Richard,

I follow your thought process. That's why I am quite inclined towards the 150-500 also. The lack of zoom in the DA*300 makes it slightly inadequate for me, although I am quite impressed with the quality of the images. What still makes me think a bit towards it and hesitate to detach that thought totally from it is the fact that while using my 55-300 for wildlife I mostly use it at the long end. If (and this is a big IF) I had to go for the DA*300 I would still keep my 55-300 ONLY because its quite an affordable lens pricewise and it would be a shame to get rid of it.

About your Sigma 400 mm, how is the quality of the images? I am just weighing up if that one probably would be a better option, pricewise and also because its lighter than the 150-500 mm and there would be always the option of using the TC. And if you are looking to get rid of it I might give it serious thought and consideration, let me know how much you want for it. And how much does it weigh by the way?

Thanks

Amin

Richard

just out of curiosity and obviously improve my knowledge in the field, had you considered the DA*300 instead of the sigma 150-500? I read some comments about cropping the image from the DA*300 still gave almost as good an image as the 150-500.

It would just help check your thought process

Thanks

Called again and asked specifically for James and he went and checked. . Yup, just as you said he told me has a couple more. He said his colleague didn't know where they kept it as they have changed the location of these particular lenses recently . Thanks Richard, you are a star.

Off to Watford now to test it. Shhhh dont tell the wife , or else I will end up with sandwiches for meals for the rest of the week locked in my shed

the very same shop. I called literally 5 minutes ago and was told it was out of stock.

Let me call again and ask for Jamie. When did you speak to him? How long ago?

Richard,
I just called SRS to check if they had one in stock so I could go and play a bit with it in the shop and they told me that it's out of stock.

I have a suspicion that they must have started packing the only one they had for you already so I was left empty handed. I am literally 15 minutes from SRS, quite tempted to call Chris and ask him to unpack it before he ships it to you and let me go and play with it.

You would get the lens tomorrow full of my fingerprints

By the way, about the wife, I think you are already taking advantage of the fact that she got a new car for Christmans. Unless its a Merc you are so much in trouble when I tell her how much the price of the lens is

Well, at least your maths sciences ok, I still use my fingers to make calculations and often need to take off my shoes to use my toes as well when the calculations are larger. When they are more complicated I just turn to my wife to bail me out .

As for english, as its not my first language so you can only imagine, pretty poorly

Amin

Richard

I did read all of what you wrote. . My confusion here must be the difference between "hand held" and "hand hold". Meaning are you going to use a tripod or not.

And thanks for the explanation.
Also I agree the analogy regarding the gun and the camera

Thanks

Amin

Mark

On a different subject and I hope clarky doesn't mind me using his thread, how close from SRS are you? I think I saw you around the corner from there the other day when I dropped by at SRS

An ex IBM always comes handy .
But I dont think I could afford your fees. Even though you say you are cheap cheep that is quite relative.

Richard,

I have been eyeing this lens for a little while now . I was also looking at the DA* 300 and using the teleconverter but it seems the Kenko TC doesn't work with it. So Looking at the options I would end up having to pay a bit more as the DA*300 costs more than the Sigma 150-500 and also then to cover the extra range buy the so much talked about rear pentax converter that hopefully will be coming out and work with it. But I can only imagine how much that is going to cost.

All in all the 150-500 looks pretty appealing for what I want. I just wish I could get hold of one for a few days and give it a go to get a real feel for it. Well, I might just drop by at SRS today and try it there for a few minutes, but its not like really spending a day with it is it?

I am wondering how it performs in limited light conditions we have around here at least down in London when the skies are constantly grey and cloudy and at a long end.

By the way, are you planning to use it handheld? Its a massive chunk still at almost 2kg .

Enjoy the goody when it arrives and keep us posted how it performs. I am quite interested in seeing how it performs with limited light capabilities, of the type we get here, the grey amd cloudy skies constantly

Thanks

Amin