Random non-reef pic of the day! (2 Viewers)

[Cody]

Very nice! What lens are you using, Frank?

 

[frankc]

Very nice! What lens are you using, Frank?

Thanks! It's an awesome lens I got in November, the Sigma 60-600 f4.5-6.3 with Optical Stabilizer. It's great because it's exercise equipment and a lens in one - it weighs about 6 pounds. But with the OS, I can shoot handheld at 600mm at 1/5 second and still get a good picture. It's about 2 grand new, but I got a mint one on Ebay for considerably less, and it came with the optional docking station. As someone who started in photography in the totally-manual film days, it's a real trip that a lens can be customized by hooking it to a computer. I have not messed with that yet.

 

[Cody]

Thanks! It's an awesome lens I got in November, the Sigma 60-600 f4.5-6.3 with Optical Stabilizer. It's great because it's exercise equipment and a lens in one - it weighs about 6 pounds. But with the OS, I can shoot handheld at 600mm at 1/5 second and still get a good picture. It's about 2 grand new, but I got a mint one on Ebay for considerably less, and it came with the optional docking station. As someone who started in photography in the totally-manual film days, it's a real trip that a lens can be customized by hooking it to a computer. I have not messed with that yet.

I'm not sure I would trust buying expensive used lenses on eBay. I have bought some on B&H with great results, but you never know the seller on eBay. I suppose if they have a good review list then, yeah, maybe so. But yeah, a 60-600mm lens is an intense lens. It's the one lens to rule them all, one lens to find them, one lens to bring them all, and in the darkness, bind them.

 

[frankc]

I'm not sure I would trust buying expensive used lenses on eBay. I have bought some on B&H with great results, but you never know the seller on eBay. I suppose if they have a good review list then, yeah, maybe so. But yeah, a 60-600mm lens is an intense lens. It's the one lens to rule them all, one lens to find them, one lens to bring them all, and in the darkness, bind them.

I was a bit nervous about it, especially since it was my first eBay purchase. But the seller had good reviews, and my experience couldn't have been better. With the money I saved, I also got the stereo microscope I used to take the pictures of the critters from my Aqua SD order, and a cheap night vision device so I can find out where all those deer are sleeping, all for less than the price of a new lens. Those other two toys were not purchased on eBay.

B&H is my go-to place as well. I have been buying new and used stuff from them since the '80s, and my sister who lives in New York gets to go to the physical store, which apparently is pretty awesome. They even still have a film section.