“Oh my! What a big lens you have!” That’s a joke that perhaps every sports or wedding photographer has heard. And those who choose to spring for Sigma’s new 120-300mm f2.8 DG OS HSM will probably hear the same thing. We played with a prototype around Photo Plus and at that point had yet to hear about pricing. But now, you’ll have to shell out $3,599 to hear bridesmaids everywhere compliment you about how big your lens is. And just in time for wedding season, it will be available in early May!
But that’s not all! They’re also announcing a $59 price for their USB dock to update the firmware on their new lenses.
We ran across a new Kickstarter today called the, “Fusion Plate.” The idea solves something that I’ve known has been a problem plaguing sports photographers for a very long time. I’ve heard it for two years over my times of going to tradeshows and while working at B&H Photo. The Fusion Plate will let you quick attach your Black Rapid or other quick strap onto the botton of the camera. Then when you want to move it to a monopod, you can detach the strap quickly, flip up the port, and attach it to an Arca Swiss head.
This might not only work swimmingly for professional sports photographers, but also those shooting a high school/college game. In order to come to fruition, the Kickstarter needs to reach $7,500. Head over to the Kickstarter page and check it out for yourself. Fair warning though: the music is quite terrible in the video.
After perusing the internet for a bit, we found a crazy new meme involving cats and sports. No–the feisty felines aren’t getting pumped for battle on the football field. Well, they sort of are. Sports Balls Replaced with Cats will provide loads of hysterical content for you. And they’ve already gained lots of traction via a Facebook page.
Here’s a bunch of the photos after the jump.
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Are you looking to buy a new Canon lens for the holidays? There are some great deals out there but I won’t be touching on those in this post. Instead I want to lay out some options depending on which type of camera you already have and what you want to shoot.
This post will first highlight great lenses for cropped sensor cameras, like the T4i, 60D and 7D. Then we’ll step up to some lens options for the full frame shooters out there; 5D and 1D series cameras. I will also make a note for lenses I have personally tested, which will be the majority of my recommendations. Also, the images you see on the right side were all taken with the lens mentioned in the caption.
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In the past 24 hours, I’ve been testing lots of new cameras from Sony. But the one that I seem to consistently reach for is the A99. By far, it has to be one of the best cameras I’ve ever tested and its versatility makes my jaw drop. It has also opened up a ton of possibilities to me: I’ve shot better sports photos with the camera, better landscapes (and I really think I suck at landscapes though some like my work) and I’ve also for the first time created video with very little camera shake while shooting handheld with a DSLR. The video will come in a later post, but here are my impressions for my experiences today.
Editor’s Note: be sure to check out our three way full frame comparison test, the NEX 6 vs the X Pro 1, our studio shoot with the A99, our first studio sample with the camera, and a high ISO/long exposure.
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Sigma is announcing three new lenses, sort of. First off, they’re announcing that they’re marketing/categorizing their lenses in three different ways now: contemporary (for more casual use), art (seems to be an emphasis on fast primes) and sports (for, well, do I need to explain?). In the contemporary section is the 17-70mm f2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM. Then the art lens is their new 35mm f1.4 DG HSM, which took them long enough to get out and now completes the 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm trifecta of fast primes for the classic photographer. Then there is the 120-300mm f2.8 DG OS HSM lens for sports photographers. This lens is not to be confused with the previously announced version.
Specs are after the jump. No word on pricing yet.
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