Sigma 35mm f1.4

One lens I am very intrigued with at the moment in the Sigma 35mm f1.4.  Although announced, shipping hasn't started and I can't find any reviews on the web.  If it's good, ie up to Nikon's excellent but expensive equivalent, I'm pretty keen to get one.  It is reasonably priced at around $900 - half that of the Nikon.  I love the 35mm focal length (one of the reasons I love the Fuji X100) and f1.4 is just a dream to shoot with.  I have the older Nikon 35mm f1.4 Ais manual focus, and while it is a nice lens, the quality at f1.4 bothers me, especially the weird bokeh.  It is still capable of producing good image, but I am hoping this Sigma will be a big step up.

Eaton Centre - Nikon D600 and Nikon 50mm f1.4 AF-D

Dave and Buster's - Results

As it turned out it was very dark inside Dave and Buster's, and there was no way the Tamron 24-135mm was going to work, showing just 15th to 30th second wide open at ISO6400.  Luckily I had decided at the last minute to include the Nikon 50mm f1.4, which proved fortuitous.  I could run 60th to 125th second at f1.4, so no shake issues were likely.

This combination proved to work well, though I didn't end up taking a lot of shots.

My workmate playing Ferrari F355 Challenge, with his wife and little boy looking on

Next Purchase Priorities

Right now I have a few things that would be interesting to purchase, but as always I have to have priorities and be realistic in what I buy.

Pro level FX standard zoom

There are two choices here, either the excellent and tried and true Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 or the new Tamron 24-70mm f2.8 VC.  The latter as had good initial reviews, and is the same or less than a used Nikon, plus adds stability.  My aim is to have an excellent low light zoom, that can also be good with video.  The only problem is that is a fairly expensive purchase.   

Priority Rating 8 out of 10.

NEX zoom

- Sony 16-50mm E mount collapsible zoom.  This is the kit lens that comes with the NEX-6, and a collapsible zoom would make it very pocketable.  No need for a Pentax Q or GF-3 when using this with the NEX 5n (see below).

 Priority Rating 7 out of 10.

More Mirrorless

I'm always fascinated with mirrorless cameras, and there's starting to be some deals out there now.  For $400, you can get a new one of the following:

-  Panasonic GF-3 with the tiny 14-42mm collapsible power zoom.  This quite a small camera and very useful. Add a 20mm f1.7 Panasonic lens, and this would be a great combination.   

Priority Rating 5 out of 10.

- Pentax Q with 50mm equiv f1.9 lens.  This is a truly tiny camera, and I reckon it would be great asa carry anywhere camera.  Also, using it with a K mount adapter and a 50mm macro lens would create some close up stunning shots due to high pixel density, large depth of field and ultra sharp macro lenses.  Priority Rating 6 out of 10.

- Nikon V1 with 10-30mm zoom.  This camera has excellent AF and would be good for shooting kids.  But really I have a D-SLR for that.  

 Priority Rating 4 out of 10.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 24-85mm f2.8-4

Dave and Busters

Tomorrow we have the Children's Christmas party for work at Dave and Buster's.  I've never been before and I'm wondering what camera to take to shoot a few pics of our little girl.  From a few shots on the web, the place seems quite dark, and I'll likely be taking mostly portraits, plus a few other bits, so  think I'll run with the Nikon D600 and the Tamron 24-135mm f3.5-5.6.  The extra tele length will be useful, and I think I can get around the darkish lens, no VR issue with a high ISO.  I haven't really used this lens before on the D600, so it will be a nice test.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 24-85mm f2.8-4

Nikon D600 Macro

After a bit of a crappy week, I was very pleased when this rosebud we picked from the garden decided to open up inside the house.

This gave me a great opportunity to try the D600 out with a macro lens, this time with Tamron 90mm f2.8 AF.  Macro lenses are renowned for their sharpness, and are probably one of the few types of lenses that can out resolve the 24 megapixel sensor on the D600.

What I found was that indeed I could do extremely deep crops and have the photo still retain some sharpness.  Here is a very extreme example.  As you can see, definition is still retained.