(12-03-2009 07:47 PM)mikoyan29 Wrote:  I used to know how to do that trick. I'm not sure if my lens are are designed for doing that now.

---

See. Aperture rings can also be our friends. We should not be afraid of them.

Yeah. I love shallow depth of field. That's how I roll.

I cannot believe that I have been so narrow minded towards my expectations of having video on a digital slr camera!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veMIfsPQBGo

This has helped to change my entire outlook and I will certainly be saving my pennies towards buying a Pentax K7.
The faithful of this thread have read my remarks about the newest models from Pentax before and I had all but decided that a K20 would be the next addition to my gear.
The Pentax K-x has video as well and is half the cost but it surrenders many things to that price and I can now see that the K7 should be a purchase made by me this year sometime.

Cool pics.

Mine are all on my blog: michiganexposures.blogspot.com

I have decided on which digital body to get and ordered it. Should be here the first week of March along with an infrared filter and lens hood for an older lens in my collection. More about that when the packages arrive.

A cousin of mine was gracious enough to let me borrow his Sigma 50-500mm APO DG. This lens is nicknamed "Bigma" as it weighs more than four pounds. Certainly not the biggest lens out there but it is respectable. Not the most expensive lens out there either but very, very much out of my price range.
It is a beautiful lens. Great color and contrast. Truly a very capable and fine lens.
Here are a few examples of my efforts:






This one was using a 2x teleconverter and tripod mounted.

Just spreadin' some loves.
Fantastic Pentax K10D! That's a good price there, people.

Great low light shooter Pentax K100D

Simple and respectable Pentax K110D

Either That Sigma or the 100-500 version I was thinking about getting.

Nice shots there.

(03-01-2010 09:13 PM)mikoyan29 Wrote:  Either That Sigma or the 100-500 version I was thinking about getting.

Nice shots there.

The Sigma 50-500 APO DG is a glorious lens. It makes telephoto shots of great distances a little easier to get. If you had a grand just laying around, I say you would not regret it's purchase. It focuses past infinity which is always strange to me. Turn the focus ring all the way counter clockwise to infinity and you would think the lens is set to capture anything more than 600 feet away. Not so with a few lenses. Set focus at infinity with the Bigma, point it at the moon and then focus down a bit to find the sharp image.
It also has a teleconverter lock at 100mm so if you have a tc connected and try to go down to say 50mm, the glass won't crash together.
While I had the use of Bigma I did some comparison shots which I will post later.
The bottom line was there is an older manual 500mm lens made by Five Star aka Tou/Five Star that can be often found on Craigslist or eBay for less than $60 that can produce images just as good as the Sigma. I think you already have the Phoenix 500 don't you? These lenses, the Phoenix and the Five Star do have obvious limitations compared with the Sigma. Think about renting the Sigma before you buy it and then go back to your Phoenix again to see the differences.

-edited to include examples and more nonsense
One of these is the lowly Five Star 500mm (est. value $60) and hand held, while the other is the contentious "Bigma" (est. value $1000) at 500mm secured to a very rigid metal tripod. You tell me which is the hand held Five Star:
1.

2.
Both images are from unedited RAW files.
Thus endeth the lesson.

I know what this is going to sound like but this K-7 has a "toy camera" digital effect that is pretty fun. Much like some of the Holga type 110 film cameras and such, when you select the filter the images it can produce are sort of selective focus, contrasting with slight vignetting and blurring. I'll post some images later.
Some of the buttons and functions differ slightly from my K10D and it is smaller; so there is some transitions going from one to the other. But this K-7 is another very pleasurable tool from Pentax!

I have a 400 to 800mm fixed aperature lens, but I don't like it. The picture quality is pretty crappy. I actually like my 300mm better but I would like the extra distance for baseball and football games. the reviews I've read on the Sigmas sound like it's a pretty decent lens.