Another vote for those B&W Trees !

I can see you're loving that lense ! #2 - amazing how good sparrows look close up, #3 - great timing and #6 - ditto on the timing, for me.

The 55-300 is a superb lense for the money. An excellent performer all round however for that shot above you also have it smack bang in the sharpest area of it's range too, 100-260. It softens up a little towards 300 and I usually flick it out to 300 and then just back off slightly - which usually ends up around 260 - for sharper shots. That said it still performs better at 300 than most consumer zooms (though the Tamron 70-300 is also decent at the long end).

That's a really nice shot, perfect exposure and great contrast and well as being very sharp.

Goddammit ! You lot are not helping ! Maybe I need all three


Gwyn - can you say why you find the 50-500 easier to hold ? It seems strange when it's about 50% heavier.

Blythman - I think they all weigh considerably more than the 500 mirror which feels roughly the same as the 55-300. This bit is quite an important consideration since I often wander around all day (rarely staying on one place for more than 15-20 mins) on shoots. I now have Black Rapid equivalents (in both double and single versions) and having used the double once I know I will be using it a lot more in future with the K5 + this next purchase on one side and K7 with whatever is relevant on the other.

As the title says.

Now just a week to go to my new lense and I've dropped the idea of the Sigma 120-400 (IQ and speed), of the Sigma 150-500 (IQ, weight and hand-held shooting difficulty) and of the Sigma 50-500 (weight and hand-held shooting difficulty) .

Still in the race against the 60-250 is the DA*300 and the Sigma 100-300/4. Anything else I've missed ?

You can see what lenses I have already below in my sig. but are there any last minute thoughts re. one of those two (or something else) over the 60-250 ? I must say I've been thinking more and more about the 100-300, as I believe the DA*300 doesn't offer any advantage in IQ or AF speed over the 60-250 and the extra 50mm seems to mean very little at those lengths.

Whilst AF speed is important, IQ is paramount. It is for birding and general use (replacing the 55-300). I will be using the new lense with the Tamron x1.4 Pz version and the AFA x1.7 (compatibility issues with the Sigma I think).

BTW : price differences here are minimal ; US$1,285 for the 60-250 & DA*300 and US$1,365 for the Sigma 100-300/4.

Any and all thoughts appreciated !

Agree with John, I thought it was, in the main, a very fair review and it finished with :

I have played around with these a little more but if I crop the right hand side of #2 it definitely doesn't look right, it's unbalanced. As for #3 I think it works with the crop (up to the 'mouth in the face' - I'm sure you can find it ! - on the right hand side) and without - because of the full reflection of the trees I was trying to obtain.

Thanks for commenting i-Berg.

Thank you Blythman ! Actually I agree with you - I wanted, and still like, the reflections.

Thank you for all your comments guys !

Mark - yes, think I'll clone those out. These were taken in Raw but I was going for semi-silhouttes (my dark side showing through) so don't really want to lighten these - however I realise that may not be to everyone's taste.

I think THoughton may be right and I do need to crop the right hand side off of #2 - although I'm not sure if that will affect the balance of the shot - we'll see.

I will also crop a little water off the bottom of #3 - which has been a criticism on other boards, and then re-submit these two to see if anyone feels they have improved !

Opethian - glad you liked #1 ! I know it's too dark for many people to like but I also liked the various focus points and the overall sense of potential menace it portrays (to me) !

Taken after a shoot in the Shanghai Botanical Garden, at the end of the day on the way out of the park. Which one (if any) do you prefer ?

43 Ltd & Tamron 90 Di

[IMG]http://frogfish.smugmug.com/Shanghai-China/Landscapes/Shanghai-Botanical-Garden-2011/1196500114_ddsoo-XL.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://frogfish.smugmug.com/Shanghai-China/Landscapes/Shanghai-Botanical-Garden-2011/1196483233_KogA3-XL.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://frogfish.smugmug.com/Shanghai-China/Landscapes/Shanghai-Botanical-Garden-2011/1196518854_oXkUp-XL.jpg[/IMG]

Oops yeah, brain-fart. Sigma.