bmxdad said:
Our winter is long but most days have near zero C temp and lots of sunshine, the worst is blowing wind together with minus 20 area, again I only tried that minus 57 one time, but it was nasty, my truck would not start, and it was plugged into electricity to warm up the coolant, my boots would not bend, I spend most of that day watching movies

Today we have plus 10 C with sunshine, both me and my son have just recovered form one nasty flue/cold, so we are spending the day inside

Pete

adamz said:
pete - I hate cold weather :) can't imagine -57C outside, that's freezing. was trying criotherapy some time ago (it's a therapy where You go almost naked into a room with a temperature below -100C for around 3 minutes) and You could feel the cold, but that was for healthy purposes, definitely not a day-by-day situation

Our winter is long but most days have near zero C temp and lots of sunshine, the worst is blowing wind together with minus 20 area, again I only tried that minus 57 one time, but it was nasty, my truck would not start, and it was plugged into electricity to warm up the coolant, my boots would not bend, I spend most of that day watching movies

Today we have plus 10 C with sunshine, both me and my son have just recovered form one nasty flue/cold, so we are spending the day inside

Pete

pete - I hate cold weather :) can't imagine -57C outside, that's freezing. was trying criotherapy some time ago (it's a therapy where You go almost naked into a room with a temperature below -100C for around 3 minutes) and You could feel the cold, but that was for healthy purposes, definitely not a day-by-day situation

adamz said:
I love popping colors, but for me is like eating pineapples once You eat too much You get sick :)

shutterdancer - maybe You come over to Poland during the winter times one day, so You will have a chance to know what cold means :) - it gets sometimes up to -20C

You would love here in Alberta Canada, Minus 40 C does happen most winters, for you Niko, Gentoo, Willis that is also minus 40 F, the coldest I have tried is minus 57 C

BTW you don't take a lot of pictures when it is that cold

Oh good to know then. I'm glad you two are OK with that. Sorry for butting in Gentoo.

Oh no Niko, i apologized to him with the new pm feature, this is really Gentoo's wilfife and bird shooting lesson, not Demi's, so i told em to clean it up.
:)

Gentoo did you just "censor" this thread? My memories not photogenic so I'm not sure but it seems that by "cleaning up" you got rid of other people's "contributions" that you didn't agree with?

Ok cleaned this thread up a bit. :)

Pretty much as adamz said shutterdancer. The "Bigma" performs better. I've considered both of these at one time. It was first between the 50-500 and the Nikkor 70-300. I got the latter. Then when I was contemplating my prime, the 150-500 as well as the Bigma were considerations. I got the 300 prime. Basically I don't trust Sigma for starters. They have very spotty quality control that they don't seem to trust anymore. They reduced their warrantee from 3 years to one year. I don't have the luxury of going to the right camera place to sample different ones. the one place I do know of isn't that colse to me and they don't carry too many of them at once. I have to order online. Basically I stick with the Nikkors despite the price. Also, I'm now trying to avoid zooms that lose quality when pushed to their limits. Only hella expensive lenses like the 200-400 are good enough for me as far as zooms go.

However, between the Sigmas, it's as adamz has said.

Thanks adam, I wanted to wait on the rumored Nikon 100-500mm but I don't know if I will live that long ;).It would seem that both the 50-500 and the 150-500 are highly thought of by the people who own them.

I also use A mode for most of my pictures. The DOF doesn't matter for me, as I almost always shoot wide open and with wildlife shooting You can only desire faster shutter speeds.

shutterdance - I'm not gentoo, but will try to answer Your question. If I was going to spend up to $1k on long range lens, it would be sigma 50-500 rather than the newer 150-500, as the first one performs better optically on the longer end. I've played with bigma (nick name for 50-500) couple of times and it's a decent lens for the price tag it carries. You can even handhold it (but need a lot of light and/or steady hands), but most of the times it's a tripod lens. The TC will have a limited functionality with both of this lenses, as they are dark already.

I also vote on cleaning up this thread, leaving only the guide and posts requesting clarification.
Demi, you should take your suggestions and rewrite them without the drama and with some structure in a separate thread if you wish to do so.

Gentoo...What are your thoughts on the Sigma 150-500mm lens?

Now that you mention it's military humor, I may be more up on it

Sorry Gentoo....I just made a lame joke. I should know better than to reference military humor in a photo forum ;). BTW, I shoot in A mode 95% of the time.

Pretty much Niko. That's how birders shoot and the reasons why. I didn't go into this because, I wanted to keep it somewhat general as I think that the mode one uses is a matter of personal preference. But yeah, A mode is preferred.

Seriously some of the shots I get happen in a split second.

Yeah A mode because you don't have time to fiddle with settings when an opportunity comes up. Control DOF and let the camera decide the shutter. You can still make ev corrections to shutter speed in Aperture mode.

Maybe, I thought P was. A certainly is what most birders use. Sometimes we may use S mode. We generally don't want the exposure going all over the place and don't mind high shutter speeds. If fact we generally want them.

Isn't A the most commonly used semi-auto mode?

*Sarcasm noted*

I shoot in A mode if you were seriously asking me that.

Gentoo.....I'm late to the war man....but I have your back....should I put my D90 on full or semi auto ....I'm here to help you take out any non-birder...non wildlife guy/gal...who sets foot, um claws, er paws in this place ;)

Gentoo said:
Shutterdancer:

Beware of those who tell you to ignore the Picture Controls (they don't turn off lol). These are the people who don't like our popping colors and by going around PC, you won't have those types of colors. I wasn't born yesterday LOL!.

Gentoo....I thought that my sensor was black and white, untill I discovered the vivid setting :) ...nah.....just trying to out vivid KR. ;)

adamz....I would love to visit Poland....but only in summer, when it's gets below 4c I go into automatic hibernation!!

Thanks Demi, I like hearing everyone's opinions. I also agree regarding tripods for some of the same reasons - the arthritis I have precludes me from hand holding my 200/4 macro for more than an hour or so. So, I'm pretty passionate about my tripod and ball head. I also wouldn't consider any of the longer lenses without a dedicated tripod with a Wimberley head. I couldn't use the lens any other way. When I was 30, that was be different.

I also fully agree regarding outdoor clothing. Having lived in Minnesota, things like layering and the right fabrics can make the difference not only between being comfortable and uncomfortable, but can even more significant consequences. We never used to leave home in winter without a shovel and a bag of sand in the trunk.

adamz said:
not only that world is flat but also that Poland is a state next to South Dakota, so well.. that's life :)

Wait, you mean it's not?! I once went to a "cabaret" in Minnesota called "Pole Land" and I asked the girls if they knew you :^)

Aye, im sorry i intruded on your thread, but i just as you just tried to help.
ill end this by saying that even tho my writing style might be hard to understand, i agree with most if not all of what Gentoo has said, it might not be clear out of my posts and i apologize for that.

Rick Sammon once said in a class:
if you come visit me,Ill take you to the best pizza place in the whole world, and i bet ya, if i came to visit you, you would take me to the best pizza place in the whole world.