Shots look good though.

I like the shots...I have been debating about getting this lens for some time now. That, along with an 85 & 135 - still hunting them at different vendors and Craigs List...

Hapster

Are these pictures straight from a camera? I mean, that colors are quite strange, a little bit too much of green? Perhaps AF made an mistake in pic #1, or is it a crop? I mean, that not much a difference to the 18-70mm kit lens.

Could be light filtered through and reflected upon the green leaves of the tree. Green mossy stuff often grows on tree bark, too.

Actually the orignal photos are bad, very underexposed...mid-day sun blowing out the sky. I had reset the camera and didn't have the AEL button enabled with spot metering and I thought that I did...Needless to say...spot metering is a requirement for this type of shot and all I was actually doing was locking exposure...and yes, it is a crop.

I was also at f/5.6 testing the lens for correct focusing and the squirrel was moving...shutter speed was too slow for animals at 80mm. So a lot of bad things...I wasn't properly prepared.

As far as the green leaves are concerned, that is the color of the leaves...they are VERY bright green. One thing about the CZ is that the colors are very accurate, focus is fast...too fast and contrast has to be turned down in many cases in RAW...this lens was bought refurbished and this was my first outing with it for lunch in a park...I still don't know if the cost is justified over the 18-250 or 17-50 offerings. I will say the 18-250 is not suited for indoor use without flash.

That's why I didn't put in in "critique." I knew I would get blasted. It wasn't the fact that the shot itself is "good" but that's the closet I've ever been to a squirrel in Louisiana...they run here...

"that's the closet I've ever been to a squirrel in Louisiana...they run here..."

They run here too. That's because they taste good, I think.

Alas, my squirrel hunting days are over . . . no time. But they really are quite tasty.

(grinning and ducking now as I run myself)

Ok, it could be my new Lenovo 22" display also, it's quite bright and offers too much colors at the moment, haven't got time to calibrate it at all. Now they are better when I'm looking these from my laptop. =)

Squirrels are very nice, no idea about the taste, but it's fun to feed them.

I hope you guys don't mind, but I'd like to add a shot that I got a while back to the pool.

Inquisitive Squirrel
Picture taken with Konica Minolta Maxxum 5D Camera and Sigma 135-400mm F/4.5-5.6 Aspherical APO Telephoto Zoom Lens at 210mm focal length, F/5.6, and 1/20 sec exposure time. ISO speed set at 200. Metering Mode Center Weighted Average.