Digital SLR Reviews Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Wildlife Photography’

Pentax DA 18 250mm f 3 5 6 3 ED AL IF Lens for Pentax and Samsung Digital SLR Cameras

What a range! The smc PENTAX DA 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 ED AL [IF] interchangeable zoom lens, designed for exclusive use with PENTAX digital SLR cameras, will provide just about all the coverage you’ll need. With an approximate 14X zoom ratio covering from wide-angle to super-telephoto ranges, this versatile lens handles a great variety of applications from wide-angle landscapes to close-up sporting events and wildlife photography.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Good quality lens
It pretty close to what it is advertised to be. Not good for low light. under bright natural or artificial lights it works great.

5 Stars Terrific lens for the money
It seems that one has to find out which are the outstanding Pentax lenses by reading a lot, and by trial and error. Price is no guide, as with this lens which sells for about half the price of the equivalent Nikon lens. It is an outstanding lens, and even at 250mm (that’s 375mm in 24×36 lingo!), with Pentax’s superb anti-shake mechanism, it is very useful.

An extraordinarily impressive and useful lens. As always, the drawback of these zooms is their lack of speed. f/6.3 is the maximum aperture at 250mm, but if it were any faster, the lens would be enormous. I use two “prime” lenses for speed — 50mm f/1.4 (one of the GREAT buys out there) and my trusty old 85mm f/1.8. Those two, plus a 16-45mm Pentax zoom, and this zoom, cover just about everything. I just wish Pentax would stop improving the camera body about every twenty minutes.

5 Stars Fantastic Walk Around Lens
This Pentax version of the Tamron original does JUST what I wanted it for at a very reasonable price. When I go on trips or outings, I want to carry very little. This more than adequately replaces my previous down-sized kit of an 18-55 and a 50-200. Not only is one lens much lighter than two, it takes considerably less space and provides me fewer opportunities to introduce dust into the camera body while I change lenses. On top of that, it produces sharp pictures with minimal CA.

What it’s not:

Fast. Making this range of zoom fast would require lots more glass (bigger and heavier) and even more cash.

A real macro lens. It doesn’t compete with my FA 100 2.8. This too is a heavy lens and I don’t usually take it on trips.

A real telephoto lens. A 300 and up would be truly heavy and require mounting on a tripod (still more weight).

An ultra-wide ange lens. At its widest it’s the equivalent of a 28.

What it is is a lens I can rely on to capture the picture in almost any situation without having to resort to extensive post-processing work,

5 Stars The best option!
The best option for people like me, who wants to take good pictures but are a little lazy to carry a big bag of accessories every time you go out.

Good photos in all range, good build and love the “lock” key… perfect!

BTW, Pentax rules!

5 Stars Anateur/Enthusiast Photographer
Don’t let anyone tell you anything about the negative side of this DA 18-250mm zoom lens. It is a little darling gadget in exploring good photography. Amateur and enthusiast would just love to have one in his bag. Its focal length is tremendous. You can zoom back and fore with one touch. I was laboriously using two lenses (18-55mm and 50-200mm) in the past; now I just carry one with my camera inseparably. Best of all, it has a tiny lock switch on the barrel to prevent extending out when you carry your equipment up-side-down. Otherwise, you probably have to use a suspender to hold it back.

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Olympus Zuiko 70 300mm f 4 0 5 6 ED Lens for Olympus Digital SLR Cameras

Covering field of view to 600mm (35mm equivalent), this high mobility super-telephoto zoom lens weighs only 620 grams. Also, this lens incorporates three ED (Extra-low Dispersion) lens elements to offer sharper, higher-contrast imaging performance.Furthermore, 1x magnification (35mm equivalent) tele-macro photography is capable. Thanks to Four-Thirds system, the lens offers a lot of the footwork out of both super-telephoto and macro photography world.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars A good long lens
My first impression of this lens was its size and weight; it is big. At about 1.4 lbs it outweighs my E510 camera body and at 3.5″ wide and almost 6″ long with a filter it takes a lot of room in the camera bag. There is only one reason to get this lens and that is for its extended zoom range, about twice that of the 40 – 150 mm kit lens. In 35 mm equivalents this lens zooms from 140 – 600 mm. It is an ideal lens for outdoor wildlife photography. However, like all “long” lenses this is a large and heavy piece of equipment and is difficult to tote on hikes. Also, like all “long” lenses, this lens requires more thought when using than shorter lenses. Whereas image stabilization helps to minimize blurring as a result of shake, it is still best to set the camera on shutter priority and dial in a speed of at least 1/500th of a second. Then adjust the ISO and aperture as appropriate. It is better to have some noise from a high ISO or softness from a wide open aperture then have to deal with blur from shake. My E510 seems to be aware when this long lens is used and increases the speed a little, but not nearly enough to compensate for the length of the lens.

I’ve only taken about 100 pictures with the lens and so far I have been very please with the results. As expected, it is very good at distance shots. What I hadn’t expected is that it is also good at close-ups from a distance. I took a picture of a large bee on a flower from about 7′ away and the flower and pattern on the bee’s wings were crystal clear. The depth of field, as expected, was very narrow. As several other reviewers have pointed out this is not a very fast lens. It rapidly stops down from f4 to f5.6 when you zoom. Hence, my comment that the lens is best used for outdoor photography, especially in full sunlight where f5.6 is not a problem. Given the limitations noted above, I strongly recommend this lens. However, if you are a novice, to get the best results, be prepared to use settings other than AUTO and to learn something about the camera. If you are a hiker and want the capability of a long lens I would seriously consider a superzoom camera (they are about the same price as this lens). The quality may not be as good, but they are much easier to lug around.

5 Stars You can’t expect more from a long lens without paying 3X more!
I have owned this lens for about one month. During this time I have used it daily to test it’s capabilities as a long focal length lens, as a macro lens, and as a portrait lens. After learning it’s limitations I am nothing but pleased with the results that I achieve with this lens. Just be aware:

* You should be experienced at shooting with long lenses.

* You cannot expect good results in poorly lit environments.

* You cannot shoot fast moving targets at long focal distances without difficulty.

* You will normally have a higher percentage of blurry shots than with shorter lens.

* The auto focus will start to hunt if you don’t place the sensor spot directly on the subject.

* The focus speed is not as fast as with shorter lenses with a larger apertures.

I would recommend this lens to experienced photographers or novices that are willing to take the time to learn how to use it. It is a real bargain (usually priced below $350.00) and it will perform like lenses costing up to three times as much. Happy shooting!

5 Stars Good quality for the money
My first impression of this lens was its size and weight; it is big. At about 1.4 lbs it outweighs my E510 camera body and at 3.5″ wide and almost 6″ long with a filter it takes a lot of room in the camera bag. There is only one reason to get this lens and that is for its extended zoom range, about twice that of the 40 – 150 mm kit lens. In 35 mm equivalents this lens zooms from 140 – 600 mm. It is an ideal lens for outdoor wildlife photography. However, like all “long” lenses this is a large and heavy piece of equipment and is difficult to tote on hikes. Also, like all “long” lenses, this lens requires more thought when using than shorter lenses. Whereas image stabilization helps to minimize blurring as a result of shake, it is still best to set the camera on shutter priority and dial in a speed of at least 1/500th of a second. Then adjust the ISO and aperture as appropriate. It is better to have some noise from a high ISO or softness from a wide open aperture then have to deal with blur from shake. My E510 seems to be aware when this long lens is used and increases the speed a little, but not nearly enough to compensate for the length of the lens.

I’ve only taken about 100 pictures with the lens and so far I have been very please with the results. As expected, it is very good at distance shots. What I hadn’t expected is that it is also good at close-ups from a distance. I took a picture of a large bee on a flower from about 7′ away and the flower and pattern on the bee’s wings were crystal clear. The depth of field, as expected, was very narrow. As several other reviewers have pointed out this is not a very fast lens. It rapidly stops down from f4 to f5.6 when you zoom. Hence, my comment that the lens is best used for outdoor photography, especially in full sunlight where f5.6 is not a problem. Given the limitations noted above, I strongly recommend this lens. However, if you are a novice, to get the best results, be prepared to use settings other than AUTO and to learn something about the camera. If you are a hiker and want the capability of a long lens I would seriously consider a superzoom camera (they are about the same price as this lens). The quality may not be as good, but they are much easier to lug around.

5 Stars Worth every penny
I have had this lens for a month now, and couldn’t be happier. My daughter is a senior and use this lens photographing her soccer games. It is sharp and clear, focuses great, and has great reach. It is a wonderful Four-Thirds lens.

5 Stars Great
Just what the doctor ordered. Took it to Yellowstone for its first workout, am VERY pleased with the versitility and results.

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