Trading Glass for Glass
Once again, I've spent money that I don't have.
That's not exactly true-I do have money in the bank and I did pay cash for this purchase. Hell, you could even say this was a school purchase.
I went down to the local camera shop to see about getting my camera and lens cleaned. While I've immensely enjoyed my Nikon 17-70 3.5-4.5, it's just not fast enough and it's not a VR lens. Furthermore, I think there's a spot on either the lens or the UV filter that is showing up in all of my pictures taken with that particular lens. In short, it's always done it's job, but I've not been impressed with the output.
So instead of having to send the camera away for a month, given that photography starts in exactly a month and not wanting to run the risk of not having my camera when I needed it, I instead opted to buy a Sigma 18-50 2.8-4.5 with a UV filer and have the old lens and UV filter sold on commission. While the out-the-door price today was $291, given the price we set sans commission rate, I'm looking at being upside down ~$115. That's not bad considering I have a new, faster lens that is under warranty. The only question is whether or not I'll miss those extra 20 mm.
I'm not sure I will. Yes, I did extend my lens when I was at the Huntsville Museum of Art last a week ago (post coming soon) but really, I could have gotten closer. Of course, I might have been able to get the sharpness out of my subject had I had faster glass.
If I discover that the body is to blame for blemishes in the image, I'll send it off; after all, it wasn't cleaned in any of the years of previous ownership.
My only problem is that I still need to purchase a tripod and ball head before we start shooting in class. That looks like a $270 bill from Amazon, but I would like to support my local shop. Fortunately, I had long ago budgeted for this item and even if I am out the entire cost of the new lens (which I've been assured that I'm not and that my lens should sell fairly quickly) I will still be able to pay cash once I get my next check provided something else doesn't go wrong (upcoming blog post to explain that).