It's only £177 on Simply Electronics with free delivery. You'll probably wait longer for it to arrive from them but by god that's a cheap deal!

Regards
David

PS: They are based in Hong Kong, at this price it will be a Grey Import most likely

Does anyone out there own and regularly use the Sigma 17-50 f2.8 lens? If so, what is your assessment of it in terms of its optical quality?

Sharpness, colour rendering (particularly interested in this) and contrast? CA? Other aberrations?

I need a high quality zoom in the range that the Siggy offers, but I'm put off by the price of the Pentax DA*16-50 and also the poor reliability of the motors on this lens. The DA*50-135 and DA*300 have blown me away, but the DA*16-50 for some reason doesn't have the same appeal to me. Will a Sigma 16-50 give me similar or better IQ than the Pentax would?

I'm not particularly interested in the Tamron, despite it getting decent reviews.

Regards
David

The DA*300 is quite simply the best lens I have ever used, by a margin. It is magnificent, very sharp, very usable, great colours and contrast, high build quality, AF deadly accurate on my K-3 or K-5IIs (best on the K-3); there are no negatives for me with this lens.

If you can afford it, buy it. Just look at the images I've uploaded of late. I'm not saying they are better than anyone else's, but a high proportion of them are taken with the DA*300, simply because it's always attached to the front of my camera!

Regards
David

An interesting take on the day John, I never thought of highlighting the pain! 2 and 4 are my favourites in this set.

A couple of observations, a few of them have the wheels cut by the image frame; I don't mind this if it is intentional tight framing, but it doesn't look right when the edge of the wheel is cut. I was guilty of this too!

Also, be careful about getting stuff in the way, e.g. fences and railings as in number 6.

Well done on these, they are different to the other images posted and the better for it.

Regards
David

Some good shots here John, particularly as these are your first go at this type of photography. Number 2 and 3 particularly catch my eye.

Regards
David

Excellent as usual Alan, the third is the one for me.

Regards
David

Hello everyone, thank you all for the valuable feedback; so many comments to digest! I can't acknowledge all of them, but there are a few 'common themes' in here which I will speak about.

- Tight framing - I agree there was a lack of room with the DA*300, but in fact this was the number one objective, i.e. to get some tight and edgy compositions that no-one else was shooting. The first image 'Juniors' is an example and one that I'm particularly happy with as the effect is exactly what I was aiming for. I know it divides opinion and this is fine!

- Top Bend - I had the same thoughts as everyone else, it has run out of a little room on this one. I have more like this that don't have the same problem, shot with the DA*50-135. Also, the guys that were there will know how fast they were hurtling around this bend and I could not see them until they emerged, so timing was difficult with the 300 to say the least!

- Black and Whites - I like to do a few BW images as I think it focusses the mind and the eye on the action and the composition of a shot. In some the colours were a distraction to me, like the first shot for example where I was hell bent on getting this specific look and composition.

- Shutter Speed - I think it's a fair and well made point that higher speeds could have been used on some of these shots. I've always liked my images clean! I will routinely use the DA*300 at speeds of 1/80 to 1/40 if required, on still subjects. I agree that some of the faster moving ones would have been sharper with a faster shutter, but overall I'm happy with the results.

Thanks again all, if anyone else has any comments please post them!

Regards
David

PS: A few of these were taken from viewpoints that only the 'official' togs had, but the majority are from public vantage points freely available to anyone on the day.

I realise that a lot of people haven't got the slightest interest in the subject matter of these shots of the Tickhill Grand Prix Cycle Race Meeting that took place last Sunday 24th August, but some of you will be fans and I'm also interested in feedback on these from a photography point of view. I went to the meeting as one of the invited 'official' togs, but as I don't work for a media organisation and was doing this for fun and for free, I set out with the objective of doing things a bit differently. Hence the use of the DA*300 which was really too long for shots in a very tight space, but I knew this would make me work hard for the shots and think about some creative framing. As a result, I doubt if any of the other togs there on the day got shots with the same sort of look as these.

I really need some feedback on this set, I am quite pleased with the way they turned out and I am aiming to get some of them published by the race meet organisers if possible. All are with the K-3, ISO's vary between 200 and 800.

Juniors





Is the video right?





Peloton





The Top Bend





Enjoying the Last Lap





Ladies on The Street (!)





Breaking the Sound Barrier?





Behind the Motorcycle





The Joy of Coming Second!





Banter at The Start





By a Whisker





Watching the Winner's Interview





Going For The Line





Interviewing The Winner




Thanks in advance for looking and for your comments.

Regards
David

A nice set, I think the mono ones work best, they convey the atmosphere of the event very well.

Regards
David

No problem Naim, it was a late invitation anyway. The event is likely to go ahead again next year and will probably be bigger again. It's worth a visit, I got some great shots yesterday, will post some on here soon.

Thanks for taking the trouble to keep me informed.

Regards
David