they've been missed. Same set up as Neil. Neil - why don't you post the K5 shot cropped to the same size as the Q one. That will be illuminating.










The Blackbird and Wagtail were about 60 feet away. The Fieldfare 40 feet. All had my usual degree of pp and resized down. Must say they didn't need much sharpening.
Dave

First try. Uncropped

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Alan


PPG
Flickr

Looking good in the sun Alan. I think some of us now need to get some more distant shots to see how good the set up is for shots we can't get in other ways.
Dave

Agree Dave. Unfortunately, I've been staying close to home. Not much time just now. Hence the garden bird shots.

Hoping this rig does the business on the local Great Crested Grebes. Last 2 years I've tried converters on the Sigma 15-500 and the Tamron 500mm mirror. Neither have been as successful as a massive crop.

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Alan


PPG
Flickr

I've done the same with both of those lenses and come to the same conclusion although if anything the Tamron 500mm with the 2x converter(01F)was the better of the two which surprised me.
Has anyone tried handheld with a 100mm macro yet? Might have a go tomorrow.

Sigma 105mm macro https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/topic/first-images-with-adapter-38792/p-0#comm4...

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Alan


PPG
Flickr

For an ideal of scale this Goldfinch is taken at 50 feet away and outside its circle of fear as it ignored me while I fiddled around with the focusing. It was windy and I noticed the camera shaking slightly largely caused by the strap blowing. SO, tripod, Q+ 300mm DA* fully open, 1/160th sec, so not completely ideal. Also ISO 400 which is pretty good considering zero noise reduction set pre or post. Taken in raw with my standard adjustments.
First is actual size at 50 feet, second is 50% crop (height)







The idea was then to take same with Sigma 150-500 and crop to same size image but unfortunately the light went!

I had to add a bit of background to this uncropped shot as it was too tight to the frame. i suppose you could say it is a negative crop! Same set up - DA*300 on Q.

I've found this red dot finder which looks spookily like the Pentax, note this is for the 20mm (7/8th of an Inch) scope mount.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Red-Green-Electro-Dot-Sight-FIVE-Illumination-Levels-B...

How are you finding the 3rd party K mount adapter? I found that without a shutter it was almost impossible to take any shots that were not blurred or were at best 'soft' due to either camera or subject movement, even on a tripod.

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Chris

That Kingy is great Dave. Well done mate

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Alan


PPG
Flickr

Well the one above is with the third party adapter. I wouldn't want to take a shot in a rush but once set up focus and exposure seems pretty straightforward. I did use a tripod and remote though as it is very sensitive to vibration.
Dave

Thanks Alan. The acid test is when it is a bird that is sufficiently out of range to be cropped in by the K30. Let's just say I think the age of the digiscope is dead!
Dave

CHris - do you know if their is an adapter available to fit the hot shoe?
Dave