Action shots with Canon 60d and Sigma 17-50 f2.8 OS by the beach

Whilst the harsh Australian sun might be a curse for outdoor photos because of the high contrast shadows, it does have one great advantage........high shutter speeds. With high shutter speeds, because of the extra light beaming through your lens, you can capture some fun and interesting high speed action shots. Usually you'll want to use a shutter speed above 1/1000th second to try and get your subjects as still as possible, but sometime using slower speeds can also be effective for creating some motion blur. The Canon 60d is more than capable of capturing fast moving action, as well when you use it with a non kit lens such as the Sigma 17-50 f2.8 OS. I really like this combination for everyday photography, unless I'm using the x100s which is life changing. Enjoy.

Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 os with 1.5x extender tube - great lens

There's a ton of comparisons online regarding the famous zoom length of 70-200mm lenses. Yes the native versions are great, but I've found my Sigma 70-200mm lens f2.8 OS (optical stabilization) works extremely well in many circumstances, even on my crop sensor Canon 60d. Because its a cropped sensor camera the actual focal length is magnified by 1.6x, so in affect we have a 120-320mm reach. Using the extender tube 1.5x it extends the reach further by 0.5, so in effect I was shooting the picture below at circa 500mm. When you add the extender tube you lose an f stop, so the maximum I could shoot at was f4. The shot below was actually taken at f7.1 at 1/500th shutter speed because the available light was so good. I was at least 150m's away from the action in this shot. I think the clarity and colours are great. My point is that Sigma lenses are a really good step up from the kit lenses most people use. Sure there are more expensive alternatives that have the brand cache, am I'm sure they are excellent too.