[Jim]

Just seen this. nearly wet myself and ordered one straight away but its gotta be a mistake.
Its clearly not 2.8 straight through at that price

[cofe]

it does say 1: 4-5.6 on the lens in that image.

[Jim]

it also says

It's exceptionally bright F2.8 maximum aperture, is available throughout the zoom range. This is perfect for low light photography or where total control of depth of field is required (F2.8-F32).

[cofe]

i'd be inclined to go with the text that sigma printed on the lens word.

[Jim]

I know. Shame.
Do you recon you could get them for false advertising? and then demand the widest f2.8 they have?

[cofe]

no. but i reckon you could. and i'll be right there with you buddy boy. i'm sure some bright spark can secrete the knowledge regarding trading standards etc.

[dave]

Thats bollocks, it an f/4-5.6 lens, i can assure you. Any f/2.8 version would cost you probably double and you'd never use the extra stop anyway. If that is a legit site (the fact they don't even know how fast the lens is even though its written in big letters on 4 sides of the box would make me suspicious) then its a good price, i got mine for 250 bananas from mifsuds in what was described as "Mint-" condition. You'd want to make sure they weren't going to liquidate and fuck off after you bought though, cos those sigma lenses are notoriously bad for quality control. You want to make sure yours is sharp copy if you get one, test it out and shit. The soft copies are so-so, but the sharp copies and well sharp -  mine is way sharper than the 18-70 kit lens, and that ain't bad in itself.

[Johnny Brown]

To get back to the original tangent - lens movements without large format - there's a good article on shift/tilt options for '35mm' in AP this week. Billed as a review of the Hartblei 35/2.8 super-rotator, but giving a good overview of other options. I've been considering the 45/3.5 for my Mamiya for a while (primarily for the tilt), so its encouraging to see some good reports of optical quality.

[Yossarian]

in the latest calumet catalogue they were pushing the canon tilt / shift lenses.

i nearly bought one of these a few years back:



http://www.mediajoy.com/en/cla_came/plaubel69w_proshift/index.html

by all accounts a brilliant camera. but i decided against it, and got a fuji gsw 690. which i used about 2 times and then sold...

[Johnny Brown]

Yeah, all those big rangefinders look good on paper, but I can't get into them at all. Hired a Mamiya 7 for a while but it just felt like a big compact. I think a proper SLR finder is a must. No tilt on any of those big rangefinders either, I'm a ll about tilt at the mo.

[Yossarian]

Yeah, all those big rangefinders look good on paper, but I can't get into them at all. Hired a Mamiya 7 for a while but it just felt like a big compact. I think a proper SLR finder is a must.

depends what you want it for i guess. the problem with the fuji was that it didn't have a built in meter, and i'd been spoilt that way before. i got a minolta spot meter an' everything, but it felt a bit like too much work. plus you really had to use it on a tripod to keep the horizon horizontal (assuming you're using it for landscapes). it would make a great camera for a geriatric landscape photographer used to 5x4 who wants something a bit lighter weight. 6x9 is a great format i reckon. i did a few wedding photos for a friend on a beach on iona with it, and the results were stunning.

i think that's the point of MF rangefinders though - they can be very convenient. if you're going to go for one MF system then an SLR is probably the safest option, but rangefinders are great for spontaneous stuff. i got very excited when i found out that martin parr used to use a plaubel like mine - it's a camera for quickly developing situations i suppose.

No tilt on any of those big rangefinders either, I'm a ll about tilt at the mo.

so you're not a swinger then?

[cofe]

lightroom 2 beta now available

can it get any better? certainly looks that way. official release some time off though.

[Adam Lincoln]

New features in 2.0

1) Localized Corrections (AKA: Dodge and Burn) - If Lightroom 2 came out and this was the only new feature I’d upgrade in a heartbeat. Localized Corrections is the non-destructive dodging and burning that we’ve all wanted for so long. But I have to say this - it’s so much more. It goes WAY beyond what I expected from dodging and burning in Lightroom (which is why it’s called Localize corrections and not just dodge and burn) and I think you’re going to love it.
2) Better Photoshop Integration - Now you can open your files as Smart Objects, Merge to Panorama or even export straight to Photoshop’s HDR from Lightroom.
3) Post-crop vignetting - if you’ve ever tried to darken the edges of a cropped photo with the lens vignetting slider you’ll know it doesn’t really work. That’s where the post-crop vignette comes in.
4) Multiple Monitor support - can you say “Finally!”?
5) Picture Packages in the print module.
6) Output Sharpening in the print module and it really works this time around. I’ve seen tests compared to Lightroom 1 and the print sharpening is noticeably better.
7) Smart Collections - Collections were great in LR 1 but smart collections make using collections a lot easier.
8.) Printing directly to a JPEG file in the Print module. So if you send your photos off to a lab now you can save the files right from within Lightroom’s Print module.
9) Suggested Keywords - Get this… Lightroom will start suggesting keywords to you once you start keywording your photos. It’s weird to explain so make sure you stop by NAPP’s learning center to see it in action.
10) OK, I’m going to give you two here. First there’s a new filter panel in the Library module that makes getting to your photos easier and faster because it’s right there with your photos (instead of tucked away on the left side panels). Next, the Slideshow and Web modules both have Content panels as well as Collection panels. So now you can very quickly switch slideshows without having to jump back to the Library module and choose different photos.