abe_hollander Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 On the Sigma 70-300 APO. Kinda fun! Even took off the AF, to see if I can actually trust my eyes.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abe_hollander Posted March 25, 2008 Author Share Posted March 25, 2008 Rear view.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abe_hollander Posted March 25, 2008 Author Share Posted March 25, 2008 Bandwidth test! Let's try that again with smaller files.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abe_hollander Posted March 25, 2008 Author Share Posted March 25, 2008 and this one.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 I find the switch annoying, but it does help avoid extra long travel times when the lens hunts for focus. Abe, have you extended it to its maximum length and attached the hood? Man, that thing is long! Something else you should try: Post smaller pics! :-D And don't post them twice; sheesh, do you know how long they take to download with my 56K modem? But anyway, you're liking the lens I take it? I find it quite versatile, and am happy with its resolution at f/8 (I would recommend that you avoid shooting wide open whenever possible). Are you going to convince your dad to buy one too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountainvisions Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 The macro switch is really just a focus limiter. I have the older 70-300 that only macros at 300mm. However the working distance is great. Perfect for the places I use this lens, such as while hiking. Not really a fan of getting on top of snakes, and butterflies tend to fly away when you get too close, so long working distances are ideal. It's useful, but I'd prefer all lenses come with a variable focus limiter like my 300mm f/4 has. Makes photography so much easier and really improves focus speed. When you consider that hunting through the range is the biggest loser in focus speed anytime you can limit the focus path to the actual range you need, you'll significantly improve both in focus keepers and the speed at which the lens aquires focus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a few images Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 Why don't we see more 'close-focusing' lenses like those old Vivitars? That's the way to go in my opinion. For instance, I have the Viv 28-80 and the Viv 70-150 - Both are great normal lenses that offer close-focusing as well. It really makes it a much more utilitarian lens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abe_hollander Posted March 26, 2008 Author Share Posted March 26, 2008 Yeah, at least for time being, this will have to do as a "macro lens" in my book. I go slow. @mis: Nah, my Dad and I are 20 min. apart, so he'll just borrow mine, but YES! The thing is ungodly large with the hood. Makes the Tammy 18-250 look... size-challenged. This puppy makes me do the Tim Allen "tool time" sound when I'm using it. When I don't feel like going to the gym, I do one-armed curls with it. In a couple weeks I'll cut my teeth on some soccer league, and hoping for lots o' sunshine, so I can open it up to 5.6 or so, and push the shutter speed for some crispy shots. I've got lots to learn! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shots worth sharing Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 Well, Mis, I gotta say that the Tamron 18-250 (on the k100d) did pretty well by me on our spring break trip to Florida--as long as there was good light *and* I had my brain in gear. I'll have to be convinced the Sigma is considerably sharper and faster. Focus limiter is attractive but added size & weight is not. I'm going to hold off on a decision until Abe & I have had a Sigma/Tamron shoot-out and the new and anticipated options hit the market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 Abe wrote: "so I can open it up to 5.6 or so, and push the shutter speed for some crispy shots". To quote myself: "I would recommend that you avoid shooting wide open whenever possible". If it's bright daylight, close down to f/8; if you need faster shutter speed, just up the ISO to 200. Do the tests (I did), f/8 ISO200 is sharper than f/5.6 ISO100 @ 300mm. If your lens works the other way round, please send it to me for a swap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountainvisions Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 I've found the 70-300 is sharp enough at 5.6 and 300mm. Really, I don't hesitate to use it wide open at all. And nope, not sending mine to you. If I got one of the better 5.6 300mm lenses I'm certainly not trading it in. Of course, I'm not sissy when it comes to tripod or monopod mounting my camera. All my zoo shots that were shot at 5.6 and 300mm were monopod mounted. Don't forget you are shooting at a 450mm field of view wide open. The combined effect of even very minor camera shake (or sensor shift blur) and the wide aperture are far worse than you'd think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abe_hollander Posted March 26, 2008 Author Share Posted March 26, 2008 Having spent some time in the Sports forum, I'm planning to mono it pretty much all the time. Mis, I respect your advice, and I will try EVERYTHING. Maybe we'll discover something in the Sigma/Tammy shootout. I suspect I'll get mostly crap for awhile, but I like managing expectations this way. Plus, 7-8 year olds just aren't that fast (I can still catch 'em). My 4 year old... he's FAST (and playing in his first league this Spring, with 5-6 year olds). I'm guessing I'd go center focus only, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountainvisions Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 Depending on the static nature of the subject I either center or point focus. The difference between selecting the point closest when you've optimally framed, and using center point + reframing can be a big deal at wide apertures. For action though, keeping the subject in the center of the frame with a tight crop is hard enough without having to worry about rule of thirds and all that stuff. Just keep it in the center and then crop to 8x10 or 5x7 or 4x3. Usually, most 3:2 ratio shots have enough fluff to handle a good 5:4 ratio crop and still have tons of extra pixels for large prints. I never trust multipoint unless I know I won't do any better. For the zoo though, many animals are fairly static. if they are, and you have it on a monopod, simply frame as you want the final shot to look, go to single point select and set the point on the area you want in focus (typically the eyes) then take the shot without recomposing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 Abe, Justin is the Sports Focus Master in this thread. He'll probably try to talk you into using the AF button instead of the shutter button to focus...I know Justin all too well by now... :-p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shots worth sharing Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 Ok, I just got a message from B&H saying they're ready to take my special order for the Sigma 180mm f/3.5 EX DG APO MACRO. I'm tempted: the versions for other systems have gotten very good reviews and a long-range true macro sounds pretty useful. On the other hand, it's even heavier and 4x the cost of the Sigma 70-200mm so the question is: "Is it that much better?" And another thing: how come the non-HSM pentax version costs just as much as the HSM versions for Canikon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 "And another thing: how come the non-HSM pentax version costs just as much as the HSM versions for Canikon?" Yeah, what's that all about? And the 70-200mm f/2.8 for Pentax has HSM, so why doesn't this one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shots worth sharing Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 Actually the 70-200mm may be a better choice for me now that I have the 105mm macro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abe_hollander Posted March 26, 2008 Author Share Posted March 26, 2008 Thanks mis... wish I understood three-quarters of what advice Justin would give me. I read one of his posts about pre-focusing on where the baseball action would be, and smoke came out of my ears. Had to go pour a drink... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountainvisions Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 "Miserere Mei, Mar 26, 2008; 05:39 p.m. Abe, Justin is the Sports Focus Master in this thread. He'll probably try to talk you into using the AF button instead of the shutter button to focus...I know Justin all too well by now... :-p" Just checked my closets, are you stalking me? Time to check the smoke detectors for hidden cameras. Hope you have a little modesty when watching the bedroom camera, then again, I hope you turn off that kitchen camera from time to time, we've learned those counters are darn sturdy!!! But yeah, good advice...definitely remove focus control from the shutter button, even my wife is starting to figure this out. The other day I said, remember you need to press the af button to focus. Before I could finish she's like yeah, I know, you tell me every time. If she wasn't holding the camera I'd have sent her to the moon just like Ralph used to do on the Honeymooners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 No stalking, just hanging out at p-net way too much! Despite what I said, after Justin's famous pre-focus baseball speech I transferred focus functions to the AF button and set the camera to AF.C. I'm still getting used to the set-up, but I am finding advantages to it. However, for the better part of 3 weeks, every time I picked up the camera and pressed the shutter-release to focus, and it didn't, I would panic thinking "WTF happened to my camera!?!?!?" until 2-3 seconds later I remembered I had disengaged the autofocus from the shutter-release. Damn near had a heart attack every time. And it was all Justin's fault. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shots worth sharing Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 Mis, what are the advantages? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 "Mis, what are the advantages?" The main one seems to be that you will be the only person capable of taking pics that are in focus because nobody else knows about the Secret Focusing Button (seeing as they're used to P&S functionality). I'll let Justin extol the virtues of this set-up, seeing as he was the main person promoting it. But I do like that if the camera is set to AF.C I can have continuous focusing while I keep the AF button pressed, but I can just press it once to use it as AF.S. Further, you can half-press the shutter button to see exposure settings without the camera losing focus on that bird you had in your sights which you had pre-focused on already and were just waiting for it to take off so you could get an action shot but by the time it regains focus after cycling through the whole zoom range the bird is already halfway to its Winter destination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abe_hollander Posted March 27, 2008 Author Share Posted March 27, 2008 I love it! This sounds like an advantage all around. I can just hear my kids now... "Dad! Your camera's broken! It can't see straight!" 8-) Seriously, mis: You've explained this in a great functional manner. I'm gonna explore further. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 So you liked my attempt to win the <i>Longest Sentence of the Day Award</i>? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shots worth sharing Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 LOL, Mis--and I get it. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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