Originally posted by wildman I know this does not technically fit here exactly but I do think it's relevant.
Taken with a 350 buck Sigma 18-250mm Macro super zoom at 250mm.
Was out in the garden taking garden shots when this little guy was right in front of me.
It was just a quick and dirty hand held snapshot with no time to adjust anything and was in TAv mode and AF.
My point is that this lens is not supposed to be this good.
If this is the rate that zooms are improving then I think it won't be too long before zooms replace primes
in the 500mm and below range for most folks. They are just getting good enough which hasn't been
true in the past for shots like this.
Time will tell...
Note: A Cape May Warbler is not much larger than a man's thumb.
The trick with not so good lenses, is to be close.... I've also gotten great results with my Sigma 70-300, considered to be one of the dogs of the zoom universe. At infinity and 300mm compared to a DA*60-250 it's a piece of doo doo. It's images actually look like a DA*60-250 image that's been altered with a Photoshop Watercolour filter. At 12 feet it's a great lens.
Get a little closer and it's a dog again, nice photos , but soft compared to what you'd get with a dedicated macro lens. And the thing there is, you might actually prefer the softer image, it looks more natural.