What to buy... decisions, decisions...

That's true generally, but the Lake District is not like other hills and mountains; it's very compressed.

G

Sounds like your taking the kit bag, you already have 18-400mm covered, and you're visiting the lake district!! Get something you haven't got, and go wide, the difference between 10mm and 18mm is something that would come in very handy up there!

If you have the telephoto end covered then it's the Sigma 10-20mm in my book. It's hardly off my camera since I got mine. Mountains, wide angle, easy decision.

So, can you guess which one I got:






I got up specially early (no breakfast!!) to beat the traffic... Chris's directions and parking advice was spot on, and he had one of each of the Sigma 10-20, and the Pentax 18-250 ready for me to try.

I was stunned by the small size of the 18-250 - it's smaller closed up than my trusty FA 28-200, and maybe even a bit lighter. I took a couple of shots with it, but even in the viewfinder the expected barrel distortion at the wide end was very apparent, and although I know it's correctable, it did put me off a bit.

Not criticising the 18-250 at all - even in the minute or two I had it on the camera, I could tell straightaway that it would handle nicely, and despite the fairly dim light in Chris's store, I wasn't at all disappointed with its focusing speed.

But then I tried the 10-20, and the decision was easy. As people have said, it just makes all kinds of photos possible that I've never had access to before. The perspectives possible just blew me away.

I'll post some more impressions in due course.

A real pleasure to meet Chris face to face at last... I know he'll kill me for this, but here he is...

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Edit: fabulous portrait moved to the comps thread
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Oh, and would you believe, right next door to SRS is an outdoors shop, and they had a trekking pole/monopod - one of these, as someone suggested, so thanks very much - I'm all sorted now.

A competition entry if ever I saw one!

Dan

Doh... that hadn't even occurred to me. I did say I went out without breakfast...

That's not me - it's my older less attractive brother....

Well, back from the Lakes. Fabulous weather, sunny most of the time (although that often meant boring light).

Very pleased to have chosen the 10-20 - it was hardly off the camera.

I haven't even nearly finished sorting through the pictures, most of which are pretty rubbish (just snaps, as in 'did we really get down from up there? ') , but I'll post a few in due course.

Thanks, people, for all your advice and encouragement to go wide. I still want the 18-250 though. On the occasions I wanted long, it was a right faff.

Edit: I've got a bone to pick with Chris though. Why on earth didn't you remind me that I needed a polariser for it

A polariser on the 10-20 (or 12-24) can be problematic because of the huge angle of view. You get into all kinds of issues with a kind of vignetting.
But if you do, then the Cokin P size polariser from Kood works pretty well (and, of course, fits all lenses with an appropriate adapter). For the 10-20 you'll probably need Cokin's special wide angle holder (though I took an old P holder and hacked it )
Matt

Good point.

I have a Cokin P holder and polariser... just not a 77mm adaptor.

Could you hint at the hacking required, Matt?

I think Matt's talking about using a dremel or (very) sharp knife to slice off the outer holders, retaining just the one slot nearest the lens to hold the filter. I did this successfully on an 'A' holder (for a smaller diameter lens) and it worked quite well. I didn't think a P would fit the 10 - 20, and picked up a Cokin Z kit - I should've tried the P - much cheaper...

(Successfully being a relative term - it worked fine, but it looked like a 6 year-old had done it - I needed a much sharper knife )

I haven't tested properly but I think you can use a conventional polariser with the lens at 20mm, and probably wider than that too.

Hoya Pro polarisers are not too chunky.

Interesting to know.

Though since I'll probably never use two filters at a time, and all I need is the 77mm adaptor and something sharp, it sounds like the Cokin route is likely to be easiest.

Famous last words... you know I'll need the ND grad and the polariser as soon as I'm done with the knife...

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/default.php?cat=1&type=1330&man=0&fi...

7dayshop have got the filter holders for £5.50 and rings for £6, so not too pricey even if you buy an extra holder to butcher.