..................but Lilly it is full blown colour

Congratulations to Dr. Mhuni, a most unusual photograph that I must show to my brother in law who lives in Ethiopia.

Well done to Clarky for the much coveted second place and many thanks to George for his informed judging under difficult circumstances.

Strong Light




Reminds me of my days at university printing black and white - colour was too expensive !

The lenses arrived yesterday - fantastic service from Chris @ SRS.

I tried both lenses very briefly yesterday evening just to check that they worked.

I think that anything longer than 300mm would be unmanageable hand-held (I guess you Bigma guys always use a tripod) and the Sigma 105 has a huge amount of lens travel, quite extraordinary for me, having never owned a true macro lens.

The only problem with buying new lenses is trying to fit them in my camera bag, but after some juggling I have managed a logical arrangement for the K10D + 16 -50 attached + the other five lenses that I normally use (or will use).

I am doing my bit for the environment today and staying at home, so I shall try some macro shots around the house or garden.

Well.........................in a moment of madness I ordered a DA* 300 and a Sigma 105 macro from Chris @ SRS

I am looking forward to their arrival

Looking at the pricing of some Sigma lenses, I find that in many cases the Pentax version is the same price as (or sometimes more than) the Nikon or Canon versions of the same lens and yet with the Pentax version you do not get the motor in the lens (for example).

It would be nice to think that if they leave some of the components out, the lens might be cheaper

Clarky,

In the UK (from SRS) the Sigma 100-300 is £759 and the DA* 300 is £899, so the difference is not enormous. Indeed the Sigma is more than the Bigma

How much better would the Sigma 100-300 be than my existing Sigma 75-300 :

Would I just be duplicating a zoom lens and only gaining autofocus :

With regard to Chirpy's question, wildlife and anything else, mainly at the long end that catches my attention.

In the summer, many photoraphs are taken from a moving boat, where the subject matter is almost always further away than would be ideal, so even with a 300mm lens, cropping is highly likely.

If I opted for a long prime, I would still have my old Sigma A 75-300 dating from the mid 1980's, which still works well but is obviously manual focus.

I have used the Sigma on the K10D and most images taken have been at the long end.

I am looking for the best possible quality of image (within reason) and I do not want to have to use a tripod (useless on a boat, but a monopod might work o.k.).

Anything longer than 400mm would be too long and indeed even 400mm may be optimistic for handheld

It seems likely that some unexpected funds will arrive that will enable me to buy (subject to OH approval) a lens

In an ideal world I would probably want a DA* 135-300 or a DA* 135-400.

Such beasts do not exist and the DA* 60-250 has an unknown arrival date (I don't believe the latest roadmap), overlaps too much with the DA* 50-135 and is slightly too short at the long end.

I had been thinking about Sigma zooms but now I am thinking more about the new Pentax long primes.

I have narrowed it down to :-

Pentax DA* 300 F.4 1070g 184mm long
Sigma EX 100-300 F.4 1440g 227mm long
Sigma 120-400 (not yet available) F4.5-5.6 1750g 203mm long
Pentax DA* 200 F2.8 825g 134mm

I do not want to be restricted to having to use a tripod or monopod and in this respect the two Pentax lenses are shorter and lighter.

I am tempted by the DA* 300, partly by the images taken with it that have been shown on this forum.

All comments gratefully received

Which model of Artic Butterfly are we talking about :

7 Day Shop sells various models at their usual discount prices.