Getting frustrated with my 70-200 Sigma

suggs

suggs

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Harry
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Hi Guys

I while ago i bought a used Sigma 70-200 APO HSM which is a fairly old version of this lens, i really wanted the Nikon VR1 but could not justify the cost at the time..

Now im having very mixed feelings about this lens, since ive had it ive taken some of if not the best images ive shot to date (im a MX photographer at 2 local tracks) how ever they have been on sunny days with decent light.

My issues are when the lights poor and today was a typical example of this with grey low level cloud giving very dull light at ground level, with the exception of a few nice shots the image quality goes totally to @$%£ with many shots OOF and often the AF struggling to lock on and the shutter not firing. Now i know bad light will effect any setup but dear god this lens goes from superb to down right rubbish to the point im deleting half or more of the shots, today i ended up switching to my 50mm prime to save the day.

Its not a one off, its happened several times now every time its been dull grey days. Im now thinking to buy the Nikon VR and cut my losses on the Sigma but are the issues im having down to the the size of the lens and normal for a 70-200 or is it just because its an older Sigma..

Its like working with Jeckel and Hyde and nothing worse then not having faith in your kit :bang:
 
its not even at f2.8, its going pants at f4-f5+ but on sunny days its fine down to around f3 but struggles wide open. i go from loving this lens to hating it on a daily basis lol
 
I could be wrong but I think the early versions had poorer focusing than the later versions. I've had one of the early non DG models and the focusing was not a patch on the DG version. For what it's worth, neither were a patch on the VR1 for accuracy or consistency.
 
It can also be compatibility. I had an early hsm which was perfect with my old d70, absolutely spot on each and every time. But with my d7000 I just couldn't rely on getting the shot. It went to sigma uk and the Japan and end result is that they can't upgrade the firmware anymore I got a vr1 and bingo absolutely spot on again, can always rely on it.
 
manualfocus-g said:
Surely it doesn't matter what aperture you are shooting at, as the lens always AFs wide open and only stops down when the shutter is released. What you are seeing is an AF system struggling in bad light.
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dont think its the bodys AF as its a D300 so very decent on that front and no issues with other lenses
 
It's the camera's AF system. In a low contrast scene like the second image the sensor will struggle. For shots with "clean" BG's (like sky) multi-point auto continuous can be more effective than single-point dynamic continuous.
 
sk66 said:
It's the camera's AF system. In a low contrast scene like the second image the sensor will struggle. For shots with "clean" BG's (like sky) multi-point auto continuous can be more effective than single-point dynamic continuous.
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its only doing it with the one lens though, fine with the 50mm and 18-70
 
suggs said:
yes built in motor so af in lens struggling ?
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Yes, that is exactly what is happening.

This is a limitation I have found with my 70-200mm Sigma. When the light is poor the scenes have lower contrast I have to be very specific about where on the subject I focus. Good contrast is necessary to get a decent AF lock.

What autofocus mode/configuration are you using? You could maybe adjust this to get better results.
 
Thanks for the reply's

Richards its set to continues servo af and the focus point is the cross hair looking option on the rear, the middle one of the three on a D300 (its name escapes me)

thanks
 
OK, had a little read up and if it's not already set have a look at the customer function that changes the shutter/focus priority.

From what I could gather there is a setting called Release + Focus ( Custom Setting Menu A1) which might help. Default is Release which will fire as soon as you press the button regardless of focus. Hopefully someone who shoots nikon can confirm though.
 
thanks i have already got it set to fire only when in focus, in fact i lost some shots yesterday due to the shutter not firing as couldnt focus lock..

such a shame because its taken some superb images when the lights been better, i feel the way to go will be an upgrade. wouldn't be such an issue if i wasnt selling the MX photos i take but i still need to be at the tracks if its Sunny or not, long as its dry...
 
There is no such thing as "in the lens AF." AF is determined by the camera body and then "performed" by the lens's AF motor.

There are several things that can make one lens perform worse than another in a given situation. A slow AF motor (probably not the case), lower contrast lens (Sigma's typically are), crappy UV filter (or any filter), smaller max aperture, etc etc.

I believe the mode you have selected is "dynamic;" that means it starts with just the center focus point and it then tracks the subject. Try the auto mode (large square) when you have sky for a BG and it's having trouble with single point. If you put that single point on a spot with no contrast/detail then the camera will not AF. In auto mode the camera will select an AF point (or several) that does have contrast/detail and the AF will work.

FWIW, the D300 is a nice camera but I noticed a big improvement in AF when I went to the D3. I'm not saying you need to "upgrade," Everything has it's limitations/tradeoffs. Just understand that the D300 is somewhat limited in AF speed in demanding conditions.
 
thanks

like ive said I'm only having this issue with the one lens so dont think its body related, i did think it may be aperture related but have looked back on days with good lighting and have had good results with the same aperture setting, has a Hoya pro 1 uv filter fitted but had same issue without filter. ill try changing the focus settings next time although the focus target point was the rider and not the sky which is why i use the centre focal point although i could be wrong in using that setting. Soon as i swapped to my 50mm the problem went away and only lost a few shots after that...
 
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