A magnificent image, not only the high ISO (which the camera looks after) but the great focussing - to get one correctly focussed in situations like this is extremely difficult and much more impressive than the ISO performance IMHO as it relies on the photographer's skill much more.

Regards
David

I didn't notice the poll question until Dr. O. mentioned it. Rather than lessons, you could meet up with some local Pentax users; this is one of the best ways to learn.

Regards
David

I didn't look at the feet before but I've had another look - I think Shaun has blurred the background to make the bird stand out more. Given that he only went to the zoo yesterday and uploaded these pretty quickly, they have probably only had a very quick flash through photoshop during post processing and the bit between the feet has been missed! Shaun can probably confirm this?

Cheers
David

Hi Aura

There is always the option of buying an older 'manual focus' lens. As Ken says, your 18-55 is already wide angle at the 18mm end, so this will give you plenty of depth of field. There are numerous wide-angle 'prime' lenses for sale on ebay, on this forum and elsewhere, but not many will be as wide as the 18-55 at the 18mm end. The lower the number for the focal length, the wider the angle, e.g. a 24mm lens is wider angle than a 28mm. You could pick up something like a Pentax-M 28mm F2.8 (or F3.5 is even better) on ebay for about £30-£50; this is not a lot of money if you want to give one a try. Be aware that you will need to focus manually and set the aperture manually on a lot of these older lenses.

I'm not sure if this is helpful or not, but the best way to find out about how different lenses work on your camera is to try them!

Regards
David

I think the bird has moved slightly during the exposure Alan?

Regards
David

Pentax-M 50mm F1.4, wide open.




Regards
David

A good set Shaun, the stand-out for me is the Pelican - absolutely superb!

I also have this lens (or at least my son Daniel does) and we got ours for basically free! It came with a used K-m we bought!

Regards
David

Some early promise there... can't wait to see some of more favourable subjects in better light.

Regards
David

The one with the K-5 is marvellous Alan. The one with the Q is a great achievement but obviously does not have the same IQ.

Regards
David

Best of luck Drew, I nhope it all goes really well for you.

Regards
David