SIGMA 150-600 C poor??

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jason
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I've used this lens on a couple of occasions now, mounted to my NIKON D7200.
I'm a bit underwhelmed by its performance to be honest. I bought it predominantly for aviation photography.
It seems like unless its a super bright day with loads of light, the lens is overall poor!.
On 2 dull days, the quality really suffers. If I ramp up the ISO, then I'm suffering noisy shots, with poor contrast.
Maybe I look too much in awe at other posters shots who probably have FX cameras and super fast lenses.
Surely the Nikon and sigma should work well together?
Or am I just using it incorrectly?
I do have the SIGMA dock so not sure if this will improve things?
What are other users experience of this lens?
 
I have this lens, I have also used it with a D7200. It’s all about compromise. I’ve had some great results with it, but I’ve also had some poor ones which have frustrated me. You will always struggle on a dull day, that lens is a big lump to handle.
 
Nikon and Sigma will work well together but it sounds like it's just that your D7200 (or processing) is not dealing with noise very well.
The dock isn't going to give you more light, so if it's just noise you are concerned about you basically need to shoot in better light, get a lens with a wider aperture or hone your processing.
If you are suffering consistently 'soft' shots then have you tried a micro-adjust of the lens?
Otherise it could need professional calibration.
 
We would need more details and some sample images, do you shoot raw, do you PP, what were the light conditions, so many things can stop a lens working for one person when it works for another,
 
I agree that it would help if you could post some samples. There can also be issues with AF fine tuning or with a bad copy of the lens. Did you try some control shots taken with live view?
 
I have one which I've used on Canon 7D and 5D4. Two important things: 1. Update the firmware, the latest offering makes a huge difference to me; 2. bright light only, it sings for me in sunlight but not in dull conditions. Also 600 at f6.3 is an emergency setting, on my 7D in any light forget it but the 7D and 4-500 f8 works well, a bit more latitude on the 5D but not much tbh. Further, work in feet not yards, longer distances and big crops are not what this lens is about.
 
I have the sigma 150-600C on a Nikon D 7200 and find it a superb combo . You do need decent light to get the best from it , but for God’s sake it’s a f6.3 minimum lens ... a Nikon 600mm f4 would cost slightly more though ... horses for courses . But saying that I still get decent dull day shots will post some pics later .. I have also looked at going FF but can’t see that much difference ....
no1
the worm turns by jeff and jan cohen, on Flickr

no 2 iso1250
the long wings by jeff and jan cohen, on Flickr

no3 iso 1600

look round by jeff and jan cohen, on Flickr

and finally iso 2200 , massive crop as well late evening shot , all shots hand held btw

way out post by jeff and jan cohen, on Flickr
 
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The light has to travel along way through the lens and pass through a number of elements. So dull days mean soft light so the light strength passing through the lens will be by its nature weak, hence the poor results. I use to own a 500mm mirror lens and that had the same problem.

Plus some cameras need to be calibrated to the sigma 150-600 C lens.
There various YouTube videos on this you can watch.
 
one thing I have noticed having had the sport version before is the C lens tends to attract a lot of dust , perhaps due to the vents at the rear of the hood so periodic cleaning is needed
 
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