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Post by grizz1 on Mar 23, 2014 22:23:57 GMT -5
No Terry I do not have the new one up yet but soon I hope, nephew is coming tomorrow hopefully to set it up.
About the Tamron, I have only checked it out on potn and Amazon. I know if I had it to do over, I would order the Tamron from what I've seen, it is looking sharp, you gain another 100 mm's over my lens and at about the same cost. Either one are so much cheaper than the white lens and they let you know if you really want to shoot with a big lens before spending huge money. I'm pleased with my Sigma quality, it needs lots of light but competes well when there is enough light. To do better I would have to spend around 8000 more dollars to get something fast and that is never going to happen unless I win a big lottery. My Sigma was 969 delivered to my door so it has paid off already on the Alaska trip and shooting birds here at home. Will be using it a lot at the ball field soon. Those big lenses though are like real big guns, they are for a purpose and not something to just carry around for the fun of it. I now find myself taking one camera with the 18-135 on it, the other camera always has the 150-500 on it, seldom ever use the 55-250 and it is a very sharp lens. The Tamron will be just as fast as my Sigma and you gain 100mm, can be at your door for about 1075, and that is a wide range to shoot from, think how much fun you could have with it in your own yard!! Let me know when you order it, LOL
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Post by grizz1 on Mar 24, 2014 22:50:12 GMT -5
So I'm on the new computer right now but can't shoot the old one quite yet cause this is going to take some time to get used to. Been all evening with my nephew and can't get the photo stuff to work yet which is one of the things I enjoy doing on these things. Helps if I hadn't lost the cd to download the darn program with.
Shot some turkey today and have to use the old computer to process the pics to share, everyone has been telling me about these two big turkey West of my house, I wasn't that impressed with them but may look better once I see them on the computer.
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Post by Kt29 on Mar 27, 2014 14:34:21 GMT -5
I'm still thinking about the Tamron. They do seem a little heavy though. Hmmm !
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Post by grizz1 on Mar 27, 2014 21:48:52 GMT -5
So Terry what is going through your mind on the lens? I was thinking you had a 400 or a 100-400, probably wrong about that. My 150-500 weighs 4.21 lbs and the tamron 150-600 is 4.3 lbs, basically no difference in those two. Not sure what some of the L's weigh that are that big. My experience goes something like this, my rig is heavy to just carry alone and shoot hand held unless I'm in my truck or in the yard. I have a Manfrotto mono pod that tames the beast in about every way. It carries much like a gun would when on the mono pod either over the shoulder or one handed. Can should sitting, kneeling or standing and lays in the truck seat ready to go. When I put it on the tripod it is then very heavy to carry but once set up handles well and is fun to shoot with. I have the Manfrotto 055x pro b tripod, now that is heavy but I do like it for the cost. When combining the tripod and camera though it is very heavy and I don't hike much with that combo.
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Post by Kt29 on Mar 28, 2014 16:38:00 GMT -5
Yes, I do have the 400 5.6 and I really do like it. It weighs 2.75 lbs. I can carry it all day with no problem. Sometimes though, that extra 200mm seems pretty tempting to have. I guess right now, I'm not quite overwhelmed enough with the need to get one. If I was still living in the Midwest, I believe I would go for it. Seems like there were a lot more long range opportunities for a lens like the tamron or sigma. Here, pics are usually pretty up close. Lots of times the 400 is a little to much. For BIF though, the 400 is quite nice, mostly because of its fast focus and ease of handling. Guess I'll let the Tamron simmer a little longer in my mind.
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Post by LongSpur39 on Mar 28, 2014 19:53:33 GMT -5
I haven't seen you post a bad pic yet!! Don't expect to see any either.
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Post by grizz1 on Mar 29, 2014 0:07:10 GMT -5
I can understand the simmering Terry and the range too. Seems to me, I seldom have too much reach and can see a big difference on song birds in every 100 mm's. It isn't noticed as much on larger animals or objects and no lens makes up for getting closer to begin with. I think of it much like a gun, the one we shoot the most is the one we do our best with, we learn our limitations and move to correct those before taking the shot. You may not be more satisfied with the 150-600 and yes it would be a lot heavier too. Sometimes that weight will keep a guy from having it with you and missing a shot entirely.
One place I really like my Sigma is at the Grandson's baseball games. I will get behind 1st or 3rd base where I can clear the fence and the players don't notice me. Can zoom in on players and get good pics on most of the field, zoom out and can get the pitcher,batter, catcher and umpire in a nice shot.
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Post by Kt29 on Mar 30, 2014 21:26:52 GMT -5
I haven't seen you post a bad pic yet!! Don't expect to see any either. Thanks Scott. Appreciate that.
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Post by Kt29 on Mar 30, 2014 21:37:19 GMT -5
I can understand the simmering Terry and the range too. Seems to me, I seldom have too much reach and can see a big difference on song birds in every 100 mm's. It isn't noticed as much on larger animals or objects and no lens makes up for getting closer to begin with. I think of it much like a gun, the one we shoot the most is the one we do our best with, we learn our limitations and move to correct those before taking the shot. You may not be more satisfied with the 150-600 and yes it would be a lot heavier too. Sometimes that weight will keep a guy from having it with you and missing a shot entirely. One place I really like my Sigma is at the Grandson's baseball games. I will get behind 1st or 3rd base where I can clear the fence and the players don't notice me. Can zoom in on players and get good pics on most of the field, zoom out and can get the pitcher,batter, catcher and umpire in a nice shot. Those larger zooms Steve, most definitely have their advantages. You use yours quite well. I imagine that it is a whole lot of fun to use at those baseball games and the stabilization is definitely a good thing to have. BIF is still my favorite thing to photograph. Not sure how well though I would do handling a much heavier lens. Also not sure how my wife would take to me getting another large lens. I think I need to just quit thinking about it for awhile.
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Post by grizz1 on Mar 31, 2014 21:37:20 GMT -5
Terry I have not tried the BIF much, keep meaning to but just not happening. Did use the Sig on an Eagle one day and it did well but he was too far out and up. My other birds have been small and close and I just can't track them . I want to take it to a water fowl area and shoot some geese or get into some Herons or Cranes. I have much to learn about bif, it has been a sharp curve for me thus far. And the weight /size may be a problem for me too.
Found out Sat evening that when shooting the big lens it can be hard to keep track of all that is happening at the ball game. Was standing on a light pole foundation near 3rd base shooting toward one of our batters, he hit a foul ball my way and I lost track of it. The ball hit the chain link fence, spun up and over, took flight and I heard it go by just missing my lens by about 3 inches.It finally lost it's power and stopped at the 345 feet mark. I could have taken that ball to the side of my head cause I had been looking through the view finder. Needless to say the Sigma almost bit the dust on that one.
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Post by Kt29 on Apr 1, 2014 21:27:12 GMT -5
Wow Steve. That baseball getting that close when you were that far away is pretty incredible. That could have been a pretty serious event. Glad it was a clean miss. Pretty scary for sure. Birds in flight is really a challenge. Its not a skill I have achieved yet. Occasionally I get something sorta in focus. I do believe some camera bodies allow for better focus follow. I don't believe none of mine fall into that category. Lots of waterfowl would be a great way to learn to shoot birds. Especially if you can catch them coming into a stiff breeze. Try it. Its frustrating, but it does grown on you. I had a couple oppurtunities today, but only got this one hawk sort of in focus.
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Post by grizz1 on Apr 1, 2014 21:54:17 GMT -5
Now I'd be real happy to have that photo and feel like I had gained a lot of ground. The only ones I have that are fair seem to be against a very nice blue sky like this one of yours.Do you find that to be true, easier to see, follow and focus on maybe since they contrast so much and nothing else to focus on? Blue skies haven't been very frequent here in a long time. I may practice on some buzzards, have hundreds of them here, they should be easy compared to most other birds.
I'm thinking the 7D is famous for focusing bif pics. my niece has recently got the 70D and it is focusing good at the ball games, she stops the ball in many of her shots to where you can see the stitching, it might work well on birds in flight. You should share some more of your shots with us.
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Post by Kt29 on Apr 1, 2014 22:50:50 GMT -5
Steve, I don't have all that many decent BIF pics. I do believe that the 70D would be a very good one for BIF. Here is a link for what we really need to get. Might take some serious convincing of my bookkeeper though. www.the-digital-picture.com/News/News-Post.aspx?News=9393
Fortunately it April Fools Day and one doesn't have to worry about it.
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Post by grizz1 on Apr 2, 2014 20:46:55 GMT -5
Now that would be the camera, you could shoot an Owl flying fast at night with no moon and still get a good photo. Liked the part where you focus by staring them in the eyes, that is exactly what I need!! It's cheap too at 8900. might need two of them.
I saw about 50 Buzzards today flying around but it has misted rain and windy, couldn't get in the mood to drag my gear out of the truck. I've been working on a farm house that is right between where I live and the East farm, see Turkey everyday, big Gobblers among them. So 1 have all the gear it takes for photographing the big birds and never saw a single bird all day. Don't know how they know but they sure seem to.
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Post by Kt29 on Apr 3, 2014 19:46:28 GMT -5
That's generally how it works Steve. Hopefully those gobblers will stay around till your season starts. Wonder what all the buzzards were up to? I tried photographing them. There dark colors make it really hard to get a good photo. We've had to nice days in a row here. Had to spend nearly all of it working though. Do have the grandkids here for awhile. They are on spring break. Funny, I never remember having a spring break when I was in school. Maybe it was just to long ago to remember.
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