Bit harsh I think, sure there have been a few problems but considering the capabilities of the software that's not suprising - many of us have had a trouble-free experience with CS3, sorry to hear you haven't

simon

Here's a shot from a recent trip to the Llyn peninsula. Certainly not my usual type of photography & from many shots this was about the best I managed...

I'd welcome a few tips from wildlife shooters as to how to catch perfect shots of birds inflight etc - this were taken using the following settings..

autofocus / Stabilisation ON / SAF - other info is in the EXIF

For FULL SIZE CROP click thumbnail & then on image again when pop-up window has opened






thanks

simon

Just returned from a few days away & had chance to give my new 55-300 a good try-out.

All these were taken from a boat whilst out sightseeing - I must mention that my telephoto/wildlife photography technique needs definite improvement, these are the best of several shots I shot. Only the last one is not at 300mm & all have had some slight cropping.

Post-processing is usual RAW exposure etc,
a little capture sharpness in RAW (amnt =28, rad=0.8, detail=40)
small amount of "output sharpening" - Smart sharpen, Amnt = 10, rad=1

They could probably take more sharpening - all shots are reduced .jpg, saved at high quality ( 8 ) due to hosting limitations


For FULL SIZE, click on included thumbnail & then when new window opens click on image directly

Simon

At nearly twice the price I paid for my Sigma 17-70 in needs to be a special lens, especially as they omitted weather sealing - I await the reviews with interest, I'm pretty sure Pentax must be praying for good news too !!

simon

Thanks for the feedback, very useful.

The reason I asked is that I'm struggling to decide myself, the landscape shot represents more what I actually saw "by eye" but the portrait version does seem a more powerful shot

simon

Would appreciate peoples preference for the 2 images, a small comment on the reason would be appreciated too

thanks

simon

I've had the DA 55-300 for a week or two & am very pleased with it, moreso than both the Tamron 70-300 DI LD & Sigma 70-300 APO I previously owned...

IMHO it combines the strengths of the Sigma & Tamron into one package - low CA/good sharpness at 300mm/excellent colour & contrast rendition, the only downside is that it's more expensive than both, worth it though !!

simon

95% of my photography is landscape work & much of that whilst hiking around the mountains of North Wales - I appreciate completely the changing weather conditions you're talking of however...

do you really need a single lens with such a range - I use the Sigma
17-70 (25.5 - 105, 35mm equiv, x1.5 crop) & it really is excellent for this type of photography, I rarely need to go beyond 105mm & when I do I have the new Pentax 55-300 in my bag just in case. The Sigma is 2.8 at the wide end too if needed.

Just my thoughts

simon

[quote="George Lazarette"] Hi George,

Not been in the hotel for a good while but I'm pretty sure its still very popular, great base for Snowdon.

The hotel does have a website (http://www.pyg.co.uk/) but its in dire need of updating !!

simon

Thanks for the comments - suprised you haven't been around there, you couldn't be any closer

I use a Sigma 17-70 lens, find it excellent for this type of photography - these were all handheld, my rucksack weighs enough as it is with the camera + walking gear, just a bit too much to carry a tripod too - the Image stabilisation on my DSLR definitely helps though

simon