The demise of my 70-210 lens

It was inevitable that one of my lenses would eventually become faulty. To be fair, it wasn't like it was a sudden thing. The light meter went screwy early last year. It worked fine in auto, but in manual, it would over expose everything, usually badly if it said the exposure was correct. I usually had to guess. Then over the last few weeks I noticed some of my shots were not as sharp as they should be. At first I thought it was me. Then I did a controlled test, using a tripod, a still life object and a timer to avoid camera shake. It is definitely the lens and not me. Dh & I discussed the pro's & cons of a new camera against just replacing the lens. As much as I am feeling the limitations of my current camera body, I can not justify the price of upgrading when we are about to have our kitchen done. So bought a "new" second hand minolta 70-300mm lens today. I can't wait for it to get here as it is what I use for wildlife... including my wild little Zack, pmsl!

These are the last shots I got with my 70-210. Look how soft the second shot is (photographer speak for out of focus!). I love it though, so processed it in a way to give it a dreamy, soft look.