New Lens

Soul Rebel · Jul 28, 2006

I havent beent his excited in a long time. My new lens (a Sigma telephoto/macro) is set to be delivered tomorrow. I can barely wait. I already have some plans to go bird watching.

I am 24 but I feel like a kid waiting for christmas. I feel so restricted using the lens that the camera came with. It will be nice to have something decent.

Anyway, what do you guys do when you get a new lens? Take a few shots to test it out or do you get right out there and try and get something serious?

Don Simon · Jul 28, 2006

First thing to do is make sure it's clean throughout and that everything works as it should; other than that, I tend to just play around really. Try shooting at all the different focal lengths, to see if there's any significant distortion or other issues at either end. Try shooting a variety of different subjects in different lighting conditions, and see how the lens handles colour. If you're working with film, maybe shoot some black & white too. Shoot at all different apertures so you can tell if you like the bokeh. But most importantly, just think about what it is you want the lens to do, and see how it does that by shooting a few rolls of film (or filling up a memory card if you're digitally inclined). In other words, if you want to use the lens for bird-watching, go bird-watching

hot shot · Jul 28, 2006

congtas mate the first thing i do is take it down the trake and get all the realy dirty up close shots of the dragester. bit like a christing in a way blessed in methonal dressed in tyre smoke

Soul Rebel · Jul 28, 2006

So my lens finally arrived after 4PM. I had left to take my girlfriend to the hospital to visit a friend who was having a baby then drop her off at work, so I didnt get to play with it immediately after its arrival like I had planned.

I talked my mom into going down to my favorite spot to look for birds and get some general shots. We had quite a bit of fun actually. We dont get the chance to take off like that too often and she had never been down there. It was odd to hear that she hadnt since its right in the middle of town but then nobody else will go places like that with her.

Anyway, I got some decent shots. Mostly I was testing the lens out but I think I got 5-6 that I really like. Once I get photoshop installed on my laptop I will get a few up.