I headed off to the Great Falls park last Saturday (02/02/08) to hike along the river and photograph the falls. It was beautiful out there… about 50 degrees – perfect hiking weather, although the trails and towpath were still muddy. I was carrying my Sony Alpha 700 and 2 lenses – a Sigma AF 28-80mm and the Tamron 70-300mm. The Tamron was for closeup views of the raging waters. The Sigma is a recent acquisition, and I was trying it out.
It’s still early in February, and we’ve already had a lot of rain in Montgomery county – the average rainfall for February is about 2.85 inches here, and by the 2nd, we already had about 3 inches… which means, every stream in the county is overflowing and that the Potomac is running full already. Normally, we’d have to wait until the Spring thaws.
Since my intent was to photograph the falls, I did not mind lugging along the heavy Tamron, but on my way over there, I was thinking about the most desirable characteristics for a hiking lens – good zoom range, rugged, light, cheap, close up capability etc. At the same time, the optical characteristics of the lens should be good enough that you don’t regret the quality of the pictures when you get back.
The more I thought about it, the Sigma I was carrying seemed to be the perfect fit. After all, it had a zoom range of 28-80mm, which is a 42-120mm on the Sony A700. Besides, it has a plastic body, which makes it lightweight. Great optical quality with multicoated aspherical lenses, very cheap so it would not matter if it was damaged or lost – and it has a 1:2 Macro capability, for those occasional very close-up shots of interesting grass or moss or little critters that I might come across.
I would have liked at least 35mm at the wide-angle, but I’ve found that in the open woodlands and hilly areas of Maryland , even a 50mm is sufficiently wide, since one can always step back a few paces to include more of the scene. The Sigma 28-80mm definitely qualified as a Cheap Awesome Lens. Some may complain about the “cheap” build quality – it’s plasticky – but one can’t fault it optically for the price.
The 1:2 macro capability is only at 80mm f/5.6 (120mm f/5.6 on the Sony Alpha 700) and is is a matter of moving a switch on the lens from Normal to Macro position to lock it. Now, f/5.8 is pretty slow, I was able to get decent images even at 100 ISO. I’m not complaining, since I can always increase the ISO to compensate. However, in Winter, with no overhead tree canopy and bright sunlight, it beats carrying an extra lens for the rare occasion one might want to take a real close up.
Here are some of the pictures at the Falls and along the Towpath. The river is very impressive this week.
The Tamron is a beast on the Sony Alpha 700 – it’s equivalent to 105mm-450mm and fairly fast for such a large focal length f/3.5 at the shorter end, and f/5.6 at the 450mm end. Fast enough to handhold at 100 ISO on a bright day. It’s a macro lens as well, and goes to 1:4 along the entire focal length range, which is pretty impressive. This is another Cheap Awesome Lens.Tamron 70-300mm– Potomac River and Towpath.
Potomac River
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Potomac River 1/5 sec exposure |
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Sigma 28-80mm – Potomac River
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Potomac River 1/5 second |
Potomac River 1/5 second |
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Potomac River |
Sigma 28-80mm Canal and Towpath
Canal and Towpath |
Canal and Towpath |
Canal and Towpath |
Canal and Towpath |
Canal and Towpath |
Canal and Towpath – macro |
Canal and Towpath |
Canal and Towpath |
Sigma 28-80mm Great Falls Tavern
Tavern |
Tavern |
Tavern |
Tavern |
Tavern |
Tavern |
Gate at Widewater |
Great Falls |
Sigma 28-80mm – Great Falls Tavern
Great Falls Tavern |
Great Falls Tavern |
Great Falls Tavern |
Great Falls Tavern |
Great Falls Tavern |
Great Falls Tavern |
Great Falls Tavern |
Great Falls Tavern |
Great Falls Tavern |
Great Falls Tavern |
Great Falls Tavern |
Great Falls Tavern |
Great Falls Tavern |
Great Falls Tavern |
Great Falls Tavern |
Sigma 28-80mm – Canal and Towpath
Canal and Towpath |
Canal and Towpath |
Canal and Towpath |
Canal and Towpath |
Canal and Towpath |
Canal and Towpath |
Canal and Towpath |
Sigma 28-80mm Macro Photos (approx 8-10 inches)
Sigma 28-80mm macro |
Sigma 28-80mm macro |
Sigma 28-80mm macro |
Sigma 28-80mm macro |
Sigma 28-80mm macro |
Tamron 70-300mm
Great Falls |
Great Falls |
Great Falls |
Great Falls |
Great Falls |
Great Falls |
Great Falls |
Great Falls |
Great Falls |
Great Falls |
Great Falls |
Great Falls |
Tamron – Wildlife
Wildlife |
Wildlife |
Wildlife |
Tamron
Lichens on Rock |
Lichens |
Wildlife |
Photographed with a Sony Alpha 700, Sigma 28-80mm f/3.5-f/5.6 Aspherical Macro 1:2 and Tamron 70-300mm f/3.9-f5.6, ISO 100, Circular Polarizer.
olympus/zuiko by Ajoy Muralidhar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
text and images © 2008 ajoy muralidhar. all names, websites, brands and technical data referenced are the copyright or trademark of their respective owners. thank you for visiting olympus/zuiko.
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