Canon 450D and Sigma lens 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM trial shots of the Cape Town Stadium

And so I bought my new Sigma lens 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM

in addition to my now broken Canon Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM wide angle lens

 (see previous post)

which will hopefully be returned in full working order in 2 weeks 

Its under warranty so doesn't cost me anything Thank God  

Very excited and having read up on it as much as possible I jumped in my car and headed for the golf course

I learned that there are a number of known and possible  issues with this lens, not an easy lens, it needs getting used to and it was advised to operate the lens manual

 and that was what I did

Gave this one the Lomo treatment

mainly to disguise the soft edges

Un edited image straight from the camera

 focal lenght 10.0 mm

 aperture f/9.0

 ISO 100

exposure time 0.017s (1/60)

My wide angle Canon lens could never get all of this in + I would have to walk much further away just to capture the stadium in one shot

but my Canon wide angle lens

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

 would produce a sharper image

Also UN-EDITED

Focal lenght 10.0mm

Aperture f/11

 ISO 100

I deeply regret buying the Canon EF-S 17-85MM F/4-5.6 IS USM Lens The zoom ring is already stuck and its a known mechanical fault !

I was in the middle of shooting the stadium this evening when suddenly the zoom ring of my Canon EF-S 17-85MM F/4-5.6 IS USM Lens hardly moved and after another 3 shots it was totally stuck !!!

I am absolutely disgusted :(

Its an expensive lens bought it August 2009 its now Febr 2010 and already broken !

Apparently its all cheap plastic inside

 Shame on Canon !

From the Fixya website :

"It seems like this is a common problem with these lenses, the zoom gets stuck at 17mm with about 2mm of play (zoom movement). This problem is all due to a loose single screw on the inner lens assembly"

And so I spend the best part of the evening looking for a solution After coming across a Sigma 10-20 Flickr group

I decided to purchase the Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX Lens tomorrow while waiting for the repair of my broken lens GRRR !!!

Century City Canal Walk: Largest mall in Southern Hemisphere This place is huge !

I used to live here and have quite a few shots on my old flickr account

This HERE was taken from my aparment at the time
It was also one of my very first nightshots I had ever taken
I have not really walked around here since then ...

While I was shooting  late this afternoon

A guy stopped by and asked if I was a professional photographer

and for once I did not even have my tripod with me ! :)

I often find that people start chatting with me when I am taking photos

I love it and so it happend this afternoon

Was great to meet you Ash !

I used to sit along the waterside here with a book

on the rare occasions that I wasn't blasted by the wind

The building at the far end is called KnightsBridge they were still building it 2 years ago

 but its finnished now

The bird on the pole has a dart in his head !

Poor thing

 

Protea Hotel Island Club

Someone waving at me ? :)

The ones which got away last time ...Cape Town Stadium as seen from Golfcourse

Ain't it gorgeous ?

I love these lakes ..they attract allot of birds too

 See here the website of the Metropolitan Golf course and here the new lay out

which will be

I saw that I had missed posting this one on Monday

A bridge in the making

View over one of the new lakes on the golf course which is scheduled to re open April 2010

My beloved hill I live on

What a view !

On the left you can see Devils Peak Then Signal Hill and on the right Lions Head

I got an old post card given to me by a friend its amazing

it must be at least 100 years old

It is partly this view

and from the time the Green Point Common used to flood

I will post it as soon as I have found the similar angle to photograph

 to show you the difference

Cape Town Stadium Mist Rain Fog and another facade strip is being replaced

Weird and wonderful

Three Anchor Bay

It looked spooky

Note the green lights on the right

they had not switched those on for ages

I drove by today

and was surprised to see another strip of the facade has been taken off

I got out of my car to take these shots and when I turned on my heels ...

this is what I saw

Not spectacular but beautiful nevertheless

This morning I woke up to mist and drizzle

Click images to see large

Splendid views from the new Metropolitan golf course towards the new Soccer Stadium, Devils peak and Table Mountain

Upper Green point clinging to the hill and Devils Peak in the background

A walk in the Green Point Urban Park on February 14

I finally managed to get here while the sun was shining

and no other people (work men ) around and no sea mist !

 

Inspiring planting ?

Note the lighting

Different lighting here

There is going to be lots of water here

Happy Valentine's day

Click on image to see it mega large