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new Nikon gear
#81
Switzerland is different, Markus. But then, people here are comparatively wealthy and used to pay for service. There are rental companies here - rare stuff like super tele, PC lenses or medium format gear as well as lightning accessories are listed and available.

 

So, if the consumer's rights allow to practically borrow lenses and return them, there's a downside: all consumers pay the bill for those "test-shipments", which I find okay. But if you do that too often - well, dealers don't have to sell you things and I read about Amazon deleting customer accounts who played that game a little too often. Also, some dealers ask (and may so) for a usage fee.

 

Couple of weeks ago I borrowed an Otus. The dealer made a "tryout-proposal" and I was happy with that. But I'm a bit strange when it comes to downloading music or movies: I never use these portals. Either the music or movie is worth the money to me - or it's not, and if not than it's also not worth downloading it just to fill the harddrive. Lenses the same. I like to play around, to try them at certain occasions. And I also like to be free how long I want to do so. The Zeiss I had only for one day, the tryout offer was limited to 2...3 days max.

 

Lensrentals is US based - so a lot of dealers offer return service, at least that's what I read in several forums. However, the xtra service of getting adjusted and checked lenses while new lenses sometimes come decenterred or whatever, I do find quite attractive. Okay, shipping within US is much easier than within EU. I'd be a customer for lensrentals and obviously, they're making money because of Roger's excellent and humoruous blog and because they invested in extra services. People send in their own lenses as well, if they are disappointed by the manufacturers.

#82
First, partial comparison with the old 300mm:

 

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2015/02/...t-one-copy

stoppingdown.net

 

Sony a6300, Sony a6000, Sony NEX-6, Sony E 10-18mm F4 OSS, Sony Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* E 16-70mm F4 ZA OSS, Sony FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS, Sigma 150-600mm Æ’/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary, Samyang 12mm Æ’/2, Sigma 30mm F2.8 DN | A, Meyer Gorlitz Trioplan 100mm Æ’/2.8, Samyang 8mm Æ’/3.5 fish-eye II | Zenit Helios 44-2 58mm Æ’/2 
Plus some legacy Nikkor lenses.
#83
Ah, Roger's back Smile has been a while… thanks for posting, stoppingdown. Decenterred sample, then? 120 days ago I ordered the new Sigma 150-600 Sports. Beginning of this week I finally cancelled this order as I was told "not before March" which is very close to an earlier confirmation "maybe spring". At that time I believed there was a confusion with the Contemporary version. But apparently it's less easy to supply this lens.

 

Contrary to Nikon: Announced with delivery date and delivered. I really wanted the 600 mm but I also wanted to have time to grow to this FL. I've not much opportunities to train with and no experience to FL longer than 300, so I decided not to wait until March.

 

So, how's the feel after waiting so long for a big zoom and then getting a light, tiny 300 mm "Made in China" with 1.7× converter to get at least 500 mm? Well, I didn't party all night after receiving it the day after ordering. I know the impact to my pocket and I still am a bit insecure if I made the right choice. 'course it's only ¼ of the zoom's weight, not to mention the size. But with converter and another lens to cover the 150…250 mm range, the weight and size difference starts to disappear. It will become the "Tele which is in my bag" contrary to the fat tube the Sigma would be. I'm just asking myself how often I will change lenses for one tele-shot?

 

This weekend we expect some sunshine, so I'll make more than inside shots and am looking forward to it. Mine might as well be decenterred, how could I tell?

#84
Quote:people here are comparatively wealthy
 

Haha Big Grin  I think that is quite an understatement, especially after the recent abandonment of the franc's cap and its following appreciation. 

 

I'm curious to see your shots with the 300mm. I think a good quick test for centering quality would be taking a shot of some foliage at/near infinity. If both sides of the image appear equal in sharpness, you're probably fine.

 

What camera are you shooting with? If it's <24mp FX, you could try to close the 150-250mm gap with a manual 200mm lens. E.g. the Ai-S 4/200. It has a good reputation and it's relatively compact. You would, of course, have to change lenses even more often and I am not sure if the lens is good enough for a D800/D810 (most of my manual lenses aren't).

#85
When I posted that bit from january 15th, I was not aware I just became 15% richer because it just happened, I could get 1€ for 1 franc. Two weeks later each photodealer is working with "€-rebates!" announcement. It's pretty incredible and has a downside: our products are now 15% more expensive for €-countries. Sad Not good on long term but right now, I take the liberty to enjoy gear shopping.  Rolleyes

 

Bodies are D750 and D810, and the mentioned gap I can cover with 70-200/4. Still, my plan for a certain event was the Siggy 150-600 on D750 and Siggy 24-105 on D810 for closeups and crowd shots.
#86
Quote:It's pretty incredible and has a downside: our products are now 15% more expensive for €-countries. Sad Not good on long term but right now, I take the liberty to enjoy gear shopping.  Rolleyes

 
 

... and the most annoying part for me is that, among those more expensive products, there are Swiss hotels and restaurants...  <_< The past year I enjoyed for the first time the Lac Leman staying on the Swiss side, I think this year I'll have to go back to the french one.

 

But since life gives you both bad and good thing, enjoy shopping!  Rolleyes
stoppingdown.net

 

Sony a6300, Sony a6000, Sony NEX-6, Sony E 10-18mm F4 OSS, Sony Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* E 16-70mm F4 ZA OSS, Sony FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS, Sigma 150-600mm Æ’/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary, Samyang 12mm Æ’/2, Sigma 30mm F2.8 DN | A, Meyer Gorlitz Trioplan 100mm Æ’/2.8, Samyang 8mm Æ’/3.5 fish-eye II | Zenit Helios 44-2 58mm Æ’/2 
Plus some legacy Nikkor lenses.
#87
A couple of Swiss hotels still offer their guests currency conversion of 1.20 CHF per 1.00 € but I suspect these are the already expensive ones.

 

I also had enough bad times and know how quickly things can change from being good to very much less good. I also know: gear is nice to have - at best and sometimes only more clutter. I admit I'm curious to see how some desirable things really are. And I have no plans for making a living out of it. Others also have "expensive" hobbies, but then, what's the point in collecting money? Two of the things which can be changing quickly are health and life. Imagine to be immobile, maybe in hospital. You're rich, probably but what's the point?

#88
Got some pictures, finally. Birds and ice. The ice is mixed with some Sigma DP3 shots but you'll find out.

 

Bokeh of the 300 can become pretty nervous:

 

[Image: _JOJ1032-L.jpg]

#89
The repeating patterns in the brown parts are rather normal for tele lenses. The nervousness in the trees behind is reasonable, there are much worse offenders too.

#90
Nikon and their "issues" - I'm afraid, those belong to their corporate identity. After I got word from some VR weirdness I tried my lens and of course, it's concerned, too. The VR has a weak spot within the shutter speed range from 1/80 to app. 1/200. Actually I was expecting slightly better performance at this price.

 

Especially when a 70-200/4 with TC17 II performs better in terms of vibration reduction - see for yourself (larger pictures: scroll to the end) :

 

[Image: 1-200-L.jpg]

 

[Image: 1-160-L.jpg]

 

[Image: 1-80-L.jpg]

  
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