So. The last time I was fortunate enough to visit Europe, I took lots of lovely pictures all over the place. (See Spring Forward in this blog.)
However, there were many great photos I could NOT get because I did not have a wide-angle lens with me. I kicked myself over and over for making this mistake, and vowed to not make it again. (Always make NEW mistakes when possible, that’s my motto.)
I love it real bad already.
Don’t get me wrong; the Nikkor 55-200 zoom I already have is a perfectly terrific lens, and it’ll be going with me on the trip as well. But it’s good for focusing in on things that are far away, like my youth and my dreams. You need a wide angle lens to get the more epic vistas you stumble onto while wandering around cultures that are more than 200 years old.
This new Sigma has two unique properties. First, it takes pictures that are inherently more dramatic than ones taken with a conventional lens. Let me give you a couple of examples.
Here’s my handsome friend Max on my balcony, shot with the Nikkor zoom:
And here’s what he looks like shot with the Sigma:
Another example: Here’s the elevator in my building, taken with the Nikkor:
And here’s what it looks like with the Sigma wide angle lens:
Now, if you’re not a trained photographer, you may have trouble telling the differences in the two sets of photos. To help you, I’ll put them side by side, with the old Nikkor lens images on the left, and the new Sigma lens images on the right:
Look very closely. Can you see how the images on the right just seem to pop a little more? I know the effect is subtle, but I notice it and it makes me happy.
The other cool thing the lens does is that it allows me to peer into the actual souls of the people I’m photographing. At least that’s what the brochure says. I look forward to experimenting with this feature, and I’ll keep you posted!
Comments welcome!
