sigma 150-500

bledyn125

bledyn125

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bleddyn
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ok i bought my sigma 150-500 brand new from a shop in cardiff around 7 months ago its a great lens but i can only use it at f/8. as at f/5 at 150mm and wide open at f/6.3 its softer than a soft thing.even if i use it at say 150mm/200mm/400mm it still needs stopping down to f/8.

i tried phoning the shop tonight but they where closed i was going to ask if i dropped the lens off at the shop would they send it back to sigma to get it looked at for me.

so my question is before i go to the shop next week. are they likley to tell me to send it back myself and foot the cost or do camera shops actually do this type of thing.

i only ask as i dont want to get fobbed of without knowing my rights.

cheers

bleddyn
 
much quicker and more simple to send to sigma yourself.. get the number off google and call them.. they talk nice on the phone and are helpful (well used to be when i had sigma)

taking to shop has no advantages but can have dissadvantages as you will wait until they send it.. you keep control over the situiation if you do it :)
 
I'd have imagined there'd be some sort of Retail "Fit for Purpose" law governing that since they were the seller, they need to do it for you...
 
mr.si said:
I'd have imagined there'd be some sort of Retail "Fit for Purpose" law governing that since they were the seller, they need to do it for you...
Click to expand...

your probably better looking things up than just imaging things then offering it as advice...

PS .. Your wrong :)
 
bledyn125 said:
ok i bought my sigma 150-500 brand new from a shop in cardiff around 7 months ago its a great lens but i can only use it at f/8. as at f/5 at 150mm and wide open at f/6.3 its softer than a soft thing.even if i use it at say 150mm/200mm/400mm it still needs stopping down to f/8.

i tried phoning the shop tonight but they where closed i was going to ask if i dropped the lens off at the shop would they send it back to sigma to get it looked at for me.

so my question is before i go to the shop next week. are they likley to tell me to send it back myself and foot the cost or do camera shops actually do this type of thing.

i only ask as i dont want to get fobbed of without knowing my rights.

cheers

bleddyn
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I did borrow the lens from a friend and used it for 3 weeks, The Lens is naturally soft below f/8, If you search online you see everyone agrees that it is only usable at f/8 so I don't think there is a issue with the lens its just really bad wide open :)
 
Joeturner11 said:
The Lens is naturally soft below f/8, If you search online you see everyone agrees that it is only usable at f/8 so I don't think there is a issue with the lens its just really bad wide open :)
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Possibly the most presumptuous and rediculous statement of the night right there.

"Everyone agrees its unusable at less than f/8"... interesting as theres plenty out of my camera at f6.3 500mm and upto iso 1600 -3200 that are more than sharp enough and Modchild ( i think) has loads of great sharp jet images so saying "its just really bad wide open" is kind of a silly statement to make there. :cuckoo:

Although apparently there are some dodgy copies out there, how old is the lens?
 
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i bought the lens brand new 7 months ago so its 7 months old


i will get some pics with it tommorow as i have deleted all my shots that are not at f/8


bleddyn
 
Best idea for it mate. :)

If you arent happy I would just send it to sigma, they do a 3 year warranty anyway so it won't cost you a penny
 
what was the shutter speed also :)

I like red squirrel! :) Don't see them around here
 
just looked 1/400, see thing also is in theory with that lens we should be aiming for at least 1/500 + for the 500mm to rid of the shake, so that at 500mm at 6400 is not bad at all
 
i was told the 150-500 the sweet spot is around f8-f11 the same as the 50-500 there is a good few out there that got a re call for focus issues is you lens serial number in this range


APO 150-500mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM: Serial numbers between 10674301 and 10972000
 
Got to be honest 90% of my shots with it are wide open and i've never had any complaints.

It potentially is slightly sharper at f/8 but then there is a major difference between soft and useless.

I would recommend sending to Sigma even if its not within the serial numbers listed if its not pleasing you.

But post us a image or two first, one at 6.3 and then one at 8 on the same focal length and subject so we can see the difference
 
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I've taken quite a few shots with my 150-500 OS wide open and it works pretty well for me. This is from the 5D3, 1/800sec, ISO1000 @ 500mm and it doesn't look to soft to me.

7132819465_b1cfa8db91_b.jpg
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This is from the 60D and 150-500 as well. Can't remember the exact shot settings but I know it was wide open at whatever length I was at (usually 500mm).

7548689988_9ddfde2e45_b.jpg
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And then there's a metal bird also at 500mm and f6.3, 1/1000sec and ISO640 with +1EV

7516180162_33965317a8_b.jpg
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Clearly utterly unusable and soft as a soft thing. haha :)

Great shots there Stuart
 
pooley said:
I've got to be honest Rob, for a shot at 6400 I really don't think thats a bad result. You won't get perfect sharpness at such a high ISO, and viewing your shot at very large on flickr its about as good as you'll get with that lens
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I recon it's not bad too, just an example for the doubters, it was dark in the woods and I had to use those settings to get anything at all.
 
thanks for all the replys i think this might have something to do with the shutter speeds i have just found a few images when i first got the lens and they are not to bad at f6.3 at 400 and 500mm

1/800 f6.3 iso500 500mm


032 by bledd125, on Flickr

1/500 f/6.3 iso320 403mm


017 (2) by bledd125, on Flickr

hopefully i can try it out again tommorow


bleddyn
 
Not the best example but this was taken at 500mm, ISO320, f/6.3, handheld @ 1/320

1277379_598390650221062_568048214_o.jpg
 
bledyn125 said:
thanks for all the replys i think this might have something to do with the shutter speeds i have just found a few images when i first got the lens and they are not to bad at f6.3 at 400 and 500mm

1/800 f6.3 iso500 500mm


032 by bledd125, on Flickr

1/500 f/6.3 iso320 403mm


017 (2) by bledd125, on Flickr

hopefully i can try it out again tommorow


bleddyn
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Nowt wrong with the Starling, I'd be pleased with that, I think the background lets the Siskin down, if it was darker the bird would show better.
 
I would agree with most of the comments above. I have managed to get some results I am quite pleased with from my Sigma 150-500.

If you go to the Sigma web-site's page about this lens and click the "TECH SPECS" tab, you can see the MTF charts for this lens.

There is an explanation of the colour coding scheme they use here. (Red is for 10 lp/mm and green for 30 lp/mm; solid lines are sagittal and dotted lines meridional). There is a good article on reading MTF charts on Luminous Landscape - although this relates to the (different) colour scheme used by Canon.

The chart for the lens at 500mm shows pretty clearly that its performance is not great at this setting. You really want the 30 lp/mm line to be above 0.8 for good results. This is pretty much in line with my experience. I get pretty acceptable results at the lower end and up to around 300mm, especially with the lens stopped down a bit, but it is noticeably soft at 500mm.
 
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