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Photography Question 

Cindy Sj
 

Tamron 50mm-500mm lens


my husband is considering purchasing this lens for our upcoming cruise to Alaska... he likes the fact that is a 50mm-500mm so that he won't have to switch out his lens very often. Anyone have any pros and cons to purchasing this lens for a d70s for a person on a tight budget? Thanks in advance for your input!


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April 04, 2007

 

Todd Bennett
  Cindy

Do you mean Sigma 50-500mm?


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April 04, 2007

 

Suzanne Colson
  Tamron now makes one I believe. I have the Sigma 50-500mm and I would imagine much the same for the price class. The lens is HEAVY and BIG. It requires a lot of light to get good shart shots. With that said I still enjoy the lens.


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April 04, 2007

 

Cindy Sj
  Todd, I checked with my h, and it's a sigma he's considering. any thoughts?? [=


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April 05, 2007

 

Todd Bennett
  I do own the lense. I bought it for my film camera and now use it on my digital which makes it, in effect, a 75-750 mm lens. It is a well built lens. It is sharp pretty much throughout the entire zoom range. At 4 pounds it may seem to be a bit heavy; but, I've gotten used to it. It comes with a strap so when it is mounted on my camera I have the camera strap and the lens strap around my neck.

I would suggest investing in a good monopod. It is difficult to hand hold and get good results except on a very bright day without one.

The only problem I have had with the lens is the creep lock which jammed and I had to send it in for repairs. Since then, I make sure that when I engage or disengage the creep lock, that the barrel of the lens is completely retracted. I think what caused it to fail was the fact that after walking through the woods for 15 minutes and then finding something to take a picture of, I was disengaging the creep lock and the lens had creeped open just a fraction of an inch and was resting against the creep lock. I think this little bit of pressure caused it to wear out prematurely.

If he gets it, tell him to be prepared for a lot of stares from people. The expressions on peoples faces are so funny to watch sometimes. It seems as though people see you coming with that lens and they will knock other people over to get out of the way too.


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April 05, 2007

 

Cindy Sj
  thanks todd... he has a d70s as well, so I'll let him know. the first thing he's going to ask me is "what the heck is a creep lock??", so I better ask you...what's a creep lock? (great name for a band).


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April 05, 2007

 

Todd Bennett
  The creep lock is a little switch on the side of the lense that prevents it from extending out while you are walking. Just the jarring from normal foot steps causes most zoom lenses to do this. The lens is so heavy that without it you would be walking around with a lens that is about 24" long completely extended.


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April 05, 2007

 

Todd Bennett
  Cindy,

Check out this link:

http://www.lonestardigital.com/Sigma_50-500.htm

If you look at the middle of the lens on the top picture you can see a little black area with some white writing. That is the creep lock. It's just a little sliding switch.


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April 05, 2007

 
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