New Glass

After many joy filled years spent shooting my trusty little Nikon D60, its finally started to show signs of wear, and isn't really allowing much expansion of my photography skills (not that I ever had any...). Last week, I finally took the plunge and ordered myself a few new pieces of glass in the form of a Nikon D300s, and a Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 OS HSM lens.. for those who want the technical nit-grit.

Neither are like anything I've ever held before. The D300s has a new mode for every day of the year, whilst the Sigma is just 3kg of pure beast waiting to be unleashed on an unsuspecting avian. I finally found a short window of opportunity to take my new toys out for their first play date in Richmond Park last weekend.

The attached were taken with the use of a Sigma 1.4x teleconverter, effectively increasing the focal length from 300mm to 420mm...

 

All these shots were taken in very bad lighting, so the images count for nothing of the lens' capabilities, but first impressions couldn't be better. Focusing was very quick and near silent, with a firm, but silky smooth zoom barrel that won't accidentally 'wobble' into another focal length, as previous Sigma lenses have been known to do in the past. If you are (in some massive coincidence) looking into buying this lens, don't let the size of it put you off. The tripod mount is adequate enough to make carrying hassle free, and the lens doesn't feel too over-powering when hand-held, as I was made to believe. For a zoom lens at f2.8, it's a class construction, and I'll be taking it out properly sometime in the near future.

Lastly, I'd like to apologise, as I'm sure that none of the above had any relevance or meaning to you whatsoever. I'd also like to make an apology to my bank account...