Sigma 400mm f/5.6 APO

[MarineManiac]

Recently picked this up on ebay and had a chance to take it out the zoo. my first impression is as follows. this is my first telephoto prime and have little to no experience at this focal length. i also own a tamron 200-400 that i recently picked up as well, but only have had a couple outings with it in the past couple weeks. i have used primes in the past (50, 90, 100, 105) and love the sharpness that they gave right out of the camera. this was my hope with this as well.

this lens took a little time to get comfortable with as the focusing ring does spin and its right where you would want to put your hand. i found using the hood out 1/2 way and bracing underneath easiest for me. the second downfall of this lens is it only works wide open at f/5.6 unless you have a 10D or 300D. at anything smaller it gives an error 99. sigma at one point was re-chipping these, but since being discontinued they are not. so why buy this lens? its cheap! its 400mm! its sharp wide open! the AF is moderately fast and accurate! and its light enough to haul around for birding or wildlife for a day.


pros:
- sharp wide open
- built in lens hood (just slide it up)
- cheap
- AF is fast (not USM) and accurate


cons:
- needs lots of light
- focusing ring spins (hands beware!)
- error 99 above f/5.6 (10D and 300D this works the full aperture)
- foot zooming

unedited straight from camera:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2431/4026909781_2a2942d7db.jpg

100% crop

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e363/cabbage2003/IMG_6327.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2628/4027740780_6115f4e6e5.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2717/4026945145_509a31cf2e.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3152/4026954797_dbf3f14b3f.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2429/4027727876_1b5b4f3478.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2445/4027737626_c00fe11992.jpg

[MarineManiac]

on 1D, all apertures work

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4150/5057062273_085469d6b0_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/30025457@N07/5057062273/)FFAD6478 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/30025457@N07/5057062273/) by MarineManiac (http://www.flickr.com/people/30025457@N07/), on Flickr

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4108/5057676038_0e22fc787c_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/30025457@N07/5057676038/)FFAD6471 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/30025457@N07/5057676038/) by MarineManiac (http://www.flickr.com/people/30025457@N07/), on Flickr

[baio]

Sorry for bringing up a semi-old thread without adding new content, but I found an used Sigma 400mm ƒ5,6 APO selling for 250€ (~330$), is it worth the money? I'll be using it mainly for birding (not in critical light conditions), how the focus performs in this non-HSM version?

[MarineManiac]

Sorry for bringing up a semi-old thread without adding new content, but I found an used Sigma 400mm ƒ5,6 APO selling for 250€ (~330$), is it worth the money? I'll be using it mainly for birding (not in critical light conditions), how the focus performs in this non-HSM version?


not worth US $330. i picked mine up for less than US $200 shipped. auto focus is good in one shot, fair in servo mode.