poor af pentax 55-300

What's not to love about it?

I love Marmite. Mmmmmmm.

There.

I had a similar experience with my 55-300 on a grey day recently..lots of trouble focussing on fast jets in dull conditions. Not many great shots, but a couple that did seem to work ok (both crops here)



Imgp2218c by Andrew:H, on Flickr



Imgp2245c by Andrew:H, on Flickr

Looking forward to using it on a day with good light!

Oh and I'm with Mike on the marmite - uggghhh...

Dunno why but Pentax cameras always seem to have a blue tinge to them.
That first shot is great but with a little extra processing ...

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/Sockpuppetuk/7500373078_482892cc14_c.jpg[/IMG]

Oooh...

I really must start doing some PP on my shots. I have never done any!! What do you use, Mike?

No processing ...

Ruddy hell, I really am quite shocked by that .. it makes such a difference to the end product. The quick edit I did on yours was using the 128k file, given the original you could probably do a lot better.

I use Photoshop Elements most of the time, I have lightroom as well but Elements has a lot more tools.

It will probably be the best £50/60 you ever spend.

Hmmm..I was looking at an SMC-A 50mm 1.7 (is there no end to my LBA?), but am now thinking I perhaps do need to get some software. I have got Paint Shop Pro7..maybe I'll try that first and see how I get on!

Little more time on larger version and it's really starting to come alive now.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/Sockpuppetuk/7500373078_a7075ed70e_k.jpg[/IMG]

I have been wondering why I was not keen on AWB outside and mainly use Cloudy setting!

Must admit I don't worry about it as I always shoot raw and process accordingly but I find Pentax cameras nearly always get it wrong when doing air shows on cloudy days using AWB.

Paint Shop Pro is great, however the software has moved on significantly since version 7.

If you are running Vista or Windows 7 I would upgrade to the latest version which I find suites all my needs. I started with Version 6, good for basic modifications and some basic layers work. The latest version adds tags and RAW processing.

You get a 1 month trial if you download so nothing to lose really.

I experianced the same when I went to Shuttleworth.

Slow prop plans and a Tamron 70-300 actually worked very well for me on a dull day - did use some predictive focus. Panning technique needs a little work! 90% of my arial pictures were sharp enough for 5x7 prints with about 75-80% sharp enough for A4!

The dull day actually was good for metering as background was not overpoweringly bright. Still needed exposure compensation though.

And a dust spot has come into view....

I'm not going to spend ages on it .. the edit was just to give an idea of what can be done with a little processing.

If you could imagine it once a bit of time was spent you would have to wonder why you need more than a 55-300mm

I agree completely. I didn't process mine either for a long time - some stupidity about getting it right in the first place or some such nonsense

Once you get over the whole feeling that you are cheating somehow even a few seconds on it makes a huge difference to the finished photo. I'd be embarassed to show any of mine on here without it now. It opens the door to a whole new level of creativity as well.

I have Paintshop Pro X2, but reckon any of the main ones are absolutely fine. Plenty of free ones available too that will do a decent job.

Mike's treatment of the plane shot says it all really. It's amazing how much detail is waiting to be brought out.