I Did It: New Lens And More On The Way

sm4him · May 3, 2013

Well, I *almost* completely talked myself out of buying a longer lens. Primarily just because I inherited my father's cheap genes, and every time I'd start to make the purchase, I'd think "that's a LOT of money. Maybe I should reconsider."

But today, I found a really good deal on keh and I stopped reconsidering.
I bought the Sigma 150-500--here's hoping it's a good copy of it!! Of course, I can return it if it's not, but THEN I'll start the dithering all over again about whether to buy one at all.

I also bought (from a variety of places--ebay, Amazon and B&H):

A Bogen 685B monopod
A Manfrotto 234RC swivel head for the monopod
and a LowePro DryZone Rover backpack

ALL of it, including shipping, for a total of $1052--about what I'd originally figured the lens alone would cost me (granted, I bought a used lens instead of new). YAY ME!!

Now, hurry up and ship me my stuff!!

tirediron · May 3, 2013

Nice! Doesn't waiting for new toys suck?

Tiller · May 3, 2013

What did you pay for the lens itself?

manaheim · May 3, 2013

Woot! Bird pics a COMIN'!

480sparky · May 3, 2013

Holy cow! A Bigma, mono and head for One Large and change? You done good!

Jez remember....... pix, or it didn't happen! :sexywink:

jedirunner · May 3, 2013

Looking forward to your upcoming bird pics

Congrats on the new lens! I opted this time around for the 70-200 f/2.8. Should be here Monday.

Kevin

Derrel · May 3, 2013

Awesome, dudette!!!! Good for you! As much as you've been chasing wildlife around the refuge and such, it's time you treated yourself to a long lens with some real reach! I'm happy to hear that you overcame the genetic tendency to keeping the ole' purse strings cinched, and got a good deal on a used lens from a great vendor, KEH. I've seen some pretty decernt work done by that lens, but it does require some reasonable technique qualifications be met. Good for you!!! I always enjoy reading about your adventures.

manicmike · May 3, 2013

Nice. Sounds like a great deal.

ratssass · May 3, 2013

.....you've gone utterly mad,Sharon!!Hope you enjoy!!(I'm sure you will) :hail:

jwbryson1 · May 3, 2013

jedirunner said:
I opted this time around for the 70-200 f/2.8.

Must be nice to "opt" for THAT lens this time around.... :sexywink:

cgipson1 · May 3, 2013

Congrats, Sharon! Hope that lens rocks for ya!

sm4him · May 3, 2013

tirediron said:
Nice! Doesn't waiting for new toys suck?

Yes. Yes, it quite does. But not nearly as much as it sucks to know that there are NO NEW TOYS coming your way.

Tiller said:
What did you pay for the lens itself?

About $810, shipped for just the lens. I missed out on a similar deal when I first started looking because I started questioning whether I should spend that kinda money on a lens "just" for birds and wildlife, when there's NO way I'm gonna ever make enough from photography to justify that.

It was rated as an EX+ lens, and I've found keh usually under-rates their stuff rather than over-rating.

jedirunner said:
Looking forward to your upcoming bird pics

Congrats on the new lens! I opted this time around for the 70-200 f/2.8. Should be here Monday.

Kevin

Yeah, see, that was one of the reasons I almost didn't pull the trigger. I started thinking that maybe I should just save the money and work my way towards buying THAT. But the truth is, for what I do, on just an amateur level, the 70-300 works just fine, even for my niece's soccer game. As good as the 70-200? Not even in my dreams. But adequate. It's the reach past 300 that mattered more to me in the end.

sm4him · May 3, 2013

Derrel said:
Awesome, dudette!!!! Good for you! As much as you've been chasing wildlife around the refuge and such, it's time you treated yourself to a long lens with some real reach! I'm happy to hear that you overcame the genetic tendency to keeping the ole' purse strings cinched, and got a good deal on a used lens from a great vendor, KEH. I've seen some pretty decernt work done by that lens, but it does require some reasonable technique qualifications be met. Good for you!!! I always enjoy reading about your adventures.

Thanks, Derrel, I appreciate that, especially that you enjoy reading my rambling stories of adventure. Of course, now you've just encouraged me to keep on rambling, so you may get some hate mail from others for that...

The REAL challenge is definitely gonna be seeing whether I can learn to shoot well with it. The vision issues CAN sometimes make that a challenge, especially when trying to figure out a new lens--if I don't get a sharp copy, it'll be hard for me to tell whether it's the lens or me!

480sparky said:
Holy cow! A Bigma, mono and head for One Large and change? You done good!

Jez remember....... pix, or it didn't happen!

AND the backpack, which is a $250 backpack new. I *hope* I like it; I've been looking for something to use on shorter day hikes that will hold a little more "personal" gear--currently I just use my LowePro slingshot 202 and a waist pack for water bottles and a snack. But, I figured if I try this pack and don't like it, I can almost certainly re-sell it for more than I paid for it.

cgipson1 said:
Congrats, Sharon! Hope that lens rocks for ya!

Thanks, Charlie, me too. As I said, I'm just hoping I get a really good copy, since I know that some of them seem to be really good and some, not so much. Actually, I just hope I can figure OUT whether it's a good copy in the two weeks I'll have to return it. Of course, I'll have y'all to HELP me figure that out...