Five Leaves in a Birdbath

Photographed with a Sigma Zoom 80-200mm f4.5-5.6 on a Canon EOS 20D. This lens was launched in 1985. It came in Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Minolta, Praktica B, Praktica screw (M42), Yashica/Contax, Konica, Fuji, and Pentax/Ricoh P (KPR) mounts. It took 52mm filters; was multi-coated; and made in Japan. It was priced at £79.95 or you could buy a special twin pack that also included the companion Sigma 35-70mm f/2.8-4.5 at a special price of £130.
'Camera Weekly' magazine reviewed the two lenses on 8 March, 1986, in a 'Quality on a Budget' feature. They remarked, 'the lenses will satisfy the expectations of even the enthusiast' and were 'quite up to all but the most demanding usage'.
Giving the 80-200 an outing on a digital camera set at high-ish ISO levels is perhaps not the fairest of tests, and metering tended towards under-exposure, which I should remember for another occasion. A bit of tweaking in post, particularly with contrast, helped, but in good light I would expect that to be less of an issue.
My copy of this lens is practically mint, along with a Praktica SLR and Pentacon 50mm f/1.8 lens it accompanied. It's not the best kit I have available, yet it is interesting to use it and see how it compares with later generation equipment.