George is now a fully fledged Pentaxian with what must be
the minty-ist *istDS in the Country with only 600 clicks.

Welcome George

Algi

Arrived today same size as the one I already had 75mm high x 48mm diam. at widest point on base. Great for a monopod or tripod and really cheap for good quality. I might get another one

Algi

Might not be rigid enough? and if it has a centre column it could be quite painful.

Algi

£150 Cash and it's yours George. I can deliver it to Orrel... no problems or even Liverpool for that matter at the weekend.

I'll send you an email straight after this post.

Regards,

Algi

The Pentax 55-300mm is a very sharp lens, but it has to be held very steady and the focus has to be right. Same applies to all lenses over 200mm. Also the light looks good so you could have probably got away with f/11 for increased DOF.

Algi

This one should be OK. I've already got one, but have ordered another. They don't give the size here, mine's 75mm high and has a quick release screwed to the top, unfortunately this one hasn't got the QR.

I ordered it 2 days ago so it may come today. I'll let you know the size when it arrives.

Don't be put off by the low price Iston stuff's good quality. They also did a bigger 100mm head.

Culman heads should also be OK, better still SH Linhof, but hard to come by.

For looking upwards you would be better with a small tripod with 2 legs on your shoulder and one on the stomach. I've used small Minolta and Polaroid ones with 300mm lenses + 2x converter successfully. One on ebay here (US) The Leica one is similar, but the head has to be bought seperately and is a lot dearer.

It's a pity they don't do this shoulder support to go
on both shoulders link



Algi

If you don't buy the one from SRS I've got one that's hardly been used. I've taken about 600 photos with it and have had it since new (can be confirmed with the Exif data read by PhotoMe software).

It's in mint condition complete with all the bits and the 18-55mm kit lens, which I think I've used about 6 times. All the boxes are mint I collected the camera from a main dealer when I bought it. The manual is also mint.

I was still using film when I bought it and didn't really change to digital properly until the K10D came out and I had to have the latest.

I could let you have it for £170 inc. postage to the UK.
Payment by bank transfer or Paypal as a gift.

Regards
Algi

Just checked with the RF-602 and it does wake the camera up from sleep mode and lets you focus before taking the shot. Any remote that plugs in should do the same. It's only Infra-Red remotes that can't wake the camera up.

Algi

Thora, you can set the auto power off (page 196 K10D manual) to up to 30 mins or off all together. Would suggest 30 mins. It only flattens the battery so not much of a problem.

The K20D is quieter but not that quiet that it won't frighten the birds. I wouldn't bother about that though, they'll come back. The sound of a DSLR is nothing compared to some 6x6 SLR's that were used/still used a few years ago.

Algi

Thora, you need to get one of these RF-602 remote releases. Best release on the Planet You can fire it from 100m away Push half-way to focus and a red led light comes on. Push all the way to fire and the green led lights. If you do it quickly the camera will focus on it's own if set to focus using remote on the camera. For a feeder I would use MF and f/11 and focus where you expect the birds head to be and frame it to get all of the bird in shot.

The RF-602 can also be used the other way around to remotely fire a flashgun i.e. wireless trigger. I bought two sets off camplus (ebay seller, China, seems to be out of stock at present). Now I can remotely fire and trigger a remote flash at the same time or set one up as a relay so that I can shoot from 1/4 mile away

Yongnuo RF-602 Review

Algi