Testing Shots: Sigma 70-300 APO vs. Canon 75-300 IS USM

[Fiml]

I will be spending the next few days with both lenses.

So far here are 4 shots, 2 with each lens. I am going to focus on hand held shooting at the long end.

http://www.funkconsulting.com/300d/

Any comments?

[Skip Souza]

Is that really all camera shake or is it just oof and soft. I would have thought 1/640 should have stopped the shakes.

[jlm]

Hello,

I would say that's impossible... I was going to ask the same question, but you HAVE answered it in advance... are you sure you didn't put a tripod under the camera with the Canon Lens?? ;)

Regards,

[Skip Souza]

Maybe it's too much high test coffee ;-)

[Fiml]

I put a couple more up at 160 / f8.0.

[Fiml]

Guess this didn't go over very well.

Must be doing something wrong, maybe cuz I am a noob.

[Skip Souza]

I would expect the Sigma to be much worse than the Canon at the slower shutter speed. Did you use a tripod on the 1/160 pix?
I would also expect the Sigma to improve when using a smaller aperture. The Canon still seems to have more contrast.
Reduce the variables between comparisons.
Digital film is cheap ;-), don't give up.

[TheObiJuan]

I have both and the canon is softer, has way more CA, and doesnt have nice color, or much contrast.

I will take some pics tomorrow.

[Fiml]

I put a couple more up. Showing the softness of the Canon lens @ 300mm. The Mallard heads were taken on a tripod.

[Jon]

Did you turn off the IS for the shots with tripod? IS and tripods don't get along, especially on the 75-300. Some of the newer L glass "know" when there's a tripod being used and disable the IS.

[Simon Spiers]

Not the results i would expect having owned a non IS version of the Canon and Part X ing it for the Sigma:confused:

Take a look here http://www.pbase.com/argylemonkey/lens_comp

[Fiml]

The only tripod shots were of the Mallard and "yes" the IS was off.

What results would you have expected Simon?

[nitsch]

I'm guessing Simon was expecting the Sigma to have perfomed better. So was I. Looking at the wide open shot of the Smilers Meatballs I think you might have a soft copy. Judging by some of the comments about the lens on this forum there seems to be quite a bit of fluctuation in performance at 300mm between different copies.

[Fiml]

Clearly the Canon lens handheld does a better job with the IS but the Sigma does a much better job on a tripod from a clarity/sharpness standpoint. At least with regard to the shots I have taken?

[Skip Souza]

Could you go back to the canned pasta (I might be hungry but I like the color contrasts) and do a hand held wide open at 1/200 sec or thereabouts. Then the same shot at f/8 or tighter. Then tripod no IS same speeds and f stops. Four shots for each lens. This should narrow it down to camera shake or softness. I know it is a lot of work but hey, it is the weekend.
I did something similar with my Tamron and the wife's 75-300 IS. The Tamron only held it's own when the light was good enough to allow shutter speeds fast enough to stop camera shake (or use a tripod) and an aperture of at least f/8, f/11 was better. When all those conditions were met the Tamron really shone. I expect to see similar results with the Sigma.
I could get the same quality with the Tamron that I did with the Canon, I just had to work harder at it.

[Fiml]

Skip, spell it out a bit better for a noob and help me learn.

You want 4 shots for each lens. 2 hand held and 2 tripod on the same canned pasta.

By "wide open" you mean the aperture of both lenses @ 1/200? 4.5 for the Sigma and 4.0 for the Canon. Thats 4 shots, on and off the tripod.

Then shoot at 1/200 @ f/8, on both lenses on and off the tripod, that equals 4 shots.

Total of 8 shots if my math is correct. Is this what you are asking?

[Skip Souza]

Check out:
http://www.e-fotografija.com/artman/publish/article_306.shtml
It is a comparison between the Tamron 28-300, Canon 75-300 IS USM, and the Canon 70-300 DO IS.
The way I read it puts the DO on top all the time, of course it costs three times as much. The Canon 75-300 starts out ahead of the Tamron at f/5.6 but the Tamron almost draws
even at f/11. The effect of IS was not compared.
I would expect to see similar results with the Sigma.
The only other variable is camera shake which can be overcome by faster shutter or IS.
If you want to investigate she sharpness of the two lenses, take thi IS out of the equation. Use a tripod shoot one each, wide open and one each, f/11.
Clear as mud?

[ron chappel]

Well done on the test Fiml ! you got it all right except for the lack of a tripod.
Testing at the long end,wide open was definitely the right thing to do!!
Because all consumer tele lenses tend to be very similar in performance at the shorter end there's no point testing at those lengths.Also stopping down is no help because all lenses also perform well there.
It's the wide open tele performance that seperates the good from the average

I'm not too surprised by the results ,my 70-300 APO II is allmost as bad!
On the other hand i've seen (very few) comparisons that prove the opposite-that the sigma is better.


All i can say is that sigma quality control on this model must be APPALLING!
The canon 75 300 models don't vary much from my experience.Unless one gets a damaged lens then they tend to be very similar (i've now owned/used 6+ examples)

[Fiml]

Thanks Ron.

My whole point of this exercise was to basically test the IS ability at the long end HANDHELD as that is how I will use the lens 80% of the time.

Here are the shots Skip requested.

http://www.funkconsulting.com/300d/hh/

http://www.funkconsulting.com/300d/tripod/

[Skip Souza]

Good work Chris.
As I suspected, the Canon is much sharper wide open than the Sigma. At f/8 the Sigma started to catch up though contrast still lags significantly. F/11 might be even closer.
I also see that the Canon got better at f/8 than it was wide open and may be even better at f/11
The IS makes a hell of a difference.
My evaluation.
The Canon is much better than the Sigma wide open.
They all get better at tighter f/stops.
To get that tight in anything less than optimal light you will have to slow down the shutter.
It you are shooting handheld with the slow shutter you are back to really fuzzy pictures unles you have IS.
Therefore: I would chose Canon based on results of these tests.
Once again, Nice work, Chris. :-)

[khisanthax]

Well done on the test Fiml ! you got it all right except for the lack of a tripod.
Testing at the long end,wide open was definitely the right thing to do!!
Because all consumer tele lenses tend to be very similar in performance at the shorter end there's no point testing at those lengths.Also stopping down is no help because all lenses also perform well there.
It's the wide open tele performance that seperates the good from the average

I'm not too surprised by the results ,my 70-300 APO II is allmost as bad!
On the other hand i've seen (very few) comparisons that prove the opposite-that the sigma is better.


All i can say is that sigma quality control on this model must be APPALLING!
The canon 75 300 models don't vary much from my experience.Unless one gets a damaged lens then they tend to be very similar (i've now owned/used 6+ examples)

is that the sigma 70-300 apo super macro II you're referring to?

[ron chappel]

Yes that's the model .
If you are tempted to buy it(it can be a very good lens) ,make sure you buy somewhere that allows exchanges in case you get a dud

[Fiml]

Finally got to the Zoo today and took these with the 75-300 IS. They have been resized and a smidge of USM applied.

http://www.funkconsulting.com/zoo/

Questions, comments, concerns?

[kc571]

Curious, what settings did you use for those shots?

[Broncosaurus]

The Sigma is known to go soft as you get close to the full 300mm. The sample I had performed much better <270mm than >. Fiml's shots also showed how well the APO controls CA.

[bufferbure1]

Finally got to the Zoo today and took these with the 75-300 IS. They have been resized and a smidge of USM applied.

http://www.funkconsulting.com/zoo/

Questions, comments, concerns?

Those pics look excellent to my eyes. 75-300 gets the job done well.

[aero]

....just check tests made by someone who knows how to take'em.
http://www.pbase.com/lightrules/lenstests