Pros:

• Sharp
• Nice construction
• Effective VR/OIS
• Fast and accurate AF with good tracking. I've used it for a mix of birds, bugs, and youth sports. It's never failed to disappoint
• It's not white and collapses somewhat small for a longish FF lens. I like to believe the lens didn't stand out that badly when I use it to shoot youth sports. At least I had multiple parents tell me they appreciated the photos. The hood adds a decent amount of visual mass and it's probably not needed 95% of the time
• Decent pseudo macro, but only at the wide end (1:3.1 aka 0.32x)
• 500mm is 25% more reach than 400mm and is enough for my needs. I'm on e-mount and this lens combo is faster than Sony's 100-400 with a teleconverter
• Good price to performance ratio
• The lens has a focal length lock that uses a clutch like mechanism to lock the lens at any focal length. It seems a bit gimmicky, but I find it useful
• My copy appears fairly well centered, so yay

Cons:

• Stiff zoom action and somewhat front heavy when fully zoomed. There's no manual focusing this lens when it's fully zoomed unless you're using a monopod or tripod
• It's a bit heavy, but is on par for this focal length on a FF lens. If you only need 400mm, get a 400mm lens to save some heft. I use this lens exclusively hand held, but I'm also reasonably fit. I have sat on the ground and used a knee as a makeshift monopod at times though
• Somewhat slow aperture, but this also on par for the focal length. I only use this lens outdoors, so it's never been an issue. As far as consumer lenses go, there's not much faster out there at this focal length
• If you need a long lens you're going to need something longer than 500mm. There's obviously more reach here than a 400mm lens, but it's not that much more. This isn't a real con about this lens, just know what focal length you need and go from there
• No teleconverters on e-mount

Bottom line:

• If this focal length is your jam, this could be your lens
• If you don't need the reach, get something lighter and more compact
• If you don't mind walking around with a massive lens and you're on e-mount, Sony's 200-600 zoom action is really hard to beat

Went to the lake when spring weather started to set in. There were four of these guys hanging around me keeping the mosquitos at bay. They sat with me the entire time I was there occasionally flying over to the water to drink and coming back.

I've been interested in photographing bees recently. Rather than buy a macro lens, I spent $32 on a 10mm and 16mm Meike extension tube. Photos are with an A9II + Sigma 35mm f/2, which normally offers a 0.18x magnification. All four are taken as close as the lens will focus. I'm very happy with image quality, especially given that this lens doesn't have a super flat focal plane at its minimum focal distance.

For anyone who tries an extension tube for their first time: you won't be able to focus very far in the distance (beyond about 1 foot in my case). Be ready to get up close and personal.

Finally found out what kept me from uploading photos directly to lemmy so hopefully it will work this time.

This is part of a series that I shot in 2020 and now I’ll finally have the chance to show them in an exhibition on Berlin later this year.

Ignore the antropmorhic bear in the background

Edit: marked OC

The last shot I posted gained some traction, so I felt like sharing some more of what I’ve done with my scanner camera. The scan is done from top to bottom in about 2 minutes, the model did a great job of staying still throughout.

While scanning motion is definitely eye-catching and spectacular, there are other qualities to appreciate. The gorgeous soft, yet tack sharp aesthetic of large format photography is easily available with a scanner.

Usually I fight the IR-super sensitivity of the sensor, but this time it made her skin iridescent against the rock in the background.

Hi all, let me know if Cara posts are not allowed :)

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16177288

Pearl St, Boulder CO, USA. Spring 2024

Since I discovered RAW Power thanks to Lemmy and used it happily since, I thought I post the availability of this more advanced app recently released. With the uncertainty around Affinity Photo after the Canva acquisition, maybe it of interest to some :)

I know this is quite personal, but does anybody know of a good sideloading backpack? I have a wandrd prvke 31l, and while I like all the organizing I'm unsure of the looks and it's quite heavy. I have a fjallraven Ulvo 23l and I really like it but it's maybe a bit too small and it's a pain to dig up my camera cube/sling underneath from my coat, drinks and food. The Peak Design Everyday pack is expensive and doesn't look like it works well with the dividers and such.

So I thought maybe there's a hiking or daypack with side loading option. Those are usually less expensive, have good build quality and with a camera cube can function fine as a gear bag. Is there such a backpack?

Taken on a small group of Islands in the Oslo fjord, called Hvasser. A 15 meter peice of fabric playing in the wind, scanned right to left in 21 seconds. Got really lucky with the clouds this time, allowing a single beam of sunlight in as a highlight.

I'm cross-posting this here to draw attention to this awesome community that has been inactive for a while. I hope we can help it grow!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16061925

Shot last Sunday by me. I'm hoping we can revive this community!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15701029

Sometimes all you find are common birds and you can't always get close to them to get a good framing. This is my experiment on minimalism.

I saw the clouds starting to cover the mountain top and thought this might give a good photo.

Bear Peak - Boulder, CO, USA

Pixelfed post: https://pxlmo.com/p/buffy/698711443393578831

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15626300

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15626250

Seen today in Boulder, CO, USA.

More pictures on pixelfed!

https://pxlmo.com/p/buffy/698309706997654046

Canon EOS 550D / T2i

Tamron 17 - 50mm f/2.8

Canon EOS 550D / T2i

Tamron 17 - 50mm f/2.8

I think I'm going to lean into the FF E-mount world, which means giving up my D5300 + Nikon AF-S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR (115 - 450 FF equivalent). Before kids, I used this lens for motorsports/landscape/travel. Post kids we don't do a ton of that, so I've been getting along well with a pair of 35mm and 50mm primes.

My kids are pretty young and are starting to play outdoor sports like T-ball and soccer. This has brought my D5300 + 70-300 out of retirement. I'm missing the conviences of my A9, so I'm trying to figure out what lens I should get for sports duty. At this point, everything is outdoors during the middle of the day so there's no need for a fast lens. It was pretty drizzly last weekend and my current (slow lens) setup still kept ISO below 1k most of the day with a 1/640 shutter. I figure I can comfortably double ISO and halve my shutter speed on the A9 while still getting a lower noise image than I have today, so I don't think I need fast glass.

Looking through EXIF data from the previous few games on the D5300 + 70-300 it looks like I use the full range of focal lengths, but the vast majority of shots are under 400mm FF EQ and above 150mm FF EQ. I'm a little wary of wanting more reach in a few years when the kids are on bigger fields, but they'll also be bigger so maybe it will wash out. Who knows if they'll still be interested in playing either.

So what do you think?

• Third part lens that stops at 400? This means no teleconvertor in the future, but this seems like it would work well for today
• First party 100-400? Adding a 1.4 teleconvertor makes this a 140-560, but it also makes the f-stop at the long end f/8 which might not be great for sports
• 500mm? Tamron's 150-500 seems decent and doesn't call too much attention to itself, but it is heavier
• 600mm? These lenses are all fairly bit/shouty visually, but are potentially more future proof....