Lens Purchase & Return Update

Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

www.dennismook.com

If you have been following this thread, after much research, I purchased a high quality macro lens with which I intended to digitize my thousands of 35mm slides & negatives using my Nikon D800E.  I have a flatbed scanner that does a very nice job with medium and large format slides & negatives, but it doesn't quite get the 35mm to where I am totally satisfied.  So, instead of spending a lot of money sending off my archives, I thought I would try to digitize them myself.  After looking at file sizes from previous scanned slides I hade made at Scan Café, I felt the D800E had the wherewithal and resultant files sizes to do the job as well as sending them out.  The wild card was getting a great macro lens.

I settled on a Sigma 150mm F/2.8 OS macro lens, the newer model with image stabilization, took delivery and put it through a battery of tests for image quality.  Unfortunately, the software I use to test my lenses showed that the lens would not consistently focus at the same plane.  As a result, I could not satisfactorily calibrate it nor determine the optimum aperture.  The result was I got online with Amazon.com, from which I purchased the lens, and the next day they sent UPS to my home at no charge to ship the lens back and credit my account.  Working with Amazon was terrific!

Additionally, a good photographer friend bought the same lens the same week from a different vendor.  He wanted me to test his lens.  Fortunately for him, his lens focus consistency tested better than mine.  I don't believe it is as good as it should be for this well-built, high quality lens, but the consistency seemed to rise to the acceptable level.  It was obvious his copy was better than mine.  Another curiosity, his best aperture value was different than in my copy.  Can't figure that one out unless there is an element alignment issue.

I really liked and wanted to use this particular model lens for my project and I'm a bit gun shy in purchasing another copy as I fear I may have the same result.  So, a couple of days ago, I emailed Sigma Corporation of America directly, asking if they had a optical bench calibrated copy, or what I called a "best copy" of the lens that I could buy directly from them.  I need the best copy possible as I am digitizing these slides & negatives for submission to my stock agency.  Lower quality won't cut it.  I have not yet heard back from Sigma and I hope they will have the courtesy to respond, either in the affirmative or negative.  At least respond.

I'll update you in a week or so and let you know if I have heard back and, if so, what their response was.

Thanks for looking.

Enjoy!
Dennis Mook