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Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 EX Aspherical DG DF
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Review Date: Dec 26, 2007
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $379.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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very sharp and reliable and far cheaper than the "name" brands. Good Quality...I own two one in Nikon and one for Canon EOS
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Cons:
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Would it have killed them to make this an HSM?? that would make it a world beater...Focus can be maddeningly slow and low light levels.
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Would have gladly paid an extra $100 bucks for HSM...Good lens and definitely worth the price. If I'm only taking one lens with me it is usually the one....
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Sigma 28mm f1.8 EX DG Aspherical Macro
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Review Date: Mar 6, 2007
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $230.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Extremely sharp out to the edges (nikon af). Very bright and a joy to use. Incredibly inexpensive for it's performance.
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Cons:
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Kinda cheesy looking construction, but very robust
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This is my American Express lens "don't leave home without it". I use it all the time on my D200 with really great, sharp results. Sigma is the craziest company in the industry...when they choose to they make world class products. In this case they have..Ask me about my 50mm macro lens and you'll get a different answer..
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Nikon D200
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Review Date: Aug 23, 2006
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,700.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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white balance much better than the D100
Feature rich,
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Cons:
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It's not a D2Xs....that's all I got here
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I used a D100 since they first came out. It was a struggle all the time to get the color balance/white balance to reflect reality. Otherwise the D100 was/is a dream to use.
I upgraded mainly because I heard there were some big improvements in image quality and white balance. I was
frankly amazed, though when I put the battery in, racked in a lens, and fired the camera into my living room, I got a great well balanced and lit picture of my living room...Something that might have been a bit of a wrangle in my D100 life.
Short version I loved my D100 until the first time I used my D200. Quantum advance on an already great line of cameras!!!
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Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 EX APO IF HSM
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Review Date: Jul 13, 2006
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $740.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Very fast focus
doesn't HUNT for focus
Tack Sharp Great quality
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Cons:
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no downside
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I bought this to use with a brand new D100 in 2003. What a treat! I took it to Botswana and took thousands of pictures. I was blown away by the number of in focus and properly exposed images. I brought 5 lenses and used 2. 99% were the Sigma. If it were lost, broken or stolen, I'd replace it with another immediately. Great buy!
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Fuji FinePix S2 Pro
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Review Date: Jul 2, 2006
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Recommend? |
Price paid: $2,100.00
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Pros:
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Nikon Body
great saturated colors
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Cons:
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dual battery arrangement
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I bought a D-100 and a S2 on the same day. It was a defensive move because I can't keep my wife away from my camera stuff.
Two of either model would have not worked out. My wife, being an accomplished artist, was immediately drawn to the Fuji style color rendition which is similar to her own palette.
I was switching over from an F-100 which we had tried somewhat unsuccessfully in the past to share.
The occaision was a photo expedition to Botswana. We had done it once before with a couple of F3's and a basket of film.
The S-2 was a huge hit! It performed flawlessly in Africa with only the known silly battery issues as a complaint. about 20 minutes per day were spent figuring out which battery to replace. This in the context of many hundreds of perfectly exposed exposures a day. I must say the D-100 results looked rather dull next to the S2 Pro colors. In retrospect, I'd say that the D-100 was close to dead accurate while the S2 rendition was, well, "Velvia" like. Otherwise, the Fuji was a dream camera for the trip. even with a fairly long zoom tele Sigma 135-400, her results were, well, remarkable. This with almost no practice with the camera before the trip.
Having two different sets of batteries in a single camera is a silly, user-unfriendly design compromise and one they did not repeat in the S-3Pro.
Under heavy workloads, it is frustrating to be dealing with batteries all the time. Luckily, we brought two bricks of Costco
AA batteries with us, as well as a supply of 123's that would do the most obsessive compulsive among us proud.
I think if we traded cameras, neither of us would be as happy...LOL. I am jealous, though, of the slightly larger file size in the Fuji. I am much, much happier with the additional accessories like the NIKON MBD-100 battery pack with rechargeable Li Ion batteries. I have not really ever taken it off the camera in 3 years. Fuji would do well to licence the MbD100 or something like it.
Once set up, though, the Fuji was solid, and made accurately exposed and highly reliable exposures.
Conclusion: I would not buy one for myself because it is not really suited to high volume use. The dual batteries is a pain.
I don't hesitate to recommend it for those who prefer/need the Velvia super saturated (and quite beautiful) color space.
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Sigma 135-400 MM f/4.5-5.6 ASP AF APO
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Review Date: Jul 2, 2006
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Recommend? no |
Price paid: $435.00
| Rating: 5
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Pros:
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Not expensive..Pretty well built. Nice feel
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Cons:
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Loose zoom
not very sharp
relatively slow AF
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Not good enough to schlepp around. You are much better off with the very fine Sigma 70-200 2.8 hsm and a converter. Of course at twice the price....
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Fuji FinePix S2 Pro
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Review Date: Jul 2, 2006
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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"Fuji" color rendition,
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Cons:
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Unending dual battery hassle (fixed in S3 I hear).
Non intuitive controls
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I bought a D-100 and a S2 on the same day. It was a defensive move because I can't keep my wife away from my camera stuff.
Two of either model would have not worked out. My wife, being an accomplished artist, was immediately drawn to the Fuji style color rendition which is similar to her own palette.
I was switching over from an F-100 which we had tried somewhat unsuccessfully in the past to share.
The occaision was a photo expedition to Botswana. We had done it once before with a couple of F3's and a basket of film.
The S-2 was a huge hit! It performed flawlessly in Africa with only the known silly battery issues as a complaint. about 20 minutes per day were spent figuring out which battery to replace. This in the context of many hundreds of perfectly exposed exposures a day. I must say the D-100 results looked rather dull next to the S2 Pro colors. In retrospect, I'd say that the D-100 was close to dead accurate while the S2 rendition was, well, "Velvia" like. Otherwise, the Fuji was a dream camera for the trip. even with a fairly long zoom tele Sigma 135-400, her results were, well, remarkable. This with almost no practice with the camera before the trip.
Having two different sets of batteries in a single camera is a silly, user-unfriendly design compromise and one they did not repeat in the S-3Pro.
Under heavy workloads, it is frustrating to be dealing with batteries all the time. Luckily, we brought two bricks of Costco
AA batteries with us, as well as a supply of 123's that would do the most obsessive compulsive among us proud.
I think if we traded cameras, neither of us would be as happy...LOL. I am jealous, though, of the slightly larger file size in the Fuji. I am much, much happier with the additional accessories like the NIKON MBD-100 battery pack with rechargeable Li Ion batteries. I have not really ever taken it off the camera in 3 years. Fuji would do well to licence the MbD100 or something like it.
Once set up, though, the Fuji was solid, and made accurately exposed and highly reliable exposures.
Conclusion: I would not buy one for myself because it is not really suited to high volume use. The dual batteries is a pain.
I don't hesitate to recommend it for those who prefer/need the Velvia super saturated (and quite beautiful) color space.
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