Sigma 150-600 Sport

I am not finding a whole lot of reviews or photos taken with this lens. I no one guy who has it and he couldn't be happier with it. He was even impressed with the BIF shots he was getting. He said it is very fast to lock focus. I currently have a 100-400 and I am looking to upgrade. I am looking at three lens. the new canon 100-400 ll, the sigma 150-600 or save some money and get the Tamron 150-600. I have been waiting to see more posts from guys who are using the sigma as that is what I am leaning towards. I shoot mostly wild life and the extra reach would be nice. The reviews I have found on the lens seem positive. Is anyone using this lens yet?

I think getting that lens is the big challenge.

Heya,

While this is not the Sigma, it's at 600mm. The Tamron isn't slow to focus at all. It depends on the camera body it's attached to. My 1D2 has no problem locking and holding lock on birds at 600mm.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/q1g3​A2

I sold my old 100-400mm to fund the sigma about a week before they announced the 100-400mm vii and pre-ordered from one of the big two in NYC. I finally got one from Roberts Camera a couple weeks ago, so I would check the smaller stores if you want one. I saw they had another the other day. I am very happy with mine though I wouldn't mind having a new 100-400mm Vii as well. I have a few in a flicker album here:
https://www.flickr.com …3/sets/72157650​035350860/

Nascar Nut wrote in post #17401453
I am not finding a whole lot of reviews or photos taken with this lens. I no one guy who has it and he couldn't be happier with it. He was even impressed with the BIF shots he was getting. He said it is very fast to lock focus. I currently have a 100-400 and I am looking to upgrade. I am looking at three lens. the new canon 100-400 ll, the sigma 150-600 or save some money and get the Tamron 150-600. I have been waiting to see more posts from guys who are using the sigma as that is what I am leaning towards. I shoot mostly wild life and the extra reach would be nice. The reviews I have found on the lens seem positive. Is anyone using this lens yet?

Have you checked out the Sigma 150-600 thread?

It seems that the Sigma and Tamron 150-600's are actually quite close when it comes to optical quality and AF. The one major difference it would seem is that the Sigma OS offers Mode 2 (panning mode). Not only does the Tamron VC not offer Mode 2, but the VC system won't actually work correctly while panning. This can be a big problem for some typical uses of long lenses.

I mostly shoot airshows where to get good propellor blur I usually have an upper shutter speed limit of 1/160. To do this handheld at 600mm a good image stabilization system that will work while panning is really helpful in improving the keeper rate. When I rented the Tamron last summer for an airshow my keeper rate fell to under 10% from about 60% while using the VC compared with using a non stabilised 500mm lens (well at least as far as technique is concerned, the 500mm is a mirror lens and optically close to junk).

So for my needs the Tamron is a non starter, and I will have to look towards the Sigmas. At least here in the UK the Sigma Sport is only 50% more expensive than the Tamron, not twice the price. I am at the moment waiting to hear more from Sigma about the Contemporary version of the 150-600, specifications that were given at the announcement make that seem like the perfect lens for me.

Alan

There is another option if you are not into wanting a zoom lens. A EF 400mm f5.6 L with the EF 1.4x II extender.
I have found it to be very sharp, maybe sharper than big my Tammy. Plus it is an "L". I don't have the Sugma, yet, to do a comparison. Maybe later but it is very much more expensive.

Just a thought.

BigAl007 wrote in post #17402214
It seems that the Sigma and Tamron 150-600's are actually quite close when it comes to optical quality and AF. The one major difference it would seem is that the Sigma OS offers Mode 2 (panning mode). Not only does the Tamron VC not offer Mode 2, but the VC system won't actually work correctly while panning. This can be a big problem for some typical uses of long lenses.

I mostly shoot airshows where to get good propellor blur I usually have an upper shutter speed limit of 1/160. To do this handheld at 600mm a good image stabilization system that will work while panning is really helpful in improving the keeper rate. When I rented the Tamron last summer for an airshow my keeper rate fell to under 10% from about 60% while using the VC compared with using a non stabilised 500mm lens (well at least as far as technique is concerned, the 500mm is a mirror lens and optically close to junk).

So for my needs the Tamron is a non starter, and I will have to look towards the Sigmas. At least here in the UK the Sigma Sport is only 50% more expensive than the Tamron, not twice the price. I am at the moment waiting to hear more from Sigma about the Contemporary version of the 150-600, specifications that were given at the announcement make that seem like the perfect lens for me.

Alan

I haven't yet gotten my hands on a Tamron to play around with, but on paper and reading of others' experiences with it in airshows, Sigma's 150-600mm contemporary version looks a bit better for airshows than the Tamron. According to Sigma Rumors, the price is expected to be just a bit higher than the Tamron, around $1100 instead of $1069. I don't think we have long to wait long to find out, it's already nearly February and the lens is due out sometime in the first quarter of this year.

Yes it will be good to find out about the Sigma C. As you say the spec seems almost perfect for the airshow shooter. What I want from a budget super tele zoom is reasonable image quality, there are not too many parts on an aircraft that are going to push spatial resolutions, it's not like having to resolve feather detail on birds. Even the most aerobatic of aircraft do not change direction particularly quickly or randomly in comparison with some types of subject. Although an aircraft may be travelling towards one at many hundreds of knots it is still a pretty simple calculation for the AI Servo system to keep up with. So lightning fast AF is also not that high a priority compared with say BiF. Given that mostly I am dealing with passes that require a 180 degree pan, using a tripod or monopod is hard, so the additional lightness of the Sigma C as announced also appealing.

When I used to shoot airshows in the 80's I had a very nice shoulder pod, marketed under the Prinz brand (Dixons own brand which is now part of Currys/PC world) That I used when shooting at 400mm. I lost it over the years, I really wish I could find one that was both as simple and effective now though, with the additions of optical image stabilization I think it would be very effective, especially with a 600mm lens.

One last wish list for long lenses is why can they not incorporate into the AF system a means to implement a variable minimum focus distance lock. The on lens switches are OK for many I know. But if my subject is never going to get closer than say 500 feet a minimum focus lock at 30 feet is not necessarily that useful in preventing hunting. This is of course even more useful when you have a relatively slow AF system to start with. It could be done in the camera body too as most lenses now pass AF distance information to the body anyway.

Alan

if i were only shooting airshows, i feel like i'd go for the 50-500OS

Nascar Nut wrote in post #17401453
I am not finding a whole lot of reviews or photos taken with this lens.

I have not seen any "sports" photos with this lens

does the "sports" lens not actually do sports?

LOL

I would guess that the majority of buyers and prospective buyers of this lens (or the Tamron) are birders and thus are more interested in bird/wildlife shots out near 600mm than whatever you define as "sports"

DreDaze wrote in post #17403374
if i were only shooting airshows, i feel like i'd go for the 50-500OS

I know that the 50-500 sounds like a good idea, but if I look at my numbers, not including the one airshow where I rented the Tamron 150-600, then only 7% of my images are wider than 150mm and 81% are at 300mm or greater, based on nearly 12000 exposures. Of those 51% were shot on the Sigma 28-300, 43% were on the 100-400 L and 8% on my Centon 500mm mirror lens (thats rounding errors for you!). 76% of the 28-300 shots and 83% of the 100-400 shots were at maximum zoom. Add to this that most of those images also needed a fair degree of cropping (20% plus on the long edge would not be unusual) and you see why I would really like something longer than 500mm. Actually I still had to crop some of the Tamron 600mm shots too. Nothings changed though because back when I shot film I was using 400mm and that was still far too short, with massive cropping needed, and I really wanted a 600mm or even 800mm lens.

I did not include the Tamron show in the figures, as it was badly affected by poor weather, mostly high winds, which reduced the number of aircraft able to perform. It was also the first time that I had attended this show. It turns out that the crowd line to flight line separation at the show is considerably smaller than is usually found at major airshows in the UK. This kind of screwed with the useful range of focal lengths for the show. That would be one venue where the 100-400 would have probably been perfectly adequate.

Alan

Thanks all for the links and info on this lens and others. I wish I could get my hands on one locally to try out.