It's LLLOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNGGGGG overdue but....

[jcon]

Jason...
Pity Panasonic can't recreate the enthusiasm cause by the release of the FZ20...

Aint that the truth! That sure is/was a beauty. I may buy one again someday if I can find a decent one!

Looks like youre already enjoying the DSLR world... dont look back

[Honest Gaza]

Way to go Tim.....now the money spending really begins

[K1W1]

RAW is amazing!!!!!!!
I know... once I get better with RAW conversion, I might be able to get much better result but this was a quick job but had it been JPG format it would have been for the RECYCLE BIN.
ISO800, F/2.8, 1/15sec. RAW

If you had waited a while you could have spent a lot more money and purchased a D300 and taken that photo at ISO6400 or you could have spent a small fortune on a 70-200 f2.8VR and taken that photo from 70 feet away!

Congratulations.

P.s. How did you get four kids to sit still enough for a 1/15 sec portrait?

[tim11]

Way to go Tim.....now the money spending really begins

Don't worry GAZA. I won't go overboard though... The good thing about me getting into DSLR is I'm unlikely to buy a camera every year anymore; but the bad thing is I'm very likely to buy a lens or some other gear more than once a year. And as you know each item will cost more than a compact camera.

[tim11]

If you had waited a while you could have spent a lot more money and purchased a D300 and taken that photo at ISO6400 or you could have spent a small fortune on a 70-200 f2.8VR and taken that photo from 70 feet away!

Congratulations.

P.s. How did you get four kids to sit still enough for a 1/15 sec portrait?

K1W1: I knew about the release of D300 and its high ISO capability but I was never in second thought about it, knowing it will be well over my budget. Just consider the D200 costs well over $2000 body only and D300 won't be any cheaper. I have SB800 in my list so D300 will make me lazy about learning to use the flash effectively.

The 4 plastic faced kids? The trick is to make them watch some weird British children show. LOL.

[rawpaw18]

The 4 plastic faced kids? The trick is to make them watch some weird British children show. LOL.

That is the punishment we use on our kids too!

[fionndruinne]

Tim, out of curiosity, why the Sigma 18-200mm OS, over the Nikkor version? I don't think the Sigma is likely to perform better, and isn't really much cheaper.

[tim11]

Tim, out of curiosity, why the Sigma 18-200mm OS, over the Nikkor version? I don't think the Sigma is likely to perform better, and isn't really much cheaper.

I play with the idea of getting the Nikkor but it still means over $300 difference.

[e_dawg]

I didn't think the difference was that big. When the Sigma was announced, its MSRP was higher than Nikon's, and they were almost the same price on the street. Now, it seems that the Sigma's street price is much lower than list, as tends to happen with half of their lenses.

[Rooz]

have i missed something ? why are you looking at an 18-200 lens which won;t give you near the quality of the 18-50 sigma ? especially for that kinda money, those funds can be put to far better use elsewhere. an 80-200 f2.8 af-d, 50-150 sigma f2.8, macro lens, wide angle etc etc