I agree with Pete and I'm pleased he says the lens can focus beyond infinity as I'd say I have had that happen once or twice. The lens does seem to hunt quite violently on some scenic shots, when that happens I get a focus on some clear and distant object where there is some good contrast and that seems to sort it out.

Here are links to some rather large images that I took almost when I got the lens. they seem sharp enough. I warn you now they are in total 6 meg plus.

At 10mm

www.drmikewebb.com/Cornerhouse.jpg

at 16mm
www.drmikewebb.com/porch0409.jpg

They look sharp in PS.

Mike

I'm pants at giving images but I think these might help.


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and I wasn't using much PP sharpening at the time as I didn't understand why it was needed. The ficus is off but I thin k it's sharp.




Pretty close up and this prints a dream.




I forgot to sharpen again in PP.




Very misty morning




I'm not sure what you'd make of any of these at these sizes

Mike

What shutter speed? It's not as sharp as I'd hope for but it does depend on a steady camera! I have taken a very similar shot of a church porch and I can zoom in to read the notices on the noticeboard and the stonework jumped at me. Your shot also looks a little flat.

My own theory for what it's worth is that the AF sensor struggles to locate any sharp contrasty edges in some shots becuase the field of view is so wide and that it can sometimes latch onto an unexpcted bit of contrast.

The most disappointing shots I have at the moment are those nominally set to infinity focus.

What I did was stick my lens on a tripod in the garden and then take the same shot with the Sigma, the kit and a an old prime. This went a long way to reassuring me that all was well and also tended to make me think that the AF struggled to focus on very distant things or things without much contrast. A wall a few feet away no problem although I did also test to make sure that the red focus area (I was on spot) fell onto either a course of mortar which at 10mm was quite hard or the front door frame and then the focus was fine.

Basically I'd suggest you do sokme tests like that. I also did the front and back focussigng test which showed all was well. As I say it's the distant view shots that seem the most troublesome.

Mike

I have the 10-20 Sigma and have had concerns about the focus from time to time. I'd suggest you are very careful to note where the AF has actually decided to set the focus. I thought that a very short lens would very forgiving about focus but it doesn't seem to be the case so I wonder if the AF struggles to decide where to set the focus sometimes because of the wide angle of view.

Anyway I was concerned for a while and then I realsied most of the issues lay with the way I was using the elns so take heart!

Just for fun test it on a flat wall and use different focus positions - the mode where the buttons shift the focus point for the AF about and see what happens.

Mike

Thanks Lilly for good and helpful judging - quick too!

Mike

Abstract - as close as I can get.





Mike

Steve

I suspect East Cantonments might not have existed in my day - where is that?

I worked at The University of Legon and had a house at South Legon which had been built by the Yanks in the seconds World War. Looking at Google Map I think they must have gone by now, I can't find them on teh satellite image.

The University was a great place then and I guess I must have met Kofi Annan at some point as everyone (apart from the military) turned up there at some point.

I think we were there at Ghana's low point, three coup d'etats in one year was going it a bit and JJ Rawling in his plane bombing somewhere as I recall. They also canged the currency to catch out the black marketeers but the street money changers had the new currency before the banks!

But as I say - happy days!

Mike

PS Do the small boys still sell the chocolate by the roadside? Designed never to melt in the heat just become flexible!

Sadly I lost all my photos that I took when we came back.

It was living OK - you could get beer if you were lucky but it could take two or three days to gfind it and then some serious negotiation and you had to have empty bottles to get full ones as there was a shortage. Food was always an issue and I often went to the docks to try and get cans of fish which might take another day or two. Flour - wow that was a real problem.

Fresh food was not at all easy to get and at the time the locals managed on basic starch like casava and imported rice but it was very, very hard for them. That said they were so welcoming and almost always helped the poor confused white man when he got himself into a mess. It made me ashamed of the racism they suffered in the UK at the time.

Happy days.

Mike

I lived in Ghana what must be 30 years ago now - great place but no food or beer so we used to drive to Lome to get supplies. I wonder how much it has changed? In our time there were only two or three restaurants worth going to and was it the sailor's hotel or something down by teh sea to stay in? Odd place.

I found Lome to be quite subdued compared to Accra but I recall there was a cloth market in what was clearly a multi story car park design.

Have you visited Benin - that was an odd country with banners across the road offering threats to capitalists (ie me) and travel at night was frowned upon with road blocks. We could only change travellers cheques in one bank in the whole country! It was fervently communist then but had the Chevrolet Dealership for West Africa and would always find a state owned room for capitalist running dogs. As I say a seriously odd place.

Togo was more easy going and Ghana was plain fun.

I probably envy you.

Mike

Three windows in Bridgenorth





Mike