I Have A New Friend
There’s something about fast apertures that gets me hot. I know, I know, what kind of person opens a post with that kind of sentence?!
A photography nerd. That’s who. I open that way so you know immediately what’s in store for you in this post. Lots of photo nerdery.
I’ve been looking for the right lens for a while now to achieve a certain type of photo technique I’ve been admiring in other pro photographers portfolios… one that will allow me to take photos way zoomed into telephoto territory, but with a very shallow depth of field. It sounds simple, but it takes a very specific type of lens to achieve the look successfully. On most lenses (at least the ones that are under $500), the maximum aperture changes when you zoom in… for example, my Nikon 55-200 and my Nikon 18-55 lens. At the closer end, they get their maximum aperture (usually 3.5 or 4 on most lenses). But when you zoom in to telephoto range (55-200 and up) the maximum aperture gets smaller (usually f5.6 or so). That means, when taking photos of things far away, it’s not always possible to get that “shallow depth of field” look that requires a very wide aperature, where the background is so bokeh (blurred) and creamy that the subject really POPS. You can achieve it to an extent, but not unless you’re quite close to the subject.
I want to achieve a very shallow depth of field while zoomed at 200mm, with my subject plenty far away from me. It truly makes portraiture stand out above the crowd. But it comes with a price.
To get that look, you need to get a telephoto lens with a fixed maximum aperture that stays wide open at every level you zoom into. Also, it’s got to be quite a bit bigger than just 3.5. An aperture of f2.8 is ideal. (Still reading? If you’re not a nerd I’ve probably lost you. I’m sorry. I know how you feel… I feel that way every time Steve talks about his Bass or Guitars, or NBA Basketball.) Anyway, I’ve been researching a way to get a lens like this for less than three mortgage payments, and I finally found the perfect lens!
After reading about a hundred reviews and thinking about it until I couldn’t think straight anymore, I finally decided on the lens. And today, my new friend came: a Sigma APO 70-200mm F2.8 II EX DG Macro HSM Lens.
This thing is a MONSTER. It’s massive. When you carry this thing around attached to your camera people get out of your way. It is the Sigma version of Nikons $2300 version of the same lens, but costs a fraction as much. The reviews all raved, and so far, I’ve been VERY pleased with it’s performance! It’s sharp, fast, the color and image quality is marvelous, and boy does it give good bokeh.
I think we’re going to be very happy together.
When it arrived via UPS today, I absolutely couldn’t wait to get out and try it out. Today in Utah the weather was overcast, and being February everything is still brown and dead and monochrome and ugly… but I found a little park and forced asked Steve to be my model and we took some test shots despite the murky conditions. I was amazed with how great they turned out! Here are a few…
A branch high up on a tree suddenly becomes interesting.
Zoomed way in! Shallow depth of field! Success!
Another benefit of the super wide aperture? You can turn the shutter speed way up. Great for action shots. (Now I want to take it to a concert or sports game!)
And really, even a quick snapshot with this lens makes a beautiful portrait. And Steve wasn’t even being cranky about it!
I can’t wait to use this in my next session. Anyone want to come be my model? I think I used up Steve’s patience.
Pick me!!! I want to be made all pretty and bokeh’d!
I love that picture of the geese! SO clear!
…I think we need to play. Me, You, and that lens.
Yes yes yes!! Lets play this weekend! Steve’s goin’ out of town Saturday morning until Sunday evening… Come over and lets do somthing! We could even bake something for our blogs.
I don’t think I even need to ask whether you’re enjoying that lens yet… you’ll have to tell me what you think of the Sigma lenses in comparison to either Tamron (do you have a Tamron?) or the Nikkor lenses. It’s so perty!
Yes, Christine I’m enjoying it a lot!
I haven’t tried the Tamron lenses… I was very on the fence on weather to get the Sigma or Tamron version of this lens, but the Sigma one had a better internal focus motor so I went with it. I don’t anything beats the Nikkor lenses though, but I wasn’t going to pay 2400 dollars for one! 
Plus, you can only see the difference if you’re nitpicky.
So far I’m having lots of fun with it! Didn’t you get a Tamron lens for Xmas? Which one do you have?
Yeah, I got a Tamron 70-300mm telephoto lens. The aperture on it isn’t so great though, so I will have to get a nicer telephoto sometime in the future. But it’s a good start. The only thing I have issues with is focusing, so I just use the manual focus feature most of the time. It was a cheap lens, so I wasn’t expecting anything spectacular. But certainly a good lens all things considered.
The Birds picture is proof of how fast the lens is. You should try this on outdoor sports… wouldn’t that be cool?