Sigma 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM SPORTS owners thread

Really impressive results from this lens, especially handheld. It looks an absolute beast and the build quality is excellent.
 
since doing the changes via the USB dock ,especially setting the o.s to dynamic hand holding and keeping the focus point on the birds eye has become very easy indeed .even with my advanced years nearly 70 i find no problem with it at all hand held .using a black rapid harness to take off the weight during walkabout also helps
 
Some mighty impressive shots with this lens. Especially shots of "moving subjects" shows the AF is decent! Got my attention that's for sure.

Anyone able to make comparisons to the 500 F4 mark 1? Anyone had the opportunity to use both and compare AF speed etc?
 
i was out yesterday using my canon 70d and 1d3 plus sigma 150-600mm sport taking close ups of gulls for birds eye views , my lad was beside me with his nikon 500mm f4.vr plus t.c to bring him up equal in focal length .it seems his shots were no better than mine and in some cases a lot worse .both shots below BTW were taken hand held .View attachment 40396View attachment 40397
 
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the black fox said:
as i said ade a better camera might improve things ,a mate has just popped round this evening and lent me his 1Dmk4 to play with for the weekend ,one of the first shots with it as an example gull on flypast out the front of the house ,look at the eye detail ,hand held at 600mm
View attachment 40049
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Amazing super shots, Jeff! :) ..I've seen your other picture postings, and I have to say that you have mastered the micro adjustment on your Sport lens like a well tuned piano :) ..Cheers, John
 
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jshen808 said:
Amazing super shots, Jeff! :) ..I've seen your other picture postings, and I have to say that you have mastered the micro adjustment on your Sport lens like a well tuned piano :) ..Cheers, John
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Haven't actually had to do any John ,early problems which looked liked m.a turned out to be to do with lens settings via the USB hub
 
the black fox said:
Haven't actually had to do any John ,early problems which looked liked m.a turned out to be to do with lens settings via the USB hub
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Really imprssed at the quality of images you are getting here. What custom settings have you settled on now? The ones posted a couple of pages back or have you refined them since then?
 
The only changes made Matt are I have just changed C1 to full range and quick focus ,but it is as yet untested in a real life scenario and may have to be changed again ,unfortunately North Wales has been plagued by really unsettled weather this year
My lads Nikon gear has been playing up so not a completely fair test ,it's going back to Nikon again today for the second time in two weeks
 
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another pufflin shot from bempton ,large crop 2.4mp from 10mp .cant knock this its in full shade to View attachment 40544
 
the black fox said:
The only changes made Matt are I have just changed C1 to full range and quick focus ,but it is as yet untested in a real life scenario and may have to be changed again ,unfortunately North Wales has been plagued by really unsettled weather this year
My lads Nikon gear has been playing up so not a completely fair test ,it's going back to Nikon again today for the second time in two weeks
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Cheers Jeff - and good luck getting the gear sorted.
 
OK, first shot from my trip to Canada. This is a 100% crop taken at around 300mm last night on Whistler. 7D Mk1 @ 1600 ISO (what noise ??), handheld, f5.6 @ 1/300.

Test by Steve Jelly, on Flickr

Jeff, this was shot on the custom settings (12m Plus obviously !!!) Quite pleased with this, especially as I was quite excited seeing the bear too !!
 
Super first shot ,well done steve
 
View attachment 41231 View attachment 41232 time to bump this back up again ,a couple of sandwich tern shots from yesterday ,hand held ,sat on a wet seaweed covered slimey rock .canon 1Dmkiii ,sigma 150-600mm sport ,my mate sat next to me was using a 1dx and a 500mm mk2 and to be honest theres very little difference in shots .under the conditions prevalent at the time ,making this a good choice of lens
 
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I thought I'd see how well it handled Motorsport...

BTCC Croft .

crofty.jpg
 
And how did you get on gubby? Nice shot, looks like warm up lap? Was the Autofocus able to keep things sharp and be consistant? I've never been to Croft before so not sure what it's like to work with!

I think I'm going to borrow a copy this weekend, want to see how it fairs for myself :)
 
az its a stunning lens but they do need setting up with the usb dock to get the best from them
 
i.e if it can retain detail in the fishes eyes as the bird flies by at speed its a good one ,this is at 600mm hand held View attachment 41284
 
Az_GTi said:
And how did you get on gubby? Nice shot, looks like warm up lap? Was the Autofocus able to keep things sharp and be consistant?
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From what I remember that was the 1st lap with them coming flat out towards me. I was very happy with the hit rate (even panning) considering it was the first time I'd taken it track side.

After Croft I took it up to Skye and had a play with it on a boat ... a bit knackering trying to keep it stable on a moving platform :D

eagle7.jpg
 
Got my hands on one!!! Had a quick play out in the garden, nothing interesting to shoot though. First impressions are it's a nice kit of kit and actually not too big or heavy. Similar to my 300 2.8 I would say. Once extended to 600mm then it's a little more awkward to handle but for me it doesn't seem to be a problem. I understand that other people coming from a plastic 75-300 or similar it would seem quite big/heavy though. I can certainly say it's much easier to hold than the Canon 500 F4!

Flexibility of zoom is always welcome! I've not used on my monopod yet but I expect I could probably zoom it in a push/pull style (preferable for me). At the "wide" end (150-200mm) it seems to be back focusing on my 1D4, but at 300mm and beyond it seems pretty decent I must say! I have the USB dock so will try have a tinker and try to optimise.

Overall sharpness is not a match for the 300 2.8 or 500 F4 prime. I didn't expect that. But actually I would say it's very impressive. Once processed and for "web use" i.e less than 1800px wide I think you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

Autofocus seems fast and the OS effective - I've already customised the C1 in the dock for faster AF and stronger OS! I've not shot anything "moving" yet so can't comment on the AF tracking accuracy - that is very important for me. Will find out over the weekend and report back.

A lens like this needs sunshine to get the best out of it otherwise you have to bump the ISO up. Even in the sun just now I was at IS400. Had quick play with my 1.4 III TC ... worked pretty well! My 1D4 reports F9 aperture fully extended but does still AF, but only on centre point (expected).
 
Here's a few very uninteresting shots just to clutter up this thread hah.

Resized to 1800x pixels using my preset in Photoshop. It adds a tiny bit of USM and auto contrast/tone adjust I think, nothing too heavy anyway.

Both taken wide open f/6.3 @ 600mm

Sigma_150-600S_AE_01.jpg



Sigma_150-600S_AE_02.jpg
 
nice one az ,from experience i would set your a/f to focus point accuracy rather than speed and dynamic o.s ,BEFORE you do any micro adjusts .been down this road when i initially got the lens it honestly improves it dramatically . and doesn't slow down the lens at all ,i also use a black rapid sport to carry the lens around and these days 98% of my shots are hand held its surprising how fast you get used to it
 
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I just received my Sigma 150-600 sports. Did a quick test in garden in the rain. The image below were taken hand held f5.6 1/90sec @600mm. I am gobsmacked with what I got.

Full size image

IMG_6259 by Degsys Pics, on Flickr

100% crop

IMG_6259_100 by Degsys Pics, on Flickr

I cannot wait to get out and use this beast

I just had a thought. Flickr says f5.6@600mm but is this possible????
 
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Sometimes it surprises us with what it achieves ,good pics. though it performs even better in good light . If you have a USB hub you will find you can improve it even more ,enjoy
 
After some weeks of deliberation on what to get, I finally picked up my 150-600 Sports this morning. First impressions I am well impressed with the build quality and it seems very feature rich. I've not had chance to play with it as yet but I look forward to learning how to get the best from it. I had a little buyers regret after my bank account balance dropped somewhat, but now glad I opted for the Sports over waiting for a Nikon mounted Contempary, the Tamron, or the other option, a 300f4 / TC1.4 Major step up from my 150-500, which I am keeping. Despite the weatherproofing of the 150-600, I'm keeping the 150-500 for those tipping it down all day, standing in the rain photographing bikes at Darley Moor, where I am the club photographer.
 
well done you won't be dissapointed the extra weight is negated by the superb o.s system ,and ALL my b.i.f are taken hand held ,heres one from earlier this year using the now departed canon 70d View attachment 41873
 
I have just noticed that when I have this lens coupled with my Canon 70D that the aperture settings seem out.
According to the camera display when at 150mm wide open it reports f4.5 and when at 600mm f5.6. This seems to be a stop out.
Has anyone else noticed this? The lens seems fine in all other operations.
 
DerekL said:
I have just noticed that when I have this lens coupled with my Canon 70D that the aperture settings seem out.
According to the camera display when at 150mm wide open it reports f4.5 and when at 600mm f5.6. This seems to be a stop out.
Has anyone else noticed this? The lens seems fine in all other operations.
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As no one has responded to my query I did some investigation and solved the problem. I was because I had the stop settings in the menu set to1/2 stops.
Changing this to 1/3 stops solved the issue and the camera now reports the correct aperture.
I have only posted this in case someone else has the issue.
 
Great thread.

I'm currently working out whether to go for the Tamron, Sigma Contemporary or Sport. SRS have £100 off the Sigma 150-600 C & S until July 20th, so that's my timeframe to reach a conclusion.

I'm thinking of the C purely in terms of weight, but I don't want instant regret not going for the Sport.
 
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