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

Hi Jeff,
Nice photos of the Vulcan, with good lighting. Have you made any adjustments to the focusing on your lens using the Sigma dock, and how many photos are you getting at 600mm which are as sharp as the ones you've posted above?
I'm finding some of my aircraft photos at 600mm are fairly sharp before any PP, but a large number are soft or out of focus, but I haven't decided whether to devote a day to fine tuning the focus or to dismiss it as heat haze (assuming British weather has been warm enough to cause this!)
Cheers, John
 
digital said:
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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thats a hard one to quantify m8 ,for a starter i use a old but much loved canon 1Dmkiii its only 10mp but does the job ,i was one of the first in the u.k to have the sigma sport and have had a fair amount of time to get used to its weight and abilities and its shortcomings . for processing everything is done on a i-mac and p.p. in PS6 .
as each individual photo varies slightly i can't really say theres a set rule i use the first stage of ps6 to get the colours and look right ,then the next stage to layer as needed de-noise the background layer ,then reduce image to internet sizes as required then finally sharpen ,most of my photos are taken hand held as well ,i used the tripod for the prop planes but the jets including the vulcan were taken hand held .as being a bird tog gets you used to tracking better hand held .and btw i'm no spring chicken creeping up on 70 to fast for my liking .
 
vtecsilver said:
Hi Jeff,
Nice photos of the Vulcan, with good lighting. Have you made any adjustments to the focusing on your lens using the Sigma dock, and how many photos are you getting at 600mm which are as sharp as the ones you've posted above?
I'm finding some of my aircraft photos at 600mm are fairly sharp before any PP, but a large number are soft or out of focus, but I haven't decided whether to devote a day to fine tuning the focus or to dismiss it as heat haze (assuming British weather has been warm enough to cause this!)
Cheers, John
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yes i have made adjustments the main two that i think every owner needs to make are to change the focus to main focus point priority ,and to change the o.s to dynamic o.s .you can work out your own distance restrictions for what you use it for .i have found that changing the focus priority slows it down by micro seconds not enough to worry about ,but that could vary from make to make and body to body .
i originally used it with a 70d as well but i could not get the combo to work consistently whether it was just a glitch or or compatibility issue i don't know but i have now sold that and just use the 1D3 and am happy with that
 
another of yesterdays shots taken in t.v mode to slow the prop down and tripod mounted ,not a method i normally use buckie.jpg
 
a few more from saturday no argie bargy .jpgsmokin'.jpgspitting distance .jpg
 
OK - very jealous you were there on Saturday and had blue skies. I went on Sunday and had a lot of murk to deal with. Still loads to process but here are a couple of my better ones. There are some other I posted on the transport thread here. I had a fairly low hit rate on the day as I was trying to hand hold the prop planes at around 1/320 and 600mm. It's a testament to the lens I'm happy with the ones I got.


Hawk at Rhyl Airshow by Matt, on Flickr


BBMF Dakota by Matt, on Flickr


Red Arrows by Matt, on Flickr


Cladius Autogyro by Matt, on Flickr
 
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One of my better ones from Riat July 2015, has been cropped and edited from original RAW file. Getting some strange Exif data from this lens, but should be 600mm, f6.3, 1/1600s, 400iso taken with a 5D2.
A lot of my photos were soft/out of focus?, may post an example later on.

.
20851656968_75d4e4472b_o.jpg
 
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As I said earlier Matt it's the first time I have tried with a lower shutter speed to get motion blur in the props ,and lots of mine have been deleted .but enough acceptable ones to count as worth going ,I do feel that the displays were dumbed down a fair bit after last weeks disaster to ,it does seem sat was the better day to
 
After using the lens at a few BTCC rounds I'm really looking forward to giving it an outing at the Mach Loop. (now just need some free time / good weather ;) )
 
the black fox said:
As I said earlier Matt it's the first time I have tried with a lower shutter speed to get motion blur in the props ,and lots of mine have been deleted .but enough acceptable ones to count as worth going
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[emoji3][emoji3] I know the feeling! I need a lot more practice, I think there's about 10 I'm prepared to show of about 250 prop shots. And the helicopter and autogiro were even worse....

Like your Vulcan shots, wish I'd seen it. To make matters worse a neighbour said it pretty much flew over my house to get there and I somehow never noticed [emoji29]
 
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My shiny new 150-600 Sport has now become acquainted with my shiny new USB dock and I've used Jeff's (thank you) recommended settings:
C1 for close range
AF focus accuracy
focus limiter minimum to 12M
OS set to dynamic view

C2 for long range
AF focus accuracy
focus limiter 12M to infinity
OS set to dynamic view

My only question is whether or not it's possible to set OS to dynamic view when I'm not using C1 or C2. If it is, how do I do it as I can't find anything within the v1.2.0 optimisation software?
 
no you can't once you switch off c1/c2 its back to pre-set ,however those two settings cover virtually everything you need on the lens .apart from micro adjust to individual lengths which i haven't yet found the need for
 
Thanks. That's a little disappointing. I would have hoped that we could choose to make some of the C1/2 settings the default.

You say that dynamic view makes a significant difference so I think I might set C1 to:
AF: focus accuracy
focus limiter: whole range
OS: dynamic view
and leave the lens switched on that.

I'll ignore the 'normal' setting and change to C2 for distant shots.

Does that sound reasonable, or am I missing something?
 
Below is an example of some of the soft images I am getting. This has been cropped to avoid any re-sizing, and has had minimal sharpening and exposure increased in Camera Raw. The lower right corner shows the whole image (re-sized) so you can see how much has been cropped. I would have expected the white letters to be sharp enough to easily read, but don't know why this is so blurred, the distance isn't so great, unless it's heat haze from the ground?
Taken (handheld) on 5Dii, lens at 459mm, 1/1600s, f6.3, iso250, partial metering. Any comments and advice appreciated, thank you.

20961641229_6bc1244033_o.jpg
 
Wild card question,did you have VR on,with my Tamron 150-600 i could use 1/4000th of a second and get no ill effect from the VR but it may not be the case with your lens,did you have more success with sub 1/1000th shutter speeds.
 
V.tec that looks like camera shake to me ,,but there could be other factors at play to ,I,m not familiar with the 5d2 but the thing that springs to mind would be is the focussing system fast enough for a head on action shot like this ,a faster shutter speed might have helped ,which could easily have been achieved with a higher ISO .
Try this if possible set your camera to a.v ,ISO 800 ,f8 I assume the camera has single point and multi point focussing ,I don't know where you live but there must be somewhere nearby that seagulls gather or even a duck pond ,buy a loaf of bread and get the birds to come to you and take a few hundred practice shots .this should throw up any technique problems with hand holding ,also try some single point focussing on birds eyes if possible to eliminate front or back focus issues ,I find live targets better for this than static objects being done in real situations .
The other thing I do use is I have a long arca tripod plate double screwed to my lens foot this helps by giving a larger surface to grip
 
Best to avoid feeding bread to ducks if you can: it's not good for them:

Sfd (Safe for ducks)
  • Cracked corn
  • Wheat, barley or similar grains
  • Oats
  • Rice (cooked or uncooked)
  • Birdseed (any type or mix)
  • Grapes (cut in half)
  • Frozen peas or corn (defrosted, no need to cook)
  • Earthworms
  • Mealworms
  • Chopped lettuce or other greens or salad mixes
  • Chopped vegetable trimmings or peels
  • Duck pellets
Nsfd (Not safe for ducks)

  • Bread
  • Chips
  • Crackers and biscuits
  • Popcorn
  • Sugary food - sweets, chocolate
 
digital said:
Best to avoid feeding bread to ducks if you can: it's not good for them:

Sfd (Safe for ducks)
  • Cracked corn
  • Wheat, barley or similar grains
  • Oats
  • Rice (cooked or uncooked)
  • Birdseed (any type or mix)
  • Grapes (cut in half)
  • Frozen peas or corn (defrosted, no need to cook)
  • Earthworms
  • Mealworms
  • Chopped lettuce or other greens or salad mixes
  • Chopped vegetable trimmings or peels
  • Duck pellets
Nsfd (Not safe for ducks)

  • Bread
  • Chips
  • Crackers and biscuits
  • Popcorn
  • Sugary food - sweets, chocolate
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What about cheap uncoated supermarket cornflakes,our local population love them.
 
Hi Mike, I'm not sure if I had the "Image Stabilisation" on, I try to switch it off when moving to faster shutter speeds or jet planes, and only use it for propellor planes. I haven't had time to check all my photos properly, but have sharper photos at slower shutter speeds..
Jeff - would camera shake still be a factor at 1/1600s at 459mm, I know there were times when I was struggling to hold the lens still, as this was only my second day using this lens. I only use the centre AF point as the others aren't very good on the 5Dii. I also have a Arca style lens foot on it, but usually hold the lens near the lens hood. I will have to review my photos in detail so see if there's a common factor in the blurred ones, but it captured some sharp panning photos at a trackday at 600mm on another day.
 
Not a silly question but if you hold it near the hood can you still brace your elbow against your body,i needed to have my hand on the tripod support to get in a bracing position.
 
vtecsilver said:
Hi Mike, I'm not sure if I had the "Image Stabilisation" on, I try to switch it off when moving to faster shutter speeds or jet planes, and only use it for propellor planes. I haven't had time to check all my photos properly, but have sharper photos at slower shutter speeds..
Jeff - would camera shake still be a factor at 1/1600s at 459mm, I know there were times when I was struggling to hold the lens still, as this was only my second day using this lens. I only use the centre AF point as the others aren't very good on the 5Dii. I also have a Arca style lens foot on it, but usually hold the lens near the lens hood. I will have to review my photos in detail so see if there's a common factor in the blurred ones, but it captured some sharp panning photos at a trackday at 600mm on another day.
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in that case i will definitely put it down to user error .it really does take time to adjust to using this lens ,especially hand held its a beast as you will know by now .i use it as a walk around with a black rapid strap so theres no weight involved ( initially for the first couple of months i used to cuddle it on walkabout ) the strap enables me to see a target and aim ,compose and shoot then put it down again ,.and yes it was probably camera shake even at that speed i find best results and always with i.s dynamic range switched in use c1/c2 are at either the high shutter speeds 3 to 4000th sec for fast action or at the other end of the scale at extremely low shutter speeds i.e 1/60th to 1/200th sec the i.s just seems to do something weird at that end of it .
its not just me either as other users have commented on it on other forums to
 
Jeff, I'd appreciate your thoughts on what I posted at #413.

And, without any punctuation, I'm struggling to understand what you're saying from 'i find best results' onwards in #422. Any chance you could give it another go please?
 
I tend always to use either c1 or c2 in all situations which means i.s is always on dynamic ,even on a tripod ,the lens is made for moving subjects so it needs I.s .
The best results I find are from either end of the shutter speed scale I.e either rather fast or very slow .this has also been mentioned by other users .
Hope this clears it up
 
the black fox said:
I tend always to use either c1 or c2 in all situations which means i.s is always on dynamic ,even on a tripod ,the lens is made for moving subjects so it needs I.s .
The best results I find are from either end of the shutter speed scale I.e either rather fast or very slow .this has also been mentioned by other users .
Hope this clears it up
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Surely IS is going to counteract the effect of a tripod?. Nikon clearly state in their lens manuals when mounted on a tripod switch VR to the off position. Am I missing something ?
 
yep they do but this is not a nikon lens in my findings this lens goes against the grain ,its designed for sports and wildlife its in the title SPORTS ,so even while on a tripod there will be lots of movement either panning for cars/bikes or up down plus panning for birds/animals so in fact the lens is moving ,my advise in that case is to keep i.s on .
if on the other hand your doing static objects ,landscapes etc then turn it off
simples really init but its just my own findings and p.o.v if you wanna turn it off do so its your prerogative
 
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the black fox said:
I tend always to use either c1 or c2 in all situations which means i.s is always on dynamic ,even on a tripod ,the lens is made for moving subjects so it needs I.s .
The best results I find are from either end of the shutter speed scale I.e either rather fast or very slow .this has also been mentioned by other users .
Hope this clears it up
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It does, thanks!

I'm still not sure whether to go down the route I suggested or stick to your (much more experienced) advice. I'm going to be on a ship off Iceland, Greenland and then Svalbard so at any time I might have a bird at >12M and then, immediately, another at <12M so switching between C1 and C2 might not be feasible. Any polar bears and whales are going to be beyond 12M so I'm not going to need to switch there.

Just out of interest, if I take the dock with me will it need to call home to check on firmware updates before it will let me change the lens settings? There'll be no signal where I'm going!
 
Blank_Canvas said:
Surely IS is going to counteract the effect of a tripod?. Nikon clearly state in their lens manuals when mounted on a tripod switch VR to the off position. Am I missing something ?
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I've always understood this advice to apply to circumstances, like portraits and landscapes, when the lens is stationary on the tripod. If the lens is moving then OS/VR should be on.
 
digital said:
It does, thanks!

I'm still not sure whether to go down the route I suggested or stick to your (much more experienced) advice. I'm going to be on a ship off Iceland, Greenland and then Svalbard so at any time I might have a bird at >12M and then, immediately, another at <12M so switching between C1 and C2 might not be feasible. Any polar bears and whales are going to be beyond 12M so I'm not going to need to switch there.

Just out of interest, if I take the dock with me will it need to call home to check on firmware updates before it will let me change the lens settings? There'll be no signal where I'm going!
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in actual use it just becomes second nature the most used one will in fact be 12 mtr to infinity ,i personally would just set one to full range to cover all eventualities . then the other as stated 12m+ for slightly faster focussing ,also not sure about using the dock with no internet connection as i think it needs to be online to update.
changing the switch just becomes second nature in practise so stop worrying and use it and enjoy it
 
Hi, new here but following thread with interest. I've had one of these for a good few months now & have got some great results(flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/photos/92460969@N05/ basically all the wildlife shot with this lens.)
But there are a few niggles which I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with & maybe explain if it's user error or something else. My usual setup is a 70d, generally centre focus point only, custom settings on lens as per Jeff's in previous post. I also use it on a 5dmk3, same settings. What I'm having trouble with is that with anything past around the 4-500 metre mark the autofocus comes up short but locks on again after I manually focus closer. For instance I was trying the moon, autofocus came up blurry but once adjusted manually the picture was sharp. Same today with a heron over the other side of a lake, approx 600 metres away. Wouldn't autofocus but was sharp once adjusted closer & then autofocus kicked in. I'm not sure if it's me expecting too much or if I have to go in & mess with the MA to push the long end further out.
Also has anyone else had issues with the 1.4 sigma teleconvertor? I can't get autofocus on the 150-600 even at lowest aperture & centre spot but it seems to work fine on the canon 70-200mm.
 
right i'll start with the t.c a lot of users have been reporting back that there having problems with the sigma t.c ,i used a canon mkii 1.4 and it was perfect even on b.i.f .i have now sold that on due to a general equipment downsizing .but the canon does work better .

next and in your case most importantly you say your main camera is the 70d ,i also had one of these and after a few months of frustration with the lens and 70d i sold the camera and now stick with my older 1D3 ,i found that with the 70d you could set up the m/a and get perfect shots for a few frames then it just went totally doo-lally and nothing was in focus for the rest of the day ,i played the m/a like a piano tuner and just could not get consistent focussing just like your alluding to as i said in the end i just got totally fed up with it .although with other lenses there was no problem .so all i can think is that with certain 70d bodies there is a compatibility issue ??? .

using the lens on the 1D3 has never produced a problem that i can't put down to something i have done myself . my son has just bought a 7D2 and once his love affair with it cools down i'm hoping to test it with the lens and maybe get one
 
Just plugged mine into the dock to have a fiddle....

New firmware available, changelog mentions fixes for AF with the Sigma 1.4x TC
 
you beat me to it just done and noticed the same
 
Hi, new to wildlife photography, TP & this thread. I've had the Sport version of the lens for a few months now & in general love it. I use it with a Nikon D7100 but I'm about to pull the trigger on a D750 for the full frame sensor. I seem to get sharper images when using the lens handheld rather than a tripod/gimbal combo. The only frustration is the maximum f6.3 at 600mm, that said to get f4 would cost thousands more!

image.jpg
 
Thanks for the reply black fox. I've updated the firmware on the lens & the tc still won't play with the 70d, except when in live view mode but can't really use that easily for wildlife. Wonder if it's due to the dual pixel sensor maybe? I'll keep persevering with the 70d (although it has fanned the fires of 7d2 lust) in case a firmware update solves the issue & trial it with the 5d3 & 1.4 convertor but I'm not really keen on losing the wider aperture.
cheers.
 
gary996 said:
Do you turn off stabilisation when tripod mounted?
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To date Yes Gary, however I'm going to experiment leaving it on. I have done some fine tuning using Reikan FoCal pro but haven't got to the 600mm at infinity setting as yet.
This Osprey was a long way off and shot handheld but seems sharper than my previous Barn Owl posting which was much closer and shot from a tripod.

image.jpg
 
I've stupidly hired this lens for the weekend. It's not the cheapest thing to hire but it could get even more expensive if I fall in love with it.

Any hints on how to use it? I'm hoping to get to a lower league football game and as I'm reasonably local to Martin mere will try there to try some birds. I've only ever been to Martin Mere once even though I've had a subscription for the last 5 yrs or so (charity donation) so any hints on how to get the best out of this place would be most welcome.
 
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