Pentax DA* 300mm Prime v Sigma EX DG 100-300mm Zoom

Decision made . . . I ordered the Pentax DA* 300mm from that toy shop in Watford High Street today.

Thanks for all your helpful info. I decided on the Pentax lens because I already have a Sigma 135-400mm APO if I need a zoom. It's not in the same league as the 100-300mm EX DG lens I know, but it'll do.

Now I'm looking forward to using the DA* 300mm.

PS: My SMCP-M 400mm will not be going on ebay for a while. I cleaned the front and rear elements and took some more shots being careful to select a mid range aperture and got some very surprisingly good images. Lightroom was the culprit, I had the 'Use Auto Tone on Import' turned on, it's now off and when I reimported the images they were fine.

Good decision, Mannesty.
I hope it arrives soon. I think you have made the right choice.( you already have the 135-400 Sigma AF) make sure you post a lot of examples from the wildlife in sunny southern Spain.
enjoy,
Martin.

Thanks Martin.

I'll not actually see the lens until 20th June when I return to UK, but I can wait.

Sunny southern spain huh. Today we have had a bit of sun, some wind, a lot of rain, and hailstones the size of marbles. Right now we have clouds, horizon to horizon. Reminds me of home . . .

It's usually sunny though.

Cheers,

Goodness, how come you kept that but got rid of the A?

I guess you mean the Sigma-A 400mm? A good lens, but surplus to my needs at the time. Don't think that I haven't regretted it since, because I have. I did actually use the Sigma, the Pentax is longer & heavier and spends 99.9% of its life in its case. Its probable that I bought that after selling the Sigma lens and the M is no problem, exposure wise, with my *istD.

I've been taking stock of late of the lenses I have, and (probably) like most here, I have more than I can use. A couple of years ago I bought lots of Pentax glass but it's time to rationalise and ebay some of them. I just happened to try out the SMCP-M 400mm and thought that the images I got should have been much better, so I cleaned it . . .

The SMCP-M 400mm is a very good lens, if it was the SMCP-A version I'd never sell it. I'm even thinking of buying DB's 1.7x AF converter to make it AF and a bit longer.

Cheers,

Sorry, I was having a senior moment. It was McBrian I acquired the Pentax SMC-A 400mm from, so you did well to make any sense at all of my comment (and I hadn't even opened the Rioja by then, which is now empty).

Your Sigma one provided me with some excellent service, and then I found an AF one - so yours went to another forum member who hasn't posted for a while, but certainly seemed pleased with it.

It's nice keeping it all in the family... just a bit tricky sometimes remembering who the family is...

Went for a walk this evening, too late for any proper photography really, bit too dark, but I just took the DA*300. Ended up taking a few test shots, just to compare (a little) with Martin's Sigma pics. Basically I saw the electricity pylons...

Not as scientific as Martin's, these were shot handheld, so camera shake could affect sharpness with the stopped down photos. No sharpening applied to any of these pylon shots.

So here's the over all shot:




This 100% crop at f/4:



f/4.5:



f/5.6:



See any real difference between them?


Here's a shot straight into the setting sun. Any flare?



And a grab shot of a passing plane, f/4.5, 100% crop, no sharpening.



As luck would have it, we saw a passing Barn Owl, right across the other side of the field we were in. On the shady side of the hedge. f/5.6, 1/45s, ISO400, 100% crop. Nice to see though, first one in our local park since 2003 (that we've seen). Flew right off with that meal, so must be feeding young.




Peter, you're going to love this lens!

Dan

Sorry Daniel, nice photo's.........,but this proves nothing. Doesn't tell anything about the !Q of the DA*300. Everybody on this planet knows Electricity Pylons in the UK are much sharper by themselves as the ones found in The Netherlands. I have been told it has to do with the metal used.
By the way: someone like to buy a mint Sigma AF 100-300/F4 :
OK...., and would you now stop rubbing it in. Pretty please with a lot of sugar on top :
Martin.