Mom's here - that means new toys (longish)

[QuietOne]

Mom is visiting. I knew she'd want to get us each at least a few things. I knew that I'd want a lens - and I'd been thinking on it. I went back and forth on my final choice. A zoom with that much of a range is just a compromise, and I knew it. I read a lot. I looked at sample photos. I waffled on whether I wanted a shorter range that overlapped the kit lens. I finally decided I'm an opportunist in a lot of my photos, and I'm frequently in the middle of things that just require being able to swing between those extremes (eg, the airshows - someone taking off, someone flying the last of their session, someone taxiing out next to me).

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The toy

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The range, in a situation that drives the kit lens crazy. Hard light, bright ground. I'd read that this lens was slow to focus, and when it hunted, I found that to be true. But this is a situation where the kit lens will hunt if I've lost track of a plane, and has trouble refocusing.

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Couldn't resist. It looks like photos I've seen of a gear collapse on real Spitfires.

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The transmitter.

[QuietOne]

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For some reason, it had the most problem with a blue plane against a blue sky. :laughing:

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And that yellow just blows everything, given half a chance. I should add that I'd cranked the exposure compensation the wrong direction (gleefully) to see what would happen. So I got to yank everything back, first step of processing.

[QuietOne]

We went for a drive the next day, and stopped at Givens Hot Springs. I'd been by, but hadn't ever stopped.

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The map is, of course, where visitors have come from.

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The pool is actually a nice facility. They even rent swim suits.

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[QuietOne]

Up until now, I didn't have filters. I ordered them as soon as I got home Monday. They came yesterday. So, off to the Nampa airport, to see how the lens worked, on planes where if it didn't work, I wouldn't be too upset. And of course, traffic was a bit light, and the afternoon haze was that grimy way it usually is.

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I see this jet there from time to time. Nice, shiny white. I figured it would be a nice test subject. There's a bit of the dreaded purple fringe around the bottom of the windscreen. There was also some around the tires of another plane I shot as it was taking off. In both cases, I was looking for issues like that, and it wasn't bad.

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She didn't actually go out. She was just gassing it up.

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Sitting by the taxiway.

The reviews all said the lens was a compromise, simply because of the range it was trying to cover. It had problems with distortion at both ends (I took a stab at correcting it in the pool pictures), and with a bit of softness at both ends. And that it was a bit more subject to chromatic aberration. Slow to focus at times. They also said that it was a case of "nature of the beast", and that overall, the lens did very well for what it was trying to do. For the situations I find myself in, I think it's a compromise I can work with.

[JAS_Photo]

Very cool! Congrats on the new lens. If you are using Light Room, distortion and fringing are no brainers and easy peezy fixes. Was it a Polarizer filter that you got?

[Iguanasan]

New toys are always awesome. :)

[Runmonty]

Congrats on the new addition. I am sure you will have some fun with it. Looking good so far

[Mad Aussie]

Yeh I'm looking at a similar lens for my cameras as well. Was unsure for the same reasons but have decided my processing skills should be able to overcome any short-comings of the lens. Pretty cool to able to catch such a range of shots (and they all look good to me) potentially within a few a seconds with no lens change.

[Bambi]

congratulations!!

[asnow]

Congrats Q1. From the type of pics I've seen you take I think this is an excellent choice.

[QuietOne]

Thank you, all. I'm hoping Wednesday will be decent, so I can take it out to lunch (it's rainy right now, and I don't want to fight too many factors while I'm getting used to it).

JAS, I got both a CPL and a UV filter. There are some of the things in the hangars and on the paths in the spring that I'd rather try to clean off a filter than the front element of a lens. I don't have Lightroom. I've ordered Capture NX, because I tend to thrash trying to get things right in the initial processing, and I have better luck with the View NX than Adobe's ACR. I've just wanted more tools for the initial RAW processing, and from the reviews, Capture NX has some good ones. The U-point stuff might even work better for me than the more normal tools. We'll see how that works out.

MA, it is slower to refocus than the kit lens. I used the same trick as with the kit lens, of having it refocus on something nearer, but it sometimes was noticeably slower than the kit lens. That may be a matter of practice, for all I know. I'll throw stuff up as I get a chance to use it some more, so you can see something of how it performs.

[QuietOne]

A couple more "see what the lens will do" shots. The field across the street from the office, the parking lot (really exciting!), and an unused section behind my cubical. I get some nice light through those trees in the afternoon.
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[Marko]

Congrats as well you will love the versatility. When I'm just shooting for myself I too have a large range lens (28-300) on my camera a good 75% of the time.