We had to cut our trip short, because of two things: the Australian government requested all Australians to return home because of the COVID-19 virus, and because my husband broke his foot. Which isn’t too bad as everything in Florida had closed down: Disney and other theme parks closed, Kennedy Space Center closed (only after we tried to see a failed rocket launch), stores and restaurants were empty. So on Tuesday we made all the arrangements to come back on Wednesday (Orlando time) and arrive on Friday (Melbourne time). To that end, we had the birthday celebration on Tuesday evening.

If I say I was surprised with the gift I got for my birthday, I would be lying. My husband did what he could to hide from me the fact that he had already bought me my birthday present and that we needed to buy something before Saturday (when my birthday is).

But during the flight to Orlando, he was very secretive about what was in his carry-on bag, which gave away he already had bought it. And based on the weight of his carry-on (which I carried from time to time), I was 80% certain it was a lens. He had also asked a few weeks prior to the trip about which wide-angle lens I was hoping to buy next year (timelines had been determined by a family conversation).

So when we went out to dinner and then had cake at my brother’s house and he gave me a wrapped box, about the size of a lens, it was inevitable. Until that point, I wasn’t sure if he was going to get me the Nikkor 20mm f/1.8 or the Sigma 20mm f/1.4 from the Art series. When I opened up, surprise: it was the Sigma. It was a beautiful gift that he and the rest of our family (my siblings, my mother, his father, and his blood family) gave me. Just because I suspected what the gift was, doesn’t mean I wasn’t excited about it. On the contrary, I was thrilled I got it.

When showing the capability/brightness of the lens to my brother and his wife, I took a photo in the poorly lit living room, and their reaction was: the photo is brighter than the room. Below is the photo of the living room. Please be mindful that it was a purely test photo and no real framing or composition and white balance correction were done.

And here is a photo of the lens. Before I update my equipment with a photo of this lens, I will take the studio like photos of it. This may take a while, as for the next fortnight I will need to be in quarantine because of the COVID-19 virus.

Disclaimer: I do not hold rights over the feature image.