Happy Birthday to Me

Not really...it's not even close to my birthday actually, but I used birthday money this past Friday to upgrade my lens arsenal to something a little .... no, a lot more exciting!  Between a few year's worth of birthday money, some saved pennies, and lots of patience and Kijiji searching, I finally found a suitable deal on a lens I'd been hoping to get for a while.  It's SIGMA 150-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM Lens.

I'm quite excited and have been able to use it twice, and so far, I'm very happy with it.  The pros of the lens features include:

• A big reduction in Chromatic Aberration meaning no more purple edges on brightly lit/contrasting edges
• Sharper, quicker, and very quiet focusing from the HSM focusing system
• Optical Stabilization that works extremely well.  The primary OS1 mode is bi-directional, and once locked on, does an excellent job.  OS2 Mode is only vertical so that if you are horizontally panning with a moving object, you're not fighting that motion.
• The manual focus ring is actually quite nice. It is gradual enough so that you can focus finely enough.  My Sony lens was so touchy, that it was impossible to do really.
• Oh, and one minor point, the zoom is much larger! 66% more! :)

Here is a picture of the new lens side by side with the Sony kit lens which came with the camera.

It's a bit larger, so that makes it a bit more of a big deal to bring along, and in high winds (like most of us in Southern Ontario had this weekend) with the sun hood on, it's like trying to hold a sail still!  But I'm not anticipating most of my outings will be in wind like that!

I have two outings worth of pictures to catch up on now, but I'll give you a preview with one shot for now.  With all the rain in the forecast, I won't be out for a while anyway!

Canada Goose pair (manual focused through the grass)

Oh... and speaking of birthdays, tomorrow my dear wife Holly turns a young 35 years old..... She's my best friend, and I'm blessed richly to be married to such a beautiful girl.  She's the amazing mother and teacher of our 5 wonderful (most of the time!) children, and is way better to me than I will ever deserve. It's been over 10 years of marriage now, and I know more and more the truth of the phrase "my better half".  She's far more patient and giving and loving to me than I deserve!  I'm thankful for her good example in her daily walk as a Christian and she's such an encouragement to me in many ways.  I'd be lost without you dear - Love you so much and I hope you have a great birthday! 

And in case anyone was thinking it, no, I did not buy her the above lens for her birthday! :)