Testing a new lens...

So I'm going to Italy in February.  I could take my D200 body, a 28mm wide angle, a 60mm macro, and an 80-200 ED lens.  OR I could take Jim's 18-200mm VR lens.  So it is not as nice and not as fast as the ED.  Don't care.  I need to travel light, especially in Palermo, where a large 35mm camera and lens says "Ehi!  Tu, sulla Vespa!  Vuoi rubare una macchina fotografica da un cretino Americano?"*  So in Palermo, I'll carry my trusty (and somewhat beat up) Olympus 720SW.

That said, when I get to the countryside I want to be sure to get some good shots.  I do need a better camera and lens, and Jim's solution seemed elegant.  But I wanted to make sure it didn't suck.  Nothing of Jim's sucks, but you never know...

So I went out this AM, a brisk 13 degrees with a nice 15-20 mph wind, making the wind chill...well, I could look it up, but suffice it to say it was Nunavut chilly.  I took one of a very cold Ring-billed seagull (Larus delawarensis).  This was shot at 200mm at 1/40th of a second with the VR engaged.  Not too bad, I don't think.

Also took a shot of the lake, which is comparatively warm given the 13 degrees...so there's a lot of heat being sucked out of the lake and it's foggy and cooling off fast.  We'll be ice fishing before Christmas (I hope).  The coots (genus Fulica) are swarming and I wonder when they'll actually leave.

So the verdict - with the point-and-shoot Oly for the crowded market at Vucciria and the D200 for Selinunte and Erice, I think we're good.

Photographically submitted,

  Canoelover

*Hey! You on the Vespa!  Wanna steal a camera from a stupid American tourist?