I guess I’m a real photographer now…

I guess I qualify as a real photographer now. I’ve broken a lens. My Tamron AF 28-300mm has turned into a 28mm lens, with the zoom not working and the unit stuck in wide angle. It first locked up on me in Morro Bay during the Expo (of course), but it allowed me to manually zoom it; since then, it’s decided to simply turn into a prime.

Oh well. it’s going to have to go off for repair. I’m tempted to open it up myself, but I think I’ll restrain myself and let the experts fix it. But this leaves me with a little problem — my widest lens is my 100-400; not a good lens for family photos for christmas.

So I think I’m going to rent; I have to decide what to take with. My as well use the time as an excuse to scout the replacement, or at least potential.

Do I like this lens? Absolutely. It fit exactly the needs I defined and wanted when I bought it. It’s a bit soft at 300mm, but that was expected and for my use is acceptable. I wanted a general “carry around” lens with a wide range that wasn’t too large and bulky and “obvious” — something I could put on the Rebel XT and carry around with me on a day to day basis with flexibility, but without screaming EXPENSIVE CAMERA everywhere I went.

It fit that role perfectly; now, if only I spent more time outside of my cube where I could take advantage of having a camera with me… (a quick hint to computer geeks with cameras, make your next computer bag a camera bag with room for your laptop. I replaced my laptop backpack with a Tamrac 3385 and I love it.

Having said that, would I but the Tamron lens again? No. Not because it broke, not because of any flaw with the lens itself, but because I’m finding there’s one aspect of it that I’d do differently. it’s not wide enough. I was too worried about getting the extra magnification in the zoom (the bird photographer in me) and not enough about the other side of the zoom range.

So if I were to do this over again, I’d choose a wider lens with a shorter maximum zoom range, because it fits the rest of my gear better. When I’m out shooting I usually hit a point where I want something wider than I have, and while the Sigma 10-20mm is on my list to get, I’ve come to think a better “street lens” for me would be in the 20-200 range instead of the 28-300, and my initial thought there is the Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3, although I haven’t tested it yet. So maybe that’s what I’ll rent and see if I like it…

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