Sigma APO 120-400mm F4.5-5.6 DG OS HSM

[Alexei TND]

As the title says, i wanna see you photos taken with the sigma 120-400mm
If you got some with TC theyd be great aswell

here are some to start it off:

[Overkill]

Originally Posted by Alexei TND

As the title says, i wanna see you photos taken with the sigma 120-400mm
If you got some with TC theyd be great aswell

here are some to start it off:

The last two pictures show the power of PS..... in combination with the 120-400 (moon is a bit dissapointing and the last one is superb)!

[Alexei TND]

Originally Posted by Overkill

The last two pictures show the power of PS..... in combination with the 120-400 (moon is a bit dissapointing and the last one is superb)!

the flower had less PS that you would think
ony some adjustements in the initial Photoshop raw opener and some tone correction

I assume you mean the odd creamy blur on the petals?
that part really popped when i slid the "recovery" bar to the right

[Roy P]

Just a couple of quick shots from my 120-400. First is a Dragonfly/Damselfly that caught my eye this morining while waiting for test match to start, sitting on fence warming up.

Second is what appears to be a sneaky beaky 135 (served 25 yrs in RAF but afraid do not know correct designation of this one) on its way home to Mildenhall last evening, they occasionally are friendly enough to fly over backyard.

Dragonfly was 1/125sec, f9, 400mm, 200iso, OS mode 1, handheld. 400D/xti

135 was 1/500sec, f8, 323mm, 200iso, OS mode 1. 400D/xti

[jenningsphoto]

When I first posted about this lens this pic had a positive reaction.
400mm, 1/80, f/5.6, ISO1600, handheld with available (window) light w/ OS engaged. I touched up levels and added a bit of sharpening.

[Alexei TND]

very nice

sadly my sigma's image stabilizer has failed and im gonna be sending it in :'(

the whole image starts rotating like crazy and the lens rumbles when i pan diagonally with IS on

[ricky8587]

The OS will do that while panning diagonally or horizontally I've noticed in OS 1 mode, I found the problem went away changing to OS 2 setting .

[planters]

I like most of the shots here and am pleasantly surprised, they seem to be better than some of the Sigma 150-500 that I have seen. But I must ask, why use a lens like this, for flower and portrait shots? I think many lenses up close perform decently and a long range telephoto wouldn't be your best choice for those 2 types of photography. Would you post more examples at further distances? Myself and probably other interested buyers would be interested.

Thanks for posting your samples.

[ricky8587]

This set is all shot with the 120-400 OS HSM,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/photoma...7605737380708/

[irishlad]

i am thinking of this lens as the replacement to my 75-300mm is. ricky8587 cracking work this lens, how do you find the auto focus on this lens?

more pics would be a great help

[Alexei TND]

autofocus is great

its not the sharpest lens out there but then again sharpness isnt everything
the IS is very effective and it focuses fast and silent thanks to the HSM

[ancistrus]

Just trying out the 120 - 400. All comments gratefully received.

40D

Swan : Handheld 1/320 f/9.0 ISO 200. 235 mm.

Crop of approx 1/3 of original shot.

Gull: Handheld 1/800 f/8.0 ISO 640. 400mm

Taken on an awful day (typical of this summer). Windy, thick low cloud, slight drizzle. First shots with lens so still getting used to it. (Still am).

[KayakPhotos]

Good to see a thread on this lens! I am looking into getting a telephoto for wildlife photography and was pretty excited with the new Sigma lineup came out. What turned me off of the 150-500mm was the fact that it was at f/6.3 from 300mm on. To me, this would just be unacceptable.

The 120-400 would be a little bit lighter and shorter, as well as faster at the 300-400mm range. Sadly, nobody has really been saying anything about it, so I figured it was a dud. I would like to see more pics so I can decide on this lens vs. the Canon 100-400. Anyone has used both, feedback would be great. I can buy a brand new one of these for $300 cheaper than a used 100-400 with the old 1-2 stop IS vs. the Sigma 3-4 stop OS. Decisions decisions....

[MGW172]

Originally Posted by 40Driggs

Good to see a thread on this lens! I am looking into getting a telephoto for wildlife photography and was pretty excited with the new Sigma lineup came out. What turned me off of the 150-500mm was the fact that it was at f/6.3 from 300mm on. To me, this would just be unacceptable.

The 120-400 would be a little bit lighter and shorter, as well as faster at the 300-400mm range. Sadly, nobody has really been saying anything about it, so I figured it was a dud. I would like to see more pics so I can decide on this lens vs. the Canon 100-400. Anyone has used both, feedback would be great. I can buy a brand new one of these for $300 cheaper than a used 100-400 with the old 1-2 stop IS vs. the Sigma 3-4 stop OS. Decisions decisions....

I really wanted to like this lens too. I bought one of the first ones I could find, but it had focus issues. After TWO trips to Sigma, it finally came back and was pretty darn good. However, by that point I had purchased a 100-400 because I was going on a trip and needed something with IS in this range. When I got back from my trip I compared the two to see which to keep and which to sell. The Sigma was very close in sharpness, but the Canon had better contrast (by quite a bit) and the colors were more saturated and lacked that warm tone charactistic of Sigma lenses. Also, while the Sigma had a much more stable OS system than the Canon (you could tell this through the viewfinder), it was very "jerky", jumping sometimes at random. I like the fact that the Canon IS was smooth in operation even if not as effective as the Sigma.

In the end, I kept the Canon and haven't regretted it (although it was hard to spend the money at first).

[KayakPhotos]

Thanks for the post. I think that I am going to bite the bullet and go with the 100-400 as well. A good copy of the canon is known to be superb. I just have not seen enough good things about the Sigma to go that route.