Does anybody else have this lens?
I've owned it for a few years and sort of forgot I had it put away. Got it out and had a play and remembered why I put it away.
The zoom has sort of got a hard spot in it. All most like it fills up with air then has to 'puff' out the air to get past that spot.

Hard to explain but anyone with the lens and with the same problem would probably understand.
I contacted Sigma NZ some time ago and from memory they were going to charge heaps just to look at it so I put it away and forgot about it.
Its a big imposing piece of glass and originally was going to use it as a portrait lens.

The low angle, the mood, the composition. Fantastic pic. :thumbup:
If I was being hypercritical I would have angled the pic to get the pole on the left dead straight,
but then again, maybe this adds to the grey sort of lonely
mood you captured of the figure in the distance.
Really like it :thumbup:

That really is a great pic. :thumbup:

Is Photography a dying art?
I think the funeral was held some time ago.
Only a very few who own a camera actually use it any more, having replaced
it with a . . Digital Image Maker.
(Acronym - DIM)
A digital 'camera' bears little resemblance, internally, to an aged Leica
or Nikon camera. Today they are merely computers built to resemble
the cameras of yesterday.and of course we have seen 'Photographers'
replaced by Digital Image Makers.
I'm a DIM doesn't sound very romantic though, does it?
And where we had Photographers spending hours in their dark
Darkroom, today we have even children creating amazing
digital images with the help of presets, plug-ins and computer programmes
that simulate the art of old.
And of course, the audience for this art goes, "wow", thereby ensuring the
market for this equipment and its output for ever.
Digital 'cameras' produce amazing results and manufacturers of the hardware
and software and interpretive programmes are continually attempting to
ensure the results simulate the film of old.
From Sepia screening to Black and White conversion, to removing blemishes
to inserting clouds. All fantastic stuff!
But spare me, Fine Art Photography it ain't.
Digital manipulation it is.
And few of us anywhere have resisted the urge to go down the Digital track.
Why should we!
Modern life is all about immediate gratification and ease of use.
Photography and Photographers?
Nearly dead and gone. :cry:

Great picture, good composition and exposure. My suggestion though would be to crop it just a little off the bottom. (Not proportionately as suggested above). I have a green fuzz in the bottom right on my screen and a dark area on the left bottom. Crop just above the green and you have a wall hanger in my opinion.

[quote=NiagaraJim]I received an SD card for Christmas, I think it was a low cost one. I just used it recently, and the following problem came up.

I downloaded the images with LR4 and found the images from day two would not load on to my computer. I removed the card from my laptop and put it back into the Canon 60D that I had been using. The camera said "card needs to be formatted before use".
Is there any hope of getting the images that I was not able load on the first try.
Additional info: The camera battery was running low, maybe the file did not write properly to the SD card.

Suggest you put the card back in the camera then connect the camera via USB cable to the computer. Go to My Computer and then open the drive that appears for your camera (it will appear as an external drive). Compare this to what you have downloaded in to Lightroom.
Just my suggestion:
I never put my cards, CF or SD in to the computer. Always download via the camera. Never get the computer to delete files after downloading. When download complete and verified (and backed up, if you are as paranoid as I am), disconnect from the computer, then format the card in the camera.
I have a dozen or so cards of various types, brands that I have been using for years beginning with D70s then D200 now D300s and never had any of the problems I read about on UHH.
Maybe I'm just lucky but it works for me.

I thought the US of A (and UHH) stood for freedom of speech.
Didnt realise UHH is censored to remove anything even vaguely irreligious.
Sort of no different to those guys in the Middle East who censor everything they don't like.
By the way god, little 'g', in this context, I think is sort of an adjective or exclamation
rather than a noun.
Then again, I remember getting a clip around the ears as a youngster for
using the word "damn".
It used to be a swear word when I was a kid and considered very naughty.
Times change :roll:

Yeah, the contradictions of Government. Same everywhere.
Thanks for the Kindle suggestion. Problem is Trish looks for horse related books (she's an equestrian judge) and they dont seem to put them out in ebook form yet.

Ouch. Have only used Amazon for books and my wife got one delivered only a week or so ago. Wonder if its something to do with just camera gear. Maybe tied in to our parallel importing regs?? I read somewhere, sometime ago, that parallel importing was being looked at, but thought it probably only applied to China. Then again, in the Sunday Herald today I see that the Govt purchasing office is now cancelling local supplier contracts for manufacturing NZ made souvenirs and awarding the contract to bloody China.
So much for the "Buy NZ Made" campaign!!

We use Amazon regularly, no problem. In fact at times we get faster delivery, here in Tauranga, from Amazon in the US, than we get from Auckland (only 220kms away). 3-4 days!
Fantastic Occasionally we also get free freight from Amazon but not
sure why or how that works. :thumbup:

They both have their uses of course and as they are both Adobe one good feature is that they work pretty well seamlessly with each other.

As others have pointed out, Lightroom offers excellent Cataloging features.
Another advantage is when editing in Lightroom, one doesn't end up with multiple large files on the Hard Drive. Lightroom only saves the data to enable you to open the original file with any enhancements you have added. (You can of course save or 'Export' the amended pic file but that is not really necessary in most cases.)

I liken Lightrooms ability as more like the old Darkroom of Negative Film days. One can do a lot of file enhancements but only a little manipulation.
If you only have and use Lightroom it may make for a more careful Photographer 'in the field'.

Just my thoughts. I have both but more and more lean towards Lightroom as my favourite 'Darkroom'.

Someone once said something like
"a picture is worth a thousand words"

That has to be one of the most appealing
bird photos I have ever seen.

Thanks for putting it up here regardless of
who made the picture :thumbup: :thumbup:

Yeah but people with guns kill people easier than people without guns mate.

How about giving him a free :) subscription to this forum with a link to this conversation.

Let him pick up on the subject and see all the different aspects discussed here.

May even help him realise how much you care about both the subject and him, that you looked for advice. :)

Mate! I think a better nom de Hogg might be Shy Jake! or Weird Jake!

Where do you get the ugly from? (My wife just saw your pic and I wont post her comment, but it weren't nuthin' to do with ugly. But then she lives with me so she ain't a good judge of ugly!!)

You are quite photogenic (imo) and would love to take your photo should you ever come to NZ.
You have the symetry I was reffering to, plus a brilliant beard that reflects your character I am sure.
Contrary to what many think, eyes aren't everything.
Important, especially if you don't have any, but not necessarily the first focus of a picture, portrait or even a 'face to face' with someone.

Be thankful for what you have and what you project.
I see character, humility, honesty with a tinge of ambition.
Like to meet you should you ever come to NZ.