Sigma 50-100 f/1.8 DC

Ha, well that looks great but the movement isn't near as fast as catching someone running, jumping, and hitting a volleyball. I really want to be able to AF track someone mid play and catch them during the process. Especially in crappy lit gyms.

Well, depends what level the dancer is really, and it's pretty fast at Gold level if I need 1/500 to freeze the action of them spinning etc..

And when you say crappy lit gym.. what ISO and SS we talking about?

Right now I'm typically shooting at 2000/2500 ISO with 500-800 shutter speed. I make a few corrections in post for NR and exposure but not a ton. If I can keep the shutter above 500 that is usually ideal for getting a stopped mid air ball.

griesmonkey wrote in post #18422974
Right now I'm typically shooting at 2000/2500 ISO with 500-800 shutter speed. I make a few corrections in post for NR and exposure but not a ton. If I can keep the shutter above 500 that is usually ideal for getting a stopped mid air ball.

2500ISO? and 500-800SS? that's more light than I get!! I thought you were going to say ISO8,000 and SS around 250/320

Well some of the shots in some cases are slightly under exposed but I usually never have to go above 2500. I know that isn't much but really jus trying to determine if it can keep up with a fast sport.

it will keep up with volleyball just fine, and dont worry about pushing your current setup to ISO6400+ if you need to get SS

So I did a small Senior photoshoot with this lens and I'm in love with it. Thats a problem... lol I wish it wasn't so expensive (for me). I feel like I have to decide between my 50-150 OS and this.

If reach is not needed, I will get this:

Thinking of buying this lens it seems to give great background blur on a cropped camera.

I have the Nikon D500 and was thinking I needed to go back to an FF camera to get this kind of background blur for family portraits.

I see lots of fantastic images here

I have a few ?s

I have the Nikon 35mm 1.8 and 50mm 1.8 both great lens and sharp but they both at 1.8 do not seem to give me the background blur I am seeing in this Sigma 50-100 does the Sigma have something in it that enhances the background Blur? or is it more of the shots are at the 100 end that is creating the more blur effects.

How heavy is it on the camera to carry around for a few hours. is it heavier than a Nikon 70-200 F4?

For portraits, I shoot a lot of family sessions outside with 4 to 8 people in the shots. At the 50 end on the 50-100 how far back do you think I will need to be to fit 5 to 8 people in standing up showing the full head to toe view? and at 50 dose the Sigma give more background blur than the Nikon 50 1.8?

Just for reference I shot family portraits for over ten years and have done many hundreds of them. I was using all off camera flash for years. We sold our main photography business around 6 years ago so i am going to go back into it but this time around I want to shoot most all natural light and go for the DOF background the complete opposite of what I did in the past. I worked hard matching the background lighting to the subject with flash and shot most of the time at 5.6 to F8.

Most everything I shoot will be outside in the sun on the beach starting an hour before sunset but this can be as bright as F16 out at the start and end as the sun is down.

Doing some testing with my 50 and 35 1.8 I see it is a good thing I have the D500 that has a shutter speed that hits 8000 to be able to get the lower F stops in bright light. On bright days testing I need to be at 8000 and can still only get to a F2 or F2.5 with a non pro body it is limited to 4000 pushing it to 2.8 or higher.

Thanks for any replies.

DigitalEd wrote in post #18451499
Thinking of buying this lens it seems to give great background blur on a cropped camera.

I have the Nikon D500 and was thinking I needed to go back to an FF camera to get this kind of background blur for family portraits.

I see lots of fantastic images here

I have a few ?s

I have the Nikon 35mm 1.8 and 50mm 1.8 both great lens and sharp but they both at 1.8 do not seem to give me the background blur I am seeing in this Sigma 50-100 does the Sigma have something in it that enhances the background Blur? or is it more of the shots are at the 100 end that is creating the more blur effects.

How heavy is it on the camera to carry around for a few hours. is it heavier than a Nikon 70-200 F4?

For portraits, I shoot a lot of family sessions outside with 4 to 8 people in the shots. At the 50 end on the 50-100 how far back do you think I will need to be to fit 5 to 8 people in standing up showing the full head to toe view? and at 50 dose the Sigma give more background blur than the Nikon 50 1.8?

Just for reference I shot family portraits for over ten years and have done many hundreds of them. I was using all off camera flash for years. We sold our main photography business around 6 years ago so i am going to go back into it but this time around I want to shoot most all natural light and go for the DOF background the complete opposite of what I did in the past. I worked hard matching the background lighting to the subject with flash and shot most of the time at 5.6 to F8.

Most everything I shoot will be outside in the sun on the beach starting an hour before sunset but this can be as bright as F16 out at the start and end as the sun is down.

Doing some testing with my 50 and 35 1.8 I see it is a good thing I have the D500 that has a shutter speed that hits 8000 to be able to get the lower F stops in bright light. On bright days testing I need to be at 8000 and can still only get to a F2 or F2.5 with a non pro body it is limited to 4000 pushing it to 2.8 or higher.

Thanks for any replies.

You may want to try the 85mm f/1.8 or f/1.4 and the 105mm f/1.4 and see if you like the field of view and depth of field....

the sigma 50-100mm is about 52.6 oz (1490g) while Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 G ED VR is about 30.0 oz (850g).
it would be as heavy as a 70-200mm f/2.8.

I don think the 50mm at f/1.8 would give more background blur, but I would say the Sigma would give more sharpness. For 5 to 8 people, I would use about 20mm (~35mm equivalent) for crop frame.

For portrait and as a business, I would recommend a full frame, 35mm, 85mm and lightings for a start. maybe a small studio if the budget permits.

In bright daylight and if you find yourself reaching the max of the shutter speed while at the max of the aperture, you may want to get a 3 stop ND filter to down the shutter speed. One good brand is the Hoya ProND 8 (3 stop). For example, if your exposure at say f/1,8 is 1/8000s. With the 3 stop filter attached, the new exposure become (8 * 1/8000) 1/1000s.

Enjoy!

DigitalEd wrote in post #18451499
Thinking of buying this lens it seems to give great background blur on a cropped camera.

I have the Nikon D500 and was thinking I needed to go back to an FF camera to get this kind of background blur for family portraits.

I see lots of fantastic images here

I have a few ?s

I have the Nikon 35mm 1.8 and 50mm 1.8 both great lens and sharp but they both at 1.8 do not seem to give me the background blur I am seeing in this Sigma 50-100 does the Sigma have something in it that enhances the background Blur? or is it more of the shots are at the 100 end that is creating the more blur effects.

How heavy is it on the camera to carry around for a few hours. is it heavier than a Nikon 70-200 F4?

For portraits, I shoot a lot of family sessions outside with 4 to 8 people in the shots. At the 50 end on the 50-100 how far back do you think I will need to be to fit 5 to 8 people in standing up showing the full head to toe view? and at 50 dose the Sigma give more background blur than the Nikon 50 1.8?

Just for reference I shot family portraits for over ten years and have done many hundreds of them. I was using all off camera flash for years. We sold our main photography business around 6 years ago so i am going to go back into it but this time around I want to shoot most all natural light and go for the DOF background the complete opposite of what I did in the past. I worked hard matching the background lighting to the subject with flash and shot most of the time at 5.6 to F8.

Most everything I shoot will be outside in the sun on the beach starting an hour before sunset but this can be as bright as F16 out at the start and end as the sun is down.

Doing some testing with my 50 and 35 1.8 I see it is a good thing I have the D500 that has a shutter speed that hits 8000 to be able to get the lower F stops in bright light. On bright days testing I need to be at 8000 and can still only get to a F2 or F2.5 with a non pro body it is limited to 4000 pushing it to 2.8 or higher.

Thanks for any replies.

At 50mm on a crop, shooting a role of 4 to 8 people? I say you need about 30ft to 40ft from the subjects. You would get more OOF element if the background is further away. You need a 2 to 3 stops ND filter if you want to shoot the lens at wide open in the middle of the day...

I need to get mine dialed in by Sigma. I have some back focus issues on the long end causing me to miss shots frequently. Might as well send the 18-35 with in to make both solid on my 7D mII. Nice shot btw.