[LRFlex] 400mm lens practice... (was Dickie birds)
- From: David Young <dnr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 10:50:14 -0700
Hi again, Doug!
You wrote:
A hybrid is possible between the closely related species, I'm not sure how
often it acutally happens.
See my later post, about reclassification.
Do you have much difficulty focussing the 400+2x? I'd think that even
framing the photo as you have (NICE and close!!) would be touchy at 800mm,
hand-held. Is this cropped at all?
Answers, in order:
No, I find it very easy to focus... so little depth of field makes
everything snap in and out of focus.
That being said, when I first got the (early version) 400, it was a bit
'jerky' to focus. I took the lens head off (making sure not to lose the
positioning shim!) and cleaned the three focus rails. I simply re-lubed
them with a little fresh, white, lithium grease and the lens now focuses
incredibly smoothly.
Though it doesn't show in the Purple/Cassin's Finch photo because of it's
composition, other photos taken with the 2x extender show some mild
vignetting in the corners.
At the LHSA's Spring Shoot, here in Victoria, last April, I was able to
borrow the new APO 2x extender. It has larger internal elements and does
not show any vignetting. However, with the 400/6.8 the APO 2x yields
virtually no increase in sharpness, or any other visible improvement, so I
remain unwilling to pay its price, for such a small difference!
The biggest problem with using the 2x with the 400/6.8 is the need to keep
the shutter speeds up when hand holding with the shoulder stock. For f13 is
not exactly 'fast' and ISO400 film becomes a necessity! DOF is also a
problem. When you focus on the eyeball, the rest of the bird is already
'soft'. And stopping down is not really an option!
I don't know how you do it with K25!
The Pine Siskin shot (on my site) is cropped, deleting the outer 25% just
about evenly. All the other 400/800 shots are scanned from the drug store
prints, so they show about 90% of the negative. (I have all the equipment
for both B&W & Colour darkrooms, but for the last decade have not had the
space to set it up, so I'm reduced to using C-41 and a local mini-lab.)
The Finch Foto in question was scanned from the negative and is 100%
size. If I scan from the print, bits of the tree are missing and it
doesn't look as good.
So far, all my work with this combo has been with the shoulder stock. One
day I must try it with the monopod. ;)
Cheers!
----------
David Young, | égalité, liberté,
Victoria, CANADA | fraternité et Beaujolais.
Personal Web-site at:
http://www.horizon.bc.ca/~dnr
Leica Reflex Forum web-page:
http://www.horizon.bc.ca/~dnr/lrflex.htm
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