Sigma BIGMOS resurrected

A couple of weeks ago I pulled the trigger on buying the Sigma 50-500mm ll. I had it sent to the office and tracked it all the way in. The day it was to be delivered, I brought my camera in so I could play around with it as soon as it arrived.

Well, the joy didn't last long. The lens was DOA, no HSM focusing at all. Took it home to make sure contacts were clean, etc. No good.

On another thread, I got advice to send it back to the seller and just get a new one. I debated that but in the end figured I could just as easily get another problem. I went ahead and sent it into Sigma service. I figured, they'd work it over and they would calibrate it during the process so it should be pretty good to go.

Pleasantly surprised with how quick the turn around was, although a little more communication as to the status would have been nice. As luck would have, it would have to sit for a few days before I could use it at all.

Tried it out at the zoo and am very happy with it, good practice for an upcoming Alaska river float/fish trip next month.

Anyway, while not exactly 1D or 5D and L glass sharp, not bad for a 60D.

500mm f8 640ISO (cropped ~15%)

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Pictures look great to me! Glad it worked out for you.

pretty good crops and there is a duck to boot.

those look great.

Look great, somewhere I have a 600mm mirror in EF mount. Hmmmm...

What is the critter in the 3rd picture?

Thanks all, as many have said on this forum, this is a great lens. You definitely know it's on the camera, and people do notice you

John from PA wrote in post #14510656
What is the critter in the 3rd picture?

It's a Red Panda. He was tucked away in the tree pretty snuggly, but I was able to get a peak-a-boo shot of him. Even then still had to crop it down a lot to get the clutter down.

Happy to hear the lens is back. And nice images too, really like the first one. I noticed the ISO on these is a bit high. Perhaps it was needed to keep the shutter speed up. But keep in mind that the Bismos is using Sigma's latest OS technology. What that means is, to capture static subjects like the above, the OS allows you to lower the ISO to keep the noise low and still get away with sharp subject. If the subject is constantly moving (such as bird inflight, dog speeding), then only bump up the ISO to get fast enough shutter speed to freeze the movement.

Thanks

yes, surprisingly the day was a bit overcast and there wasn't a lot of light (sort of strange for Seattle )

Actually the OS did earn it's keep, the 1st shot was at 1/500 which would be considered right in line with the general rule of thumb. The second was 1/250 which would be pushing the 500mm, and the 3rd was at 1/60 which really shows how well it works. Considering the crop and it was already at 450mm, I'm pretty happy with it's performance.

Just have to use it a lot more to get a good feel for what the limits are.

That duck looks so p*ss*d, I love the shot. I would love to have one of theses lens. Alas I've already spent my budget for the 1st half of this year. So maybe by October or so I can sneak something past the wife.

That 2nd image is tack sharp!!! If you hadn't told anyone, I would've assumed it was from an L.