- The SMC 17mm Fish-Eye has arrived, and its condition is if anything a bit better than the last copy. Both take excellent images judging from my first efforts: decently sharp, colors and contrast excellent, and the size is so nice for a lens that won't be my most-used. (Update - turns out this is the 1st-edition 17mm fish-eye, labeled 1:4 17mm not 1:4/17mm. Also no cute case. This is no big deal to me, but others have reported the second iteration as the better of the two by a slim margin.)
- The 18-250 Sigma has also arrived, and it too shows great results from early tests. Good and sharp, far better control of color fringing than the DA18-135, closeups between 1:3 and 1:2, and all in a (relatively) small and light package. I always liked the first 18-200 from Sigma, and this one is easily as good and has the HSM silent focus. The DA18-135 seems to focus more confidently while the Sigma double checks itself, but these are very quick tests so that may be situational. In any case this will serve me better, and I'll shoot with more confidence with the 18-250.
- The home sale is so close I can almost feel it after photos were taken this week. Gosh it will be nice to pay off medical, car and other pre-retirement debts (and yes I confess, a few pay-later photo buys are out there too).
This post originally included a great deal on an 18-55WR from amazon - alas, the affiliated company sent me an 18-55 non-WR. Even more surprising it was a version-1 18-55, replaced many years ago by an improved optical formula. That was not good news, but the refund and return shipment went smoothly enough so no harm done to me. Now will they get it labeled properly for the next person, that's what I would really like to know.
