Do Scratches on a Lens matter

I have always operated without a filter on the front of my lenses. I've never had an issue in the number of years that I have been into photography. I have never been passionate about this, but I made the change number of years ago without any thunder. I remember when I made the change, I was as nervous as a soon-to-be groom standing at the alter. (Having done this twice now, it doesn't get better as you get older. Frankly the second time I figured she would get wise and head the other direction at the last moment!) As the years piled up though without any problems, I just realized that they probably aren't needed. This though caught my eyes as I was going through a fellow Bloggers site. Her blog can be found here. The article can be found here.

Not for the faint of hear though...it makes me want to go out and purchase a Bgn lens at KEH though, just to see how it does.

Nothing like a new lens at a favorite place

Made a trip to the Chicago Botanic Gardens with a new toy. I have been holding off on the Nikon 14-24 for sometime now. I fist tried the 15-30 and for the most part I liked it. You can see some samples from my gallery here. Most of the shots of Eureka, AR downtown were taken with that lens. With the rest of my lenses being of the AFS or HMS variety I really was looking forward to faster focus. Then came the Sigma 12-24 HMS. It arrived on my doorstep, not to long before a scheduled family outing at the gardens. I received a used one from KEH, one of my favorite places to get used equipment. I can't complain about the equipment or the service. I went used since I didn't want to take the downward pricing that takes place if I went new. Especially since I wasn't really happy with the Sigma 15-30 I didn't want to have alot of unsatisfactory glass on the way.

I couldn't have been more pleased with this lens...on my D3, this is very WWWIIIDDDEEE. Since my skills needed some honing behind this hunk of lens I was more than happy to mount it on the D3 for the first part of the trip. I have also been working on my mundane shots that fill in the scene. For the most part I had some success, until of course later in the set I was distracted by flowers and sunsets.

The Botanic Gardens is one of my favorite places to go. Especially during a weeknight, on this case Friday, we found ourselves practically alone, after a good dinner and some liquid refreshment we were off.

What a great find, with the family members helping me spot exciting things to photograph, I came up with beetles, hummingbird moths, swans, ducks, fish and of course flowers. It is called the Gardens afterall. The 105VR served me very well on the flowers, with the R1C1 attached to it, I couldn't have had a better macro kit.

The family had an enjoyable time and I captured towards the end of the evening some off-camera lighting. As all know I have been working very hard on this portion for quite some time and I am getting close to liking the results that I have gotten recently.

Hope you enjoy the shots included...more from our trip can be located here. Comment either here or in the picture pages.