Alaska Cruise Telephoto Lens Suggestions?

RodneyCyr wrote in post #19336703
Good suggestions from everyone. I just ordered the 100-400 Sigma. The two lenses I considered were the Sigma 100-400 and Sigma 150-600. If the Alaska cruise was the only time I would use it I would have chosen the 150-600, and probably rented it. But I want to keep the lens and use it for other things, and the 150-600 was too bulky. I ordered from Amazon, which has a 30-day return policy giving me plenty of time to try it out.

Nice; congrats on entering the long lens challenge Careful, they're addictive...LOL.

John from PA wrote in post #19336701
If you still have the 15-85 EF-S listed in your profile then I think you have the short end well covered.

Good catch.

The Sigma 100-400 has been in my camera bag for about three weeks. I am really enjoying using it for scenic and close-up shots near, and even inside, my home. Here are several sample images. The first is of a mountain range north-west of Santa Fe, NM; the second is of my 10-year-old Rottweiler "puppy." Although I considered, and several responses suggested, the Sigma 150-600, I think that lens would be too heavy for me to carry around outside during my walks.

I still have one question for forum members: should I get the Sigma 1401 1.4x teleconverter? Or should I just crop my images on the computer and save the $350 cost of the teleconverter? My camera is the Canon 80D, which is rated to auto focus up to f/8.

Here are more sample images from my new Sigma 100-400, both taken at Ghost Ranch, north of Santa Fe, NM.

RodneyCyr wrote in post #19352147
...I still have one question for forum members: should I get the Sigma 1401 1.4x teleconverter? Or should I just crop my images on the computer and save the $350 cost of the teleconverter?..

It will be interesting to read the responses. I have the Canon 100-400 ii and the Canon 1.4x iii. The 1.4x causes very very little image quality drop. As a test, in bright daylight, I photographed the same object using just the lens set to 400mm and then with the 1.4 on it and set to 285mm. This achieves the same framing and pixels on target. The images look, I'd day, to be 98% matching. Look at my last 3 bird photos posted here. I used the 100-400 + 1.4.

A 1.4X teleconvertor, depending upon the lens it is mounted on, may only lose 10% of IQ...photozone.de used to test 1.4X on multiple generations of Canon 70-200mm lenses and that is what they measured.
If you crop by that factor, you lose about 30% of the pixels in each direction (vs. 10% IQ loss with optical FL increase).

Unfortunately photozone does not do equivalent testing using 1.4x convertor on other lenses.

Looks like the lens itself is working pretty well and should be a great add to your bag. I would suggest using it 'in the field' for a bit, by itself, and figuring out whether you need to add to the limitations of your kit in order to extend your reach. Besides IQ, the more impactful hit that adding TCs to the long zooms is usually the hit to AF speed and accuracy.

I went on this cruise 11 years ago. You can’t get too long. I have a 600mm lense, and used it more than once.

I have a TC 1401 I have used it on my Sigma 150-600. From what I can tell the TC is really nice. Much better than any other 3rd party 1.4 TC. Sigma did a really nice job on this TC. You will want to check, my understanding is that the 1401 is designed to work best with a few Sigma lenses. I do believe the 100-400 is one of the lenses. The other challenge you might have on the 80D would be AF. With the TC the lens will be just under f9. My R5 has no problems with AF, just not sure about the 80D.

I know this is the Sell forum, but if you are interested in the 1401 PM me. I am going to sell my Sigma Lens and TC soon. I have moved to the RF 100-500.

Thanks again for all of the suggestions I got from forum members. I just returned from my cruise. Here are a few shots. I took the first one in a place called the "Endicott Arm", a fiord branching off from the main inside-passage channel. The second is a heavily-cropped shot of an eagle taken near Skagway.

How was the trip? Have any images to post?