If you have photoshop then PTlens is excellent - I use it all the time, costs virtually nothing too

simon

As you say in the modern global marketplace there is rarely a product that is stays loyal to its roots...

Car parts come from all over the world

Aircraft called Boeing & Airbus have parts manufactured all over the world

The world marketplace is flooded by so called "designer goods" made in Asian sweatshops

Many Pentax lenses are already "borrowed" from the likes of Tamron/Tokina as I'm sure are all the other manufacturers products.

It's the main reason I really don't understand "Badge fanatics" - what exactly do badges mean, basically nothing. I consider the individual product not the badge that happens to be printed on it !!

Simon

Ah, I know where you mean - I've always done the walk coming in the other direction, starting by walking up the side of the waterfall in between buttermere & crummock water

Just looked at you other shots, some very nice ones there

simon

Don't we all Chris, they'll never be a camera available that's anywhere near as good as our eyes !!

Nice lighting in this - some slightly stronger foreground would have made it even better, I usually try & use the path I'm walking on (doesn't always work though)

Out of interest where's this, looks a bit like a path I used to get up Skiddaw ?

simon

I like the simplicity of the site, can't stand loads of flash etc - just want to concentrate on the images...

I agree with the idea to title the shots, give the location etc

Some nice shots too

simon

Too early for me to comment on the "purple" issue, not had chance to reproduce similar situations where it was very evident on the Tamron...

regarding focus speed it seems to perform well, a bit less hunting than tamron/sigma, although again ots very early to be sure of this.

I'll continue to post my findings as I get more chance to use it

simon

I guess the weight isn't much different then, I'll retract the comment - aperture at 200m is the same, F4.5

simon

Having only owned the 55-300 for a couple of hours I've not had a proper cahnce to try it out fully but here are my first impressions..

Build quality - pretty good, nothing loose - smooth zoom action (moreso than Sigma 70-300)

size - smaller than both the sigma/tamron 70-300


Lens hood - a little on the thin size but locks in position positively & does the job

& now the most important one IQ...


As I said its early days but my initial thoughts are very positive, looks quite sharp at 300mm to me, moreso than the Sigma & I think if not equal to, then pretty damn close to the Tamron. Looks pretty good wide open too.

I've taken some quick test chart shots - unfortunately these have to be reduce 45% in quality due to photobucket limitations, image size is FULL SIZE - NO sharpening added in PP, shot in RAW

Click on thumbnail to open image, then click again for FULL SIZE


F11 @ 190mm




F11 @300mm





F5.8 @ 190mm




F5.8 @ 300mm

I ordered it from CAMERAWORLD, still had stock last Friday - same price as SRS too

simon

Couldn't resist & ordered the new 55-300, should be here tomorrow - I'll post my thoughts once I've had chance to use it

simon