Sigma 150-600 contemporary

I once bought a Canon EF 70-200mm f4 IS for a third of it's value off Ebay as it was being sold as faulty due to the lens not being able to autofocus properly. I took a punt as I thought if there was a problem it could be fixed but it turned out to be the focus limiter.

Mike-P wrote in post #17505141
I once bought a Canon EF 70-200mm f4 IS for a third of it's value off Ebay as it was being sold as faulty due to the lens not being able to autofocus properly. I took a punt as I thought if there was a problem it could be fixed but it turned out to be the focus limiter.

"Knowledge is power"

I spent 4 hours this morning with a pair of Ospreys. It turned out to be a valuable test of BIF capability of this lens. Some were on a tripod, most were handheld, focus limiter engaged, ai-servo, and zone focus. Despite a sunburn, I am very pleased with the results. Rather than cross posting, you can view them in the Sigma 150-600 Contemporary Sample Thread

ct1co2 wrote in post #17505504
I spent 4 hours this morning with a pair of Ospreys. It turned out to be a valuable test of BIF capability of this lens. Some were on a tripod, most were handheld, focus limiter engaged, ai-servo, and zone focus. Despite a sunburn, I am very pleased with the results. Rather than cross posting, you can view them in the Sigma 150-600 Contemporary Sample Thread

Very nice shots, and I'm glad to see that you're using a 70D too!

frozenframe wrote in post #17505525
Very nice shots, and I'm glad to see that you're using a 70D too!

The zone focus along with the focus limiter engaged in the 10M to infinity position worked really well. Focus acquisition was quick and it locked in very well. Shot almost 400 images, and any focus issues I encountered were attributable to user error.

A couple of BIF samples.

A 40% crop of the original image.

I think I am going to order this lens this week to use on a 1D3

I'm starting to think that this might be my next lens, or after a wider lens then this one, I just have to figure out what to sell (non-photography stuff) to raise the hobby fund enough to get one.

Took a trip to Croft Racing Circuit today to test out the lens properly and pretty much confirms my first impressions. Conditions were clear skies and blazing sun overhead/in front of us so quite harsh contrast. Sadly due to this I couldn't get the shutter speed slow enough for decent background blur without blowing out everything but I did a few like this to test the panning IS and it works very well. I wouldn't say any better than it did on the 50-500 I was renting but that was no slouch and I was comfortably down to 1/60th at 600mm with enough detail not blown out to show the image would have been sharp if I'd had some ND filters with me.

Having the push pull as an alternative to just the rotating zoom was great and I must try this more as I found supporting the setup was easier and more stable using this instead of the ring. Focus and IS are basically completely silent outdoors - I couldn't hear them at all which took some getting used to as it just didn't feel like the lens was working, even though I could see it was. I am used to a comforting whir of gears to assure me everythings good, it was quite a change using AI Servo without that constant noise.

Focus is really snappy too, especially with the limiter on. I did miss a bunch of shots of the kids though by forgetting the limiter was set to 10m to infinity, this will also take some getting used to

Hand held it the whole time (around 5 hours) and despite the weight its a very comfortable lens. My only criticism would be the tripod mount, on the 50-500 this doubled as a nice handle to carry the setup by but on this lens it is way too short and while it can be done it is neither comfortable nor feels very secure as you can't really get a good grip on it.

Will post a few pics once processed but right now I hear an ice cream van calling my name

Well I finally got around to having a close look at the shots I took with the 15-600 C at the Photoshow the other week. I was very impressed with the OS performance, although only on static subjects. My usual shutter speeds are 1/160 for prop aircraft, and between 1/100 and 1/60 for small to large helicopters. Here are 100% crops from firstly the shot at 600mm @1/160, f/6.3 and ISO 3200 shot on a 50D. It's part of the Manfrotto logo.

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A few panning shots from Croft DDMC Easter Sprint

150mm, f14, 1/80th

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/rZ1i​Bo

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They look pretty darned good. Do you think you could post a couple of 100% crops from them?

Alan

Sorry, the lens is no good. It gets me too close

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/rGRa​6B

lozw wrote in post #17506654
Sorry, the lens is no good. It gets me too close

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/rGRa​6B
70D-6602 by lozwilkes, on Flickr

At certain times of the day planes fly over our house at about 5,500ft on their way towards Heathrow.

I was looking forward to taking some shots of them with the Sigma - but it seems I don't need 600mm (960mm on APS-C)

So that's about a mile away, uncropped.

Send it to me, the airport is about 30 miles south of our house so the planes should be farther away allowing me to make better use of your lens. I'll gladly send you a nifty-fifty f1.8 lens in exchange.

Well now I wished it got me closer

Jupiter. Cropped

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/rGTE​Bh