Tracy B. Loc: Indiana

Congratulations on your retirement. Will you be taking more photos now?

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

I doubt it...

Tracy B. Loc: Indiana

Well, I've decided to keep my Sigma 85mm. I have had great luck with it. I don't think the image stabilization will be of much use to me with this particular lens. Thank you all for your help and links and opinions. My favorite lens is my 35mm f 1.4 L Mark II. It's great for environmental portraits & street photography.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

I'm kinda going through a slump. I worked for the same company for 38.5 years and I enjoyed what I did. I didn't retire voluntarily, I was given a good severance package, handed in my card key Id badge and left. I had planned to retire at 40 years but the division of the company I worked for was transitioning technologies and due to blatantly bad decision making on the part of management, they had already blown over a billion dollars trying to get the new technology stable; they needed to cut costs in the cash cow older technology section so, tag, I was it, along with many others. Here's the irony and obvious stupidity of management. I was the best at what I did. No other person on my team could come close to doing what I could. The severance package they gave me will pay my salary and benefits up to the point I had intended on retiring anyway. I guess I should thank the morons, I get to spend more time with my wife and our puppies and ride my motorcycle and take photos and do the things I like to do, although I haven't really done much of that yet. I have spent a lot of time cleaning my cameras but not that much time actually using them, although I've been getting caught up on my reading. Time to quit sulking and rejoin the world and have fun.

Photocraig

A note on IS. Personally, for me, along with losing my personal weather sealing my personal stabilization is gone, too. I've been castigated here for advocating IS as strongly as I do, BUT, there is no substitute for certain situations:
Hand holding at less than (2x in my case) of the reciprocal of the focal Length. I participate in Studio Workshops and the settings, respecting Sync speeds, can find themselves in the f5.6 and f8 range with a 1/30th or 1/60th sec shutter. This old guy can't do that. Substituting a Sigma OS lens (not an 85 Art) made all of my workshop portraits sharp and usable.

For me personally, I will not buy a lens greater than 50mm without IS. I have an old Tamron SP 90mm Macro which yields great portraits, but I can't handhold it at slower that 1/200th. Shooting a Crop Sensor camera, that is pretty limiting. And a tripod at a 6-8 person workshop in a studio is limiting.

Since you're talking expensive glass here, I'd suggest your rent the 85mm 1.4 L with IS and see if it matters. It was immediately verifiable for me on my first 6 images.

As for Sports, I got to shoot an NBA "G" league game and used the 90mm 2.8. And I switched to my Sigma 17-70 2.8-4 OS lens and get better results. My shutter speeds in Arena Light (Minor League) were consistently below 1/125.

Good luck. I read great things about both lenses.
C

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

You are a very lucky fortunate one .....all the way round ! ........Now, get out and make some images !

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Tracy B. Loc: Indiana

Yes, have fun. You deserve it! Do stuff you couldn't do because you had to work. Sleep in. Sit outside in the morning listen to the birds and drink your coffee without looking at the clock. Soak up nature, go for long walks with your wife. My Husband is going to retire from his job when he turns 55 ( A few more years). He got his Master's Degree and is going to be a Professor for an online college. We now own a Architectural and Engineering firm. I'm a CAD draftsman and He's and Engineer. I can't wait to retire (even though He will still be working from home part time). Owning our own business has been wonderful, but stressful too. Anyway, good luck and Have Fun!

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Will do...