[Music]

I broke down tonight and ordered my first lens (outside of the kit) - the Tamron AF70-300mm F/4-5.6 Di. I feel like a kid waiting for Santa.

Todd

[Kingsofronin]

Shouldve saved your money for a better lens.

[silverbullet]

Wow! Great fourth post Kingofronin. Full of useful and detailed information. Congrats on your purchase Music. Many users on this forum have the Tamron 70-300, and find it a very capable lens for the price. A very affordable way to gain long zoom ability and 1:2 close focusing. Most of us look forward to your first picture post with this lens.

[ericc]

Shouldve saved your money for a better lens.

Most of us would've said "Congratulations" at this point but apparently tact is not your strong suit.

[SpecialK]

Some people can be an a$$ without even trying.

Have fun with your lens.

[WMBP]

I broke down tonight and ordered my first lens (outside of the kit) - the Tamron AF70-300mm F/4-5.6 Di. I feel like a kid waiting for Santa.

Congratulations, Todd. The Tamron 70-300 is a very serviceable lens. I use it mainly for photographing birds, and I'm happy with the results. Here's a picture of an egret; and I'm attaching a couple of photos I took down on the Texas coast back in February using this lens - a scissortailed flycatcher coughing up a berry or seed (taken at 240mm), and a whooping crane. Not sure why but the photo of the whooper seems to have been marred a bit by the downsizing process used here but you may get the idea. I was standing on a boat that was bobbing up and down gently when I took the shot of the whooper; the K10D was cradled in the crook of my left arm for stability, but otherwise it was handheld at 300mm.

After you get the lens and play with it, you might want to consider the Tamron 1.4x teleconverter. It works very well with this Tamron lens and is an economical way to extend the lens's reach to roughly 420mm. You lose 1 stop, but very little in the way of lens acuity. The main pain about using the teleconverter is that its presence doesn't register in the shot's EXIF data, so unless you take notes while you're shooting, you may not be able to tell later on whether you were using it or not.

Anyway, I hope Santa gets there soon. Have fun with the lens and don't forget to post some photos!

Will

[Deni]

Congrats on your purchase!

LBA is fun, but not for the pocket . It's been about a little more than a month since I got my k100D with the kit lens and I've already bought 2 other lens (check my signature) and I'm bidding on an other one with the possibility of getting 2 more lens with the one I'm bidding for now .

There's no other feeling as when you head for the P.O. to collect the stuff and opening it in the car (I can't wait till home ), feeling like a kid on Christmas day .

Happy LBA and make sure you find a good clinic to sell your body parts you need the least (at least the ones you don't use for taking photos ).

Deni

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Last edited by Deni; 07-09-2007 at 02:34 AM.

[axl]

congrats on purchase, and hope your "santa" will come soon... very soon...
I've never ordered any lens, I like buying what I see in shops for cash... bit old fashionded and it costs lot of nerves but that's just me
anyway, that tamron is good stuff, and I guess you'll enjoy it a lot, especialy for birds and other wildlife...
have fun

[Music]

Thanks everyone. I think this will suit me perfectly for the time. Later, I will probably upgrade to better equipment if I find it necessary, but the photos I'll be taking and from what I've seen here, I'm sure I'll be happy.

Everyone here has been extremely helpful since I joined. I look forward to learning more from my new friends here.

Thanks,

Todd

[squarerigger]

Congratulations Music. It's always fun to have a present on the way. Tamron puts out a fine product - I am sure you will enjoy the new dimension it will bring to your photography.

[egordon99]

Yep, he should have wait until he saved up the $1000 for the Sigma 100-300mm f/4. That way he'll be sure to miss all those great shots he will sure to be getting with his Tamron. Sure, there are better lenses for ALOT more money, but that doesn't mean that the budget lenses are useless, especially when the price gap is so huge. If his Tamron was $150 and a MUCH better lens was $300 or so, maybe your advice would be valid, but you are soooo off the mark, I can only guess you're just an idiot with no manners.

Acoustic guitars is my main thing, and I can't imagine someone posting on a forum that they were excited about buying a Seagull (~$500 or so) and some b*tthead comes in and says "You should have just saved up the $3000 for a Collings" (ummm yeah, and gone without a guitar?) And this rant is coming from someone who owns a $3K Santa Cruz (and some high end lenses, although my Sigma 70-300mm I paid $24 for is obviously not up to your standards)

Shouldve saved your money for a better lens.

Music - Welcome!!!! Enjoy your Tamron and your time at our (usually) friendly forum.

[TaoMaas]

Acoustic guitars is my main thing, and I can't imagine someone posting on a forum that they were excited about buying a Seagull (~$500 or so) and some b*tthead comes in and says "You should have just saved up the $3000 for a Collings" (ummm yeah, and gone without a guitar?) And this rant is coming from someone who owns a $3K Santa Cruz (and some high end lenses, although my Sigma 70-300mm I paid $24 for is obviously not up to your standards)

We should talk! Guitars are my other weakness, too, although my baby is a Martin J-40. It's a great guitar, but I also have a Sigma that had it's neck broken and epoxied back together by some guy who had also spray painted it black. lol But it still plays pretty well and I feel much better about taking it camping with me than I do my Martin. Likewise, I own some high end Pentax lenses, as well as the film version of the Tamron 70-300. I'm not a big fan of zooms, but the Tamron is helping to change my mind about that. It does what it does very well, IMHO.

[Kingsofronin]

Well. I'm a photo snob. I cannot stand anything other than a fixed aperture lens. I'm sorry. Listen man. Buy a Pentax 50mm/1.4 and compare the shots to that of your Tamron f/4-5.6. You'll see what youre missing.

As for the guy who said he'd be missing shots saving money for the better lens:
I'd rather be "missing shots", than getting the shots with such a shitty lens.
And where are the shots going anyways? I find myself to have plenty of oppurtunities
for shots, and I get them more than just once. The guy obviously already has the
kit lens, so let him use that until he can save enough for the prime.


Dont be an ass to people with high standards.

[SupremeMoFo]

Horses for courses mate - a variable aperture zoom can have just fine optical & image quality and costs a fraction of the fixed aperture gear. Bit rich coming from me anyway, but the 16-45 is a great lens and the Sigma is a prerequisite for motorsports where you need shutter speeds of 1/2000s or less.

Dont be an ass to people with high standards.

Don't be such a prick in presenting your views! Did you consider saying "Glad you're happy with the purchase, but did you think about saving up for something I approve of?"

Hahaha... you're 19... you should know that money isn't always at hand for the best. You've got a fine ego for a 19 year old.

[Peter Zack]

Well. I'm a photo snob. I cannot stand anything other than a fixed aperture lens. I'm sorry. Listen man. Buy a Pentax 50mm/1.4 and compare the shots to that of your Tamron f/4-5.6. You'll see what youre missing.

As for the guy who said he'd be missing shots saving money for the better lens:
I'd rather be "missing shots", than getting the shots with such a shitty lens.
And where are the shots going anyways? I find myself to have plenty of oppurtunities
for shots, and I get them more than just once. The guy obviously already has the
kit lens, so let him use that until he can save enough for the prime.


Dont be an ass to people with high standards.

I wasn't going to wade in but now I can't resist. First congrats "Music" and welcome to this normally friendly forum. Also on the purchase of the Tamron lens. I as well have that lens and used it a lot. After getting my son a K110D I can't get it out of his bag. Both of us have taken some great shots with it and I'm sure you will have a blast when Santa arrives. The results speak for themselves with many of the fine work that has been posted here and elsewhere.

Now as for someone's high standards I will take issue. Learn to spell and use punctuation first. 1) youre vs. you're 2) oppurtunities vs. opportunities 3) anyways vs. anyway & Dont vs. Don't. When you claim to have such a high standard then try to show it.

Sure prime lenses do a better job in most cases but I’d never trade my zooms and they often are the only lens that can do the job when travelling light or trying to frame a shot that a zoom will not cover. Personally, I have a bag full of primes and Limited’s but the lens that is on the camera is always the FA 28-70 f4.0 and I wouldn’t have it any other way (unless I could find and afford the FA* version).

Everyone has to start somewhere and “Music” has made a very good choice. Everyone’s budgets and requirements are different. I would much rather encourage someone to go out shooting, than to be such an arrogant snob as to criticize the choice someone has made to advance their bag and skill level.

If this is the sort of advice you plan to continue to dish out, go start a forum with RiceHigh, you guys deserve each other.