Beginner sigma 150-600 contemporary or Nikon 200-500 but different :)

Ganton Gunner

Ganton Gunner

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peter
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i know the title has been done but i am not asking it as it seems
ok i am still fairly new to Photography (2 months)
what i want is more reach than what i have (tamron 70-300 di ld) and better IQ
mainly it is for bird pictures, BIF and wildlife etc.
now i did have a go with a Nikon 200-500 the other week and boy could i see the difference in IQ between that and my Tamron 70-300 it was like chalk and cheese so to speak.
i have not had a go with a sigma but have seen quite a few good reviews.
i have the funds at the moment to buy a sigma but not a nikon
As a hobbyist (i use that carefully as i know most are) will i get good enough IQ etc. with the sigma or will i be wishing i had waited and saved for the Nikon ?
^ the sentence above i guess is what i was getting to but wanted to try and be clear about my usage and expectations etc.

p.s. the camera body i have is a D7000
 
Colleague at work was saving for the Nikon 200-500 and kept seeing the price go up. I bought the Siggy and teleconverter in the Black Friday sale last year, took my Canon 80D and Siggy into work lent it to my colleague for the weekend who promptly went and bought a Nikon version. His was tack sharp out of the box one very happy chappy.

Like others have said do your research lots of photos on the forum here

https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/sigma-150-600mm-contemporary.583964/
 
well i could not have fallen any luckier
me and the mrs went to robin hoods bay today for a trip out
i set up the camera on the tripod to have my 1st go at a long exposure
then while i was taking the picture another photographer walked along and said dont worry i wont walk in-front
i was on a isolated raised up bit anyway we ended up chatting and guess what lens he had in his bag :)
so i have now 1st hand had a go with the nikon and the sigma and the honest answer is i would be happy with either but the sigma's price wins it by a mile
a picture was taken with the sigma on his camera of a boat about 3 miles out and hand held at 600mm zoomed in you could see people on the deck so i will be getting next weekend as long as the car is not too bad for the MOT
 
That's not really what the lens is for ,it's the number one mistake most peeps have when moving up to a super zoom ..if you maintain the shooting distance you have with the 300mm and fill the frame you will be stunned ..
 
the black fox said:
That's not really what the lens is for ,it's the number one mistake most peeps have when moving up to a super zoom ..if you maintain the shooting distance you have with the 300mm and fill the frame you will be stunned ..
Click to expand...
Not sure what you mean? Are you saying he shouldn't zoom in?
 
Hes saying that say you are shooting a bird at 50m with the 300mm, you shouldnt then move further away because you are using a 600mm.
Stand in the same place and fill the frame. Most common mistakes with large zoom lenses is that people stand further from their subject than they previously would have, negating some of the point of buying it in the first place!

However, it appears the op was only talking about zooming in on the boat to see how good the lens was, rather than any real comparison.
 
it was just seeing the capabilities of the scope more for IQ not range
strangely enough i have no intentions of taking the camera and lens out to photograph things 3 miles away :D
 
yep sorry i was in posting that as dinner was served .what i was implying is that i see a lot of people that move up from a 300 to 400mm range lens to a 600mm superzoom and then take photos that are twice as far away as they used to shoot .most of these big lenses have very close focus ability enabling far more detailed shots than before ,due to the fact you don't have to crop in so much if at all .heres one of mine taken yesterday with the sigma 150-600 sport as a example .this is the i.q you should be aiming for.
also take note that with the sigma its worth getting the usb hub for fine tuning and upgrading the lens ,and you will possibly need to ensure that the micro adjust is set accurately
the horn of plenty by jeff and jan cohen, on Flickr
 
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Sorry, can you explain the last remark about USB hub and micro adjust. I don't know what that means. Thanks.
 
might be easier if you look at the videos on you tube. will probably be easier to understand
 
It does a lot more than just micro adjust the AF though. You can alter and change focus speeds, OS mechanism and set up the custom switches on the barrel to your liking. And update the firmware on the lens yourself.
 
the dock is a good idea, however to get the best from it you really need Focal Pro to tune the lens efficiently, the older way is to use Dot Tune method.

Example is all DSLRs at some point with some lens will front or Back focus, example was only yesterday my friend came down with his D800E and the following

85mm F1.8 D lens
50mm F1.8 D Lens
24-70 FX V1

We used focal pro to fine tune them all, the 2 d Lens were indeed out by around -8 to -9 which is quite a lump, the newer 24-70 was only by -1 to -2 which in essence is fine and rarely needs that applying.
The Sigma dock system takes the sigma to the next level, you have 16 sliders across 4 focal ranges, your direction is to test the lens at each length and get the results, then use the in Lens sliders to dial the lens in so that focal pro returns a - to + 1 ish takes ages to do but when its done the lens is sharp as a button.

I did hear yesterday that if you send Sigma your camera and lens this offer that service if you ask for it, maybe worth a punt.

I must admit on my D500 I have the auto fine tune which kinda helps with this but its very inconsistent so I always do a new lens with focal first
Another quick test that I think works is use Live View as this makes the lens focus right onto the sensor so take 1 with that then 1 without and see if you can tell the difference, youll never have to do this on Mirroless as its indeed straight onto the sensor, but then again youll spend more time wet cleaning your sensor from dust than on a DSLR :)

Good Luck

Link to focal pro
http://www.reikan.co.uk/focalweb/index.php/versions/focal-pro/
 
Or if the lens is fine leave it well alone :)

All this AF micro / fine tune is great, and the dock takes this a step further but if it's fine don't muck around with it! I know a few people who obsess with AF fine tune and end up frustrating themselves for weeks on end when It was fine to start with.

I even know someone who's knocked a zoom out at the far end at the expense of micro adjusting the wide end as he "doesn't use the long end much". [emoji15]. There was nothing wrong with it.
 
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