Photography - equipment, help hints

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I have a Sigma 70-300 with a Macro feature, which I really enjoy. The most used lens I have at the moment, is my Sigma 50-200 and the least used, is my Sigma 300 Prime.

I have been eyeing the Sigma 50-500...

I do actually own a few Pentax lenses, but a casual observer might get the idea that I prefer Sigma glass
 
Heck, that's some zoom there Geo !
It must be a) darned big and heavy, and b) extremely expensive !!

David, it's the Sigma 70 - 300 mm + Macro that I have, which came as part of a 'bundle' with my Nikon. It's not at all a bad lens, and the Macro facility is very useful, but I found that it was a tad slow, in auto-focus, for most aviation work, especially fast-moving subjects at airshows, so I bought a Nikon 55-300 mm, which I now have mounted on a Nikon D-80 I picked up used, but in great condition, at a great price, and use the Nikon D-3100 with the 18-55 mm lens for general stuff, along with the excellent little Fuji S-1000 'bridge' camera.
I'd considered getting the Sigma 400 mm or 500 mm zoom, both of which are half the price of the Nikon 400 mm but, although it's reportedly an excellent lens, I'm still concerned about the focus speed.
 
Ah, it's a 'bridge' camera - I thought it was a new DSLR lens.
It's amazing what some 'bridge' cameras are capable of - my little 10 mp Fuji is now 8 years old, and slightly dated by today' standards, but the results are excellent, in virtually all shooting conditions. I'd go so far as to say that, in general 'happy snap' use, it's certainly as good as, and in some cases better than the Nikon D-3100 when the latter is used on full auto.
Although I have used it for ground to air photography, I have to admit that, although the results in many cases have been more than acceptable, it does, of course, have limitations, including speed of focus and zoom, and the small, electronic viewfinder, but other than that, it really is an amazing and wonderful piece of kit, and inexpensive considering it's capabilities.
 
This 50mm lens is not expensive Terry, just 98 euro.

Btw it really is a great lens. The big aperture makes it very special. Consider a wall:
F/22:

F/1.8:
 
Thanks Marcel. At that sort of price, I might consider getting one just for model photography, when I take 'proper' shots of finished models, and it would also be useful for a variety of 'standard' shots, as I think it would have the edge over the Nikon 18 - 55 mm lens, even though the latter is a nice lens.
That said, I have a tendency to use the little Fuji 'bridge' camera just for 'everyday' shots, as it produces some great images, often better than the Nikon !
 
You'll not be disappointed byt the fixed 50 Terry. It's amazingly sharp, I never knew my 18-55 lens was unsharp until I put this thing on. But the fixed zoom is something to get used to, though. I'll put some photo's in my own thread.
 
I've had a look at the photos you posted Marcel, and they are sharp !
The advantage of a 'fixed' 50 mm lens for me would be the aperture range - as you said, the 18 - 55 mm lens is somewhat limited in this area, and the smaller aperture of the 50 mm, at f22, would allow much deeper DoF for model photography.
Is your camera/lens a Nikon ?
 
Thanks Marcel. And you're right, the piece of glass on the front is the most important thing.
I have an 'entry-level' Nikon D3100, bought new three years ago, so a bit dated even now, and a used, but like new, Nikon D-80, so again 'old' by the rapidly changing standards of today.
There's a heck of a difference between the two, the older D-80 being far superior to the D3100, but a decent lens on either would make a lot of difference.
 
Well while I share your horror I am completely relieved, that explains it. My initial thought was that the apocalypse was upon us as the moon was cracking in half
 

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