"Annika1980" wrote in message
ups.com...
: On Mar 8, 10:16 pm, "D-Mac" wrote:
:
:
: I don't sell cameras or lenses any more but when I was a Sigma reseller,
I
: got to sample and catalogue the good, bad and ugly of their range. This
: beauty is every bit the quality item it's description suggests.
:
: What are considered the best of the Sigma lenses?
: Have you ever tried the 10-20mm or the 15mm f/2.8 fisheye?
: Those might be interesting.
: I've also considered renting the 50-500 "Bigma" lens.
: Didn't you used to have a 500mm or 600mm Sigma mirror lens?
:
:---------------------
All mirror lenses I've used (Minolta, Sigma and Nikon) produce absolutely
crap images with poor definition and washed out colours... I bit like your
pics, Bret.

I would myself be interested in the new 50 -500 if it wasn't for the weight.
I have enough trouble lumping 2 bodies and 4 lenses in a back pack as it is
without adding a straw to break the camel's back. If I ditched the 120 -300
it might work but I just love that lens.

I used a Tamron 11-18 for wide angle. APS only, I'm afraid. I tried the
10 -20 when they first came out and found it barely OK in Australia's harsh
daylight. It seemed to me have more distortion at 10mm than this Tamron has
at 11 and the extra coverage wasn't worth it.

The Tamron is a noisy, slow focusing but amazingly light and highly usable
lens with excellent definition. Fortunately wides don't need much in the way
of a focus drive.

Where the issue with any wide is for me, on the East coast of Aus, the sun
is at an odd angle in summer and tends to effect any lens with a protruding
front element. You wouldn't have the lighting problems we get.

I shot a wedding last Saturday in glaring bright sunlight with a UV rating
like a serial number. The couple had the forethought to supply 48 litres of
drinking water which lasted about half way through the ceremony.

By using the Tamron, I was able to shoot into the sun (11:00 AM) for a group
shot with 2, 580 flashes on full manual output and get a decent photo. The
other alternative was to include a busy highway as the backdrop. I changed
the offset under "exposure" in Photoshop to recover the definition lost by
light falling on the front element. I'd show you the picture only I'd have
to kill you afterwards.

You missed the point about the 20D. It only syncs it's flash at 1/250th when
you use it as an "auto" flash by setting the aperture. Bit of a waste,
really. When you choose Program mode (really good for rapid selection
candids at a busy event) it defaults to 1/60th sync which is not high enough
to reliably get rid of the blur from mirror shudder with a glass lens of any
weight - like my Sigma 24 -70. With a battery booster on the camera, a 580
flash and this lens, it feels like a stack of bibles 5 hours into a shoot.

Douglas