Half a year later ... (II)

What has happened?? What went wrong??

By far more serious, however, was the impact that watching the YouTube Channel of Ken Wheeler aka Theoria Apophasis aka The Angry Photographer had.
There are many, who dislike him a lot and to some extent I agree thinking that he could do things in a much nicer way. But as far as I have come to know him through his channel, he really is an expert in lenses and knows, what he is talking about ("compared to what?" is one of his catch phrases).
For me, his older videos about Nikon lenses and lenses for Nikon F mount (unfortunately for me he has now mostly switched to making videos about Fuji) were extremely useful and basically eye openers. I frankly admit I learned really much. The most important lesson for me was to lust less for new lenses that are potentially sharper have image stabilization and a quicker AF and to have a look at and appreciate a. older lenses or b. newer manual only lenses without image stabilization. I always double checked what he said against the information Ken Rockwell gave (and also buyed a few very cheap lenses only on the basis of the information and advice on that website). In most cases they agreed.

So, I decided to put my wish for two of the classic but expensive 'Holy Trinity' lenses - the Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2,8 Di VC USD G2 and the Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2,8 Di VC USD G2 (I bought the third one, the Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD  [the G2 version was not out then] but now think of getting rid of this one) - aside and to give other lenses a try. A pleasant side effect was that I was able to buy for the same price that would have cost me those two lenses a lot more and amongst them some primes.

Taken with Nikon 60mm at f/13, 1/320sec. ISO 100

As a substitute for the Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2,8 Di VC USD G2 I bought some lenses, zooms and primes: Among the zooms are the wonderful Nikon 35-70mm f/2.8 AF and the cheap but great and light Nikon 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6G, among the primes the Nikon 35mm f/2 AF-D, the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 Series E, and the Nikon 60mm f/2.8 Micro AF-D.

Taken with Nikon 135mm at f/2.8, 1/1250sec. ISO 250

As a substitute for the Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2,8 Di VC USD G2 I also bought some lenses, zooms and primes: The zooms are the Nikon 70-210mm f/4 AF and the Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D, among the primes are the (all excellent) Nikon 105mm f/2.5 AI-S, the Nikon 135mm f/2.8 AI-S and the Nikon 200mm f/4 AI.

Taken with Nikon 75-150mm at f/8, 1/500 sec. ISO 320

I was also able to find a very cheap copy of the Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5, the lens Galen Rowell used to shoot his famous photo 'Rainbow Over the Potala Palace'.

So, for roughly the same price I got a lot more lenses with a lot more possibilities of use. If you now ask me, if I do miss the two originally envisaged lenses, then the short answer is: NO!

Half a year later ... (I)

In March I posted a wishlist of lenses that I would like to have on top of the Nikon 50mm. f/1.8G (that I first bought), also expressing the hope for getting some more prime lense.

Months later, of all the mentioned lenses only the Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD and the Tamron AF SP 70-300mm 4-5.6 Di VC USD were actually acquired. Of these two, the Tamron AF SP 70-300mm 4-5.6 Di VC USD is factually not in use and nearly never has been - it is on a shelf in the cupboard contrary to the Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD that in the beginning was used quite often but now also starts to collect dust. I am thinking about selling both of them.

So one may ask: What has happened?? What went wrong??

The answer to these questions is multiple.

In the beginning I was sure that because of my interest in Macro Photography my first lens would be a Macro lens. I, back then, had either the Tamron F017N SP 90mm f/2,8 Di Macro, 1:1 VC USD or the Sigma 105 mm f/2,8 EX Makro DG OS HSM on the list. After having read/listened to so many different reviews of both lenses, I simply wasn't able to decide, which one I wanted.

Detail of a Hydrangea

At the same time I became interested on the one hand in another Macro lens (the Tokina 100mm. f/2.8 AT-X Pro Macro) and on the other hand also in other options for Macro Photography, namely in the use of extension tubes and reverse rings.
Out of financial reasons - this is still only a hobby - I decided to try extension tubes. Mounted together with the Nikon 50mm f/1.8G the results were simply stunning
So I simply decided to postpone the decision which Macro lens to get, a decision I do not regret until now (see also below)
Btw, a new potential candidate has in the meantime also entered the race, namely the Irix 150mm f/2.8 Macro Dragonfly, making a final decision even more difficult.