Not Safe For Work - With Sigma and Tamron

As with many companies, our employers have forbidden us to access pornography at work. This is a good policy, but I sometimes wonder whether it does not go quite far enough. You see, we are still allowed to read Ken Rockwell.


I have been informed by those in the know that porn is a guilty pleasure. Sort of like spending money in the toy car section of the local hobby shop. Or getting the last bit of curried chicken and leaving the uninteresting bits for the rest of the diners at the buffet. I suspect that reading Ken is a little different - the guilt without the pleasure.

His post today is a wonderful example of damning with ephithet and innuendo. He has decided to bag Tamron and Sigma lenses in comparison to Nikon, Canon, and Leica lenses and has elected to use the term 'junk' freely - repetition that purports to be true advice. He has damned retail camera stores for stocking them. He has vaguely sailed by saying that these lenses do not work on older equipment.

He's entitled to put forward his opinion - or the opinions of the big New York retail stores that advertise near his website...goodness knows whether he needs to believe any of it - he needs to write nevertheless. But we need not believe him.

Case in point. I keep a Nikon camera outfit - bodies,lenses, flashes, accessories. Use it in the studio and in the field and am delighted with the results. ( Mind you, I have not yet shot over-saturated restroom signs in New Mexico so I cannot say whether it would be capable of pleasing Mr. Rockwell...) I use three new and one old Nikon AF lenses and find they do what I need perfectly.

I also keep a Sigma lens and Tokina lens in the cabinet - they answer specific imaging purposes, such as extreme wide angle and macro work. The operation of them and the files they produce are every bit as good as their Nikon counterparts would be. I know - I have tested out every damn lens in the place in my own setup and have chosen these products as perfect for my use.

I daresay if I needed a specific fast long zoom that I would also be happy with one of the lenses from Tamron - I've watched them in action with our customers and seen the good results therefrom.

And the joy of the thing is that in most cases the Sigma, Tamron, or Tokina lens offers a significant cost saving vs other lenses. I am bouyed by the fact that the Sigma and the Tamron people also offer two-year warranties on their lenses. I think that many Australian photographers who have not read Mr. Rockwell are out there taking great pictures with these lenses.

Ahh, perhaps I am just being too concerned. This is Thursday. Ken has the Greatest Camera That Ever Was Or Ever Will Be right now and it will reign supreme until the next GCTEWOEWB is on his desk. Next week just before lunch? Then it will be consigned to the 'junk' bin...possibly along with his opinion and the pictures of the restroom signs.