Alex - paulbeagle

[Onyx]

Ebay ID: paulbeagle.
He may be lurking here now, as I've pointed him to DSLRusers (Hi Alex).

It's hard to summarise in just 80 characters leaving feedback on eBay just how much beyond 'postitive' a transaction has been.

Alex Craig is a professional photographer based in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney. Google his name and you'll see his Flickr photo collection as well as images in his upcoming exhibition in the Legge Gallery - pics taken with a plastic camera.

I had the great pleasure of meeting him today to finalise a transaction from that (in)famous online auction site. This guy is tops! I got the chance to not only pick up an absolute bargain on a Nikon gem (17-35), but had to the chance to converse about photography and he even showed me a selection of pics of an event he recently shot and openly shared knowledge of his workflow and photoshop tips. I would have liked to stay the whole afternoon and picked his brain on many things, but alas - I was only off from a lunchbreak and had to leave in a hurry.

If he sells any of his medium format gear in future, don't hesitate to purchase from him - and check out his work! <plug plug>

OTOH, I'll have to learn to love my newly acquired 17-35. Complete lack of geometric distortion at 17mm, straight lines remain straight - tis wonderful. Close focusing ability is almost unheard of (min. 0.28m!), very well built pro f/2.8 glass, balances nicely on the D70. If I can aclimatise to the effective 'standard' field of view at the long end of the zoom (and on this sample - strictly manual focusing), this will become my everyday shooting lens!

[Alpha_7]

Thanks for the information Chi, can't wait to see your images from your 'new' lens! Also as we've mentioned in other threads we should organise another shooting adventure soon!

[LostDingo]

Great lens to have and cherish, look forward to seeing some of your captures

Congrats and please enjoy fully

[marcotrov]

Lucky you Chi. Its one on my lens lust hit list, always has been
Thanks for the heads up.
Look forward to some images from you with that classic gem
cheers
marco