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I had some short windows of time over the weekend to go out for a walk in the local streets and bushland and take some shots with the new lens.

I do understand the conditions weren't ideal for photography - both days I was out just in the middle of the day on bright clear blue sky days so... hard raking shadows and no soft light shots here . Sunday was also very windy so waiting for non swaying subjects was a test of patience

However all in all I was very happy with the performance of the lens and the results

Saturday:

First some autumn colour - shot wide open at f/6.3 (290mm, 1/500 @ ISO 280)



and a close up view on a tree which had lost almost all it's leaves now - again wide open at f/6.3 (380mm, 1/500 @ ISO 220)



the view of some of the tree's down the street - 290mm, 1/500 @ f/8, ISO 720



Some flower bokeh - again wide open at f/6.3 (340mm, 1/500 @ ISO 220). The flowerbed was all in a row with the harsh sun directly above and to the right slightly - in hindsight I should have moved closer to the main flower to put the rest of the flower background a little further out of the DOF



Sunday:

Banksia Man - shadows and light - 290mm, 1/250 @ f/8, ISO 450



Bokeh test - a miniature landscape - 210mm, 1/250 @ f/6, ISO 180



Tree lichen set against the deep blue sky - 210mm, 1/250 @ f/6 @ ISO 100 & 170mm, 1/250 @ f/8 @ ISO 200





and finally for the birders out there (and Gerry's worst fears come to pass ). Note I'm not a bird nut (yet ) so this is perhaps my first attempt and this waggy little thing flitted all about the place making him very difficult to track @ 500mm (I don't know how you guys do it... sigh...) - still happy with the result and more so the detail in the feathers in the second shot even wide open (f/6.3) at full zoom (500mm)

500mm, 1/250 @ f/8, ISO 125


500mm, 1/800 @ f/6.3, ISO 320

Looks like you had to zoom out a little in the last shot.... Nice one Rodney...especially the last. How quick and silent is the focus??

surenj wrote:Looks like you had to zoom out a little in the last shot.... Nice one Rodney...especially the last. How quick and silent is the focus??

Yep - most of the images are pretty much uncropped - in this case that flitty litte bird was jumping all over the place getting closer and further away - forget zooming just getting the lens to point at it was trouble enough

a 100% crop from the last:



The focus is surprisingly quick - I'd say close to par with most of my other AF-S lenses - perhaps a tiny touch slower. When photographing busy scenes (like the ones with tree branches at various distances it tended to jump focus quite a bit (between all the objects at different distances tightly packed) as the lens wavered slightly and the focus point shifted. The focus is pretty silent although you do hear the click as it moves into place (that could be the OS as well).

Note that the zoom ring is pretty tight so with all that weight in your hands with the camera and lens it can be tricky to zoom in and out

Hey Rodney, you will be needing a sherpa to carry all your gear soon I have been thinking of moving to the Oly OM-D to save on lugging the weight of my pack!

Looks like a very versatile piece of glass though especially on the crop body.

Geoff M wrote:Hey Rodney, you will be needing a sherpa to carry all your gear soon - I have been thinking of moving to the Oly OM-D to save on lugging the weight of my pack! Looks like a very versatile piece of glass though especially on the crop body.

Isn't that what cultivating daughters is for
I'm not even sure this will fit in my backpack - I guess I'll have to try sometime...
I'm hoping it will be reasonably versatile - although not too sure how it's going to perform down at the wider end and how far in you have to go before it becomes usable (I did note that 50mm was very soft in the one shot I tried)

Lets see this thing in action...great shots though

Remorhaz wrote:Isn't that what cultivating daughters is for

Having raised two to grown up status all I can say is "it might be good in theory but..."

Mr Darcy wrote:

Remorhaz wrote:Isn't that what cultivating daughters is for

Having raised two to grown up status all I can say is "it might be good in theory but..."

Yeah - figures...

Remorhaz wrote:

Geoff M wrote:Hey Rodney, you will be needing a sherpa to carry all your gear soon - I have been thinking of moving to the Oly OM-D to save on lugging the weight of my pack! Looks like a very versatile piece of glass though especially on the crop body.

Isn't that what cultivating daughters is for

I have cultivated two daughters, would I trust them to carry my gear, I don't think so