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

in all honesty ray and i think most other owners will back me up on this ,the weight doesn't bother you after a few weeks ,i use a black rapid sport to go walkabout with mine and it changes the whole ball game as the only time you actually feel the weight is when taking the photos ,and trust me its not a problem ,i,m a few months short of 70 and it all photos of mine in this thread are taken hand held ,usually with a 1Dmkiii which is no lightweight either .judge for yourself
 
Any idea what the Black Rapid weight limit is ? their website is useless & I'm not sure about hanging 7D + Grip + Sigma from it
 
no idea at all brian but the 1dmk3 is far heavier than than your 7d plus grip ,and it supports mine with no problems ,i have the black rapid sport and the only alteration i have made is to replace the screw mount with a black rapid D ring
 
Most of the time I either carry it on a neck strap with one hand supporting the lens or have it over my shoulder on a monopod (like a pick axe :) )

I'll have a ponder :thinking:
 
and thats what makes it feel heavy ,went through all that when i initially got the lens ,trust me the easy way is with the BR strap ,it also comes to hand more naturally to .
 
May have been mentioned before, but a warning for owners of this Sports lens - check the small screw in the end of the Lens Hood thumbscrew is securely attached. I read a review where the owner said it had worked loose and fallen out, and this happened to my lens this weekend. Luckily it fell inside my camera bag, but it it falls on the ground outside, you'll be very lucky to find it as it is really small. Without it you won't be able to securly attach the lens hood to the lens. I've attached a photo of the screw in question shown in place and removed from the thumbscrew (small screw should be cross head at the top, but didn't notice it had rolled out of position!). Sorry photos aren't great, taken with mobile phone, but hopfully shows ok. I'm now going to apply some thread lock and hope it stays there permanently.

View attachment 42244
 
in all honesty ray and i think most other owners will back me up on this ,the weight doesn't bother you after a few weeks ,i use a black rapid sport to go walkabout with mine and it changes the whole ball game as the only time you actually feel the weight is when taking the photos ,and trust me its not a problem ,i,m a few months short of 70 and it all photos of mine in this thread are taken hand held ,usually with a 1Dmkiii which is no lightweight either .judge for yourself

Went to the local(ish) camera store to compare both.

The Sport is not as heavy and unwieldy as some say. It is a beautifully manufactured lens and one that you would place firmly in the pro bracket.

It seems to handle better in hand (weight wise) than a 300mm f2.8 (Nikon) with a very similar weight. The Contemporary felt more like a 70-200mm. It looks fine but the Sport does ooze quality. On looks and materials they have done an excellent job given the price.
 
Well, one Black rapid Sports purchased. Hopefully I'll get a chance to test it this weekend :)
 
no idea at all brian but the 1dmk3 is far heavier than than your 7d plus grip ,and it supports mine with no problems ,i have the black rapid sport and the only alteration i have made is to replace the screw mount with a black rapid D ring

Hi Jeff. I think this is the answer to all issues. Do you mean you just use the standard BR Connector on the lens foot like the one attached? View attachment 42299
 
yep ray ,thats the one i use rather than the oblong type they supply ,i also have another one fitted into the tripod screw of my camera with a short safety lead fitted ,i use a pair of op-tech snap links with short leads for that .just an insurance in case lens and camera ever part company .it all sounds complicated but in fact you never knows its there .
i also have fitted a long 120mm arca type tripod mount fitted to the tripod foot to give a bit more length when hand holding or if using a tripod ,this is bolted on to the lens mount TWO forward screws ,and then the D ring goes into the last available hole
 
May have been mentioned before, but a warning for owners of this Sports lens - check the small screw in the end of the Lens Hood thumbscrew is securely attached. I read a review where the owner said it had worked loose and fallen out, and this happened to my lens this weekend. Luckily it fell inside my camera bag, but it it falls on the ground outside, you'll be very lucky to find it as it is really small. Without it you won't be able to securly attach the lens hood to the lens. I've attached a photo of the screw in question shown in place and removed from the thumbscrew (small screw should be cross head at the top, but didn't notice it had rolled out of position!). Sorry photos aren't great, taken with mobile phone, but hopfully shows ok. I'm now going to apply some thread lock and hope it stays there permanently.

View attachment 42244
just checked mine ,it won't screw out to check ,i think they altered the design after the first few complaints ,which resulted in the short supply issues
 
Well after a week of owning and playing with mine, I have to say I am mighty impressed. I spend a few evenings fine tuning the focusing, and whilst not quite there, it is fair to say that the fine tuning has transformed the lens. Sunday took me up to Yorkshire Wildlife Park to play with the lens on the big cats.






DSC_1908_zpsexoghumy.jpg
 
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first time out for a week or so for me busy on other projects ,took a trip down the local duck pond for a hour or so this morning to keep my hand in . what amazes me is how this huge lens handles stuff like this hand held at 1/320th of a sec .kinda makes my tripod redundant .
eye-eye ducky by jeff cohen, on Flickr
 
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Not to impressed with the Black Rapid strap, the length adjustment isn't very tight and I have to re-adjust it every 1/2 mile or so :(
 
Not to impressed with the Black Rapid strap, the length adjustment isn't very tight and I have to re-adjust it every 1/2 mile or so :(
Has yours got the strap for under the arm? That helps a fair bit.
 
USB dock arrived today. Purchased on the back of Jeff's recommendation of its merits. I think it is certainly a very nifty idea.
 
luckily i,m 6'1 and can have mine dangling at full length ,,hope the wife don't spot this :exit::exit:
 
I'm the same height, if I use it full length it hits me mid thigh o_O
you must have a short body and long legs ,mind you my belly takes up a lot of the slack on mine :beer:

when i was taking the sparrow shot above ,i had to laugh as a dipstick and his wife came up to me (scaring all the birds off in the process) and proceeded to tell me i was doing it all wrong and i should be doing this that and the other ,takes all sorts i suppose apparently his bridge camera was far better than my rig and took quite a few shots one after the other .:bat::bat::bat:
 
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Hi, I've just bought one of these bad boys, want to get it calibrated before I started using but can see to find any instructions on how to, anyone got a link ?

Also was wondered what the best settings would be for wild life and motor sport as I have the doc and thought it might be useful to setup up a couple of the custom switches,
 
More lovely captures going to be interested to see how this compares to the Nikon. 200-500 when it comes out (yes I know this has another 100mm)
 
Has anyone compared the 150-600 with a Sigma 50-500? I'm tempted for the extra reach, though losing the short end would be disappointing.
 
Hi, I've just bought one of these bad boys, want to get it calibrated before I started using but can see to find any instructions on how to, anyone got a link ?

Also was wondered what the best settings would be for wild life and motor sport as I have the doc and thought it might be useful to setup up a couple of the custom switches,
sorry i have been having a bit of time out from photography so missed this .
the best settings that i use is set the o.s to dynamic and set the focus to main focus point priority .the rest takes care of itself .this makes the lens hand holdable .if you set the focus to fast it really doesn't help for wildlife
 
A couple of (hopefully) simple questions based on my intention to use a CPL filter. Does the lens have a drop in rear filter and does it have a lens cap?
 
I'll have just seven days between receiving my lens and leaving for almost three weeks in Iceland and Greenland on a landscape and wildlife trip so, to save time, I'd appreciate some advice on settings to start out with on the lens and on my 5D3. I've read the entire thread and have noted Jeff's advice (thanks!) using the USB dock so what else would be relevant to my kit?
 
A couple of (hopefully) simple questions based on my intention to use a CPL filter. Does the lens have a drop in rear filter and does it have a lens cap?
The lens takes 105mm filters which screw onto the front of the lens, so a decent circular polariser will not be cheap. I purchased a Sigma UV filter for mine, and that was £150 (UK retailer).
It does not come with a normal lens cap, but a fabric cover. This fit over the lens hood which has to be reverse fitted on to the lens first, as the velcro on the cover fits around the lens hood release screw
This review has a photo of the lens with the lens cover on: http://www.kruger-2-kalahari.com/sigma-150-600mm-lens-review.html
If you have ordered the USB dock as well I recommend seting up the two custom function options, though what you choose would depend on the type of photography you will be doing.
 
Thanks. The lack of a clip-on lens cap means that I'll have no issues with a slim filter.
 
personally i keep my lens hood attached at all times ,i have also dispensed with the unwieldy lens hood cover and bought a camouflage elasticated slip on one off of e/bay that folds away to nothing when not in use .anyway heres a couple of shots from yesterdays rhyl air show ,not up to normal standards as i shot in t.v mode for the the props something i,m not used to doing sink the bismark .jpgdouglas dakota d-day camo .jpg
 
as requested ,its last ever appearance in wales ,brought a few thousand people to there feet thats a certainty .so sad to see it go belly of the beast .jpgbombs gone .jpg
 
The Vulcan: thank you!

Excellent images! How much, if any, pp?

nothing at all really ,just cropped ,normal RAW adjustments then sharpened to my normal workflow amount in photoshop .about 3 minutes work in total on each photo ,saying that i had around 1200 images from the day to choose from ,with over 600 already deleted
 
I'd be interested to know what 'normal RAW adjustments' and 'normal' sharpening amounts to. That's NOT by way of criticism but a request for information. I have images of the Vulcan but they're not quite so crisp as yours so I'd appreciate a leg up on the how-to-improve-them ladder, especially before I get going with the 150-600 S!
 
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