Dan, I sympathise! I use a magnifying eyepiece on the viewfinder which I think is helpful. I know there are many on here who use a split screen viewfinder, which I think may be even better but may be a bit of a faff to fit...

Cheers

Big thanks everyone for the comments - they are very encouraging! Glad you like the shots

Regards

There wouldn't be any external reason would there? Temperature or something. I imagine you have thought about that already in any case?

Hello all. I have recently taken a lot of pictures of a cat which visits my backyard often; and this inspired me to revisit some big cat shots I took a while back (2009) with my old K10d (I miss that camera! - my first DSLR) and try some B/W conversions (I have been trying a lot of B/W recently...). I thought I would post a few here. All were taken with K10d + my battered old sigma 70-300 (except where detailed) and I was lucky enough to be in a position where I could take shots of the cats without bars or netting in the way

First up, a portrait of a young Bengal Tiger:




Sleeping Lion:




Exhausted Cheetah:




One for Shaun (??) - Puma on the brink...




Wet Tiger - this chap is not a Bengal, nor a Siberian, nor any other as he is a Hybrid...




Things are looking up for the Snow Leopard




Noble looking Amur Leopard




The Old-timer -A Siberian Tiger spots me. This was taken with a Sigma 120-400 lens (I haven't got that any more either!)




Lastly, here is the neighbourhood cat I mentioned at the start - taken through two layers of glass in my kitchen door with a Sigma 180mm lens. I reckon he looks like a rock singer




I hope you like them. There are more on my flickr photostream. Any C&C welcomed. Maybe I'll dig out the Siggie and try it on my K5. at about 100 - 200 mm it is impressively sharp even at (nearly) wide open. More likely I'll go back through some other old photos and try some new processing on them...

Cheers

3 absolute beauties - well done. I especially like the third - brilliant!

Ken is right - you don't need a much kit or even space to develop negatives.

If you want to save the effort and If your roll is Kodak B/W film designed to be processed in the same way as colour, then you don't even need to send it off as any high street developer like snappy snaps or jessops (or whoever) will be able to develop in the same way as they do colour films - probably in less than an hour. The Jessops I have used in the past charges £4 to just develop the roll. They will also provide scans on CD for a little extra. B/W which needs a different processing to colour I tend to send off to ilford photo lab, who take about three days via post (they will also provide scans on a CD). I tend to just get the negs developed and then scan them myself (although that's just because I happen to have access to a decent scanner) and then tweak them in photoshop (good for getting rid of dust and scratches)... but that's just me

What a great set - I love the Treecreeper and the Owl, but the fox shots are most special I think - fave being the portrait version you posted last. Really top stuff. The sigma 150-500 turns out some pretty impressive results in your hands... I'm tempted to have a go with one myself... (cue bout of LBA...)

Regards

I have the sigma 100-300 and have just recently got hold of a sigma 2x TC second hand as a bit of a bargain. Not got many examples with it so far as have not had the TC long but with decent light/contrast the whole arrangement autofocuses OK, and I think it is capable of delivering sharp results although I suspect a bit more hit and miss than at 300mm, and with some loss of IQ for sure I think.

Maybe not the best subject but here is a pic with the 100-300 + 2x TC from a couple of weeks ago...




It is certainly worth looking around for a second hand TC - they do appear from time to time on the websites of SRS, Ffordes etc. I got mine from LCE in London.

Cheers

Lovely shot - especially like the closer crop of number 2 with the lovely blurry background. Only point I would make is that I am not sure it is a Kestrel - it looks kinda Sparrowhawkish to me... ?

Cheers

Another vote for Blurb from me...

Regards