Originally posted by ChatMechant I love the A70-210 for hiking. In fact I ditched the 60-250 after using it. A new 70-200 with wr, internal zoom(please!) the size of the 50-135 would be the lens I've been waiting for.
Below is my one and only shot of a mink in the wild. Well actually I got about 30 images, it was a15 minute shoot. I spotted this guy in a pond just off the road, while driving to the grocery store (50 miles away).
It'a series of really high contrast difficult light images, and as far as I'm concerned the F70-210 completely butchered it. There was purple fringing, loss of detail due to CA, it just didn't handle the situation well.
Heres the same type situation with the Tamron 300 and 1.7 TC. The tamron is not well corrected for fringing and CA, but is still a huge improvement over the
70-210, even with the 1.7 attached. Put a TC on the 70-210 and you're in purple fringe city.
Once this happens to you, it makes you reluctant to take the lens. I will still use it in low to medium contrast situations, we have some very nice images taken with it, but bright sunny day with snow cover, I should have known better.
I have been coming to the park for close 35 years and lived up here for 10 years, and this is my only chance to get an image of a mink. I
've seen them maybe 5 times, but most of the time they see you and run away. This guy was happy to stay close. He may have even been trying to get me to play. You lose a chance like that to a lens not suited to the job, it makes you think twice every time you pick it up. I still take it from time to time, but I'm much more careful about the circumstances.