Playing With My Zoom

Just lately, I've been spending a liiiiiittle too much cash ... possibly using the up-and-coming holiday as an excuse!!

The latest addition to the shopping trolley is a Sigma 70-300mm APO DG Macro lens, which arrived today. Admittedly, its not the one I originally wanted, but I don't really want to be taking an expensive lens away with me and it is my first zoom lens, so I forked out for the cheap version to get some experience before I get the better one.

Unfortunately, you can tell this is the cheap version!

Okay, I've probably been spoiled by paying for silent drive motors and image stabilisation in the past, so hearing this lens grind and wheeze its way to focus like an asthmatic nympho came as something of a shock.

However, you get what you pay for, and I paid for something to feel comfortable travelling with, so I took a little hike out into the country at lunchtime to try it out...

Tring Church

Poppies Ahoy!

Purple Plumes

Tomorrow, I can look forward to the snorkelling kit I ordered today!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gadgets and Widgets

Well, training for the Great North Run hasn't gone quite according to plan, but last night I did succeed in setting up the gadgets and widgets for tracking my training :-) I had refrained from getting sucked into the Nike and iPod combo, but the lure of glossy tech and the trendy adverts sucked me in and spat me out the other side, complete with green iPod Nano , Nike Shox Arraw trainers, a slick black'n'red Nike armband , Nike+ shoe widget thingy and a cool black-and-white shirt designed by a closet sci-fi costume designer*. Admittedly, the shirt is going to remain in the drawer for the time being as it currently emphasises my spare tyre and man boobs which, lets face it, isn't the prettiest site to be running round these parts. Then again, certainly not the ugliest, either! The calibration of the Nike kit was a bit annoying. After having calibrated for a 1.05 mile run I then tried to calibrate a walk for the same distance, only be told halfway around that the di
Read more

5...

Image
The final week in the run up to the South West Coast-to-Coast is here and, in less than a week, I will be starting my first UltraChallenge in order to raise money for Crohn's and Colitis UK . Since doing the massive 32 mile training walk a month ago, I have been able to get out for shorter walks once or twice a week, which have been steadily getting longer.   On Saturday, I managed 12.37 miles in a decent 3 hours 39 minutes, though with the wrong choice of shoes, which left me with blisters and sore feet.  It really made me appreciate how good my boot and sock combo is! Oh, and underwear.  Having walked in normal boxers and suffered the chafed consequences for a day or so, I ended up buying a couple of pair of SAXX Boxer Briefs .  I'm generally not one for buying expensive undies and feel that even £22 for 3 pair of boxers is somewhat extortionate.  However, if you want to feel like the family jewels are in good hands and you want to be able to shower after without feeling lik
Read more

Summer Holiday Shenanigans

Image
With the bank holiday weekend about to start, think about The Centralian Players working hard to build their next set for Peter Gordon's play, Third Week in August , while you sun yourself on the beach, enjoy your BBQ and refuse to let the Great British Rain Off stop you enjoying the break.
Read more