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

Weight is a major factor but I have to say though that the lack of contrast did trouble me and even when the subject is caught just right the pictures aren't what I would call acceptably sharp. It may even be that I have a bad copy, the way Amazon packaged the thing I'm surprised it arrived in one piece to begin with ... I can just imagine the knocks it must have taken getting to me.

All I could compare it to is the 50-500mm OS I have for my Pentax K-5IIs and that lens is sharper right off the bat.
 
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weird mike it does sound like you have a bad one .i can't really fault mine ,contrast levels seem o.k (although p.s 6 does seem to alter the file if that makes sense ) it is definitely a long learning curve though ,with a 1.6 crop factor camera as well you also have to take into account your shooting at nearly 1000mm focal length and atmospherics also have to be accounted for
 
Well if I try the contemporary version and it's better then it will be a fairly safe bet that the sport version Amazon sent had taken a few knocks in transit ... as said, the packaging was shocking. It was basically the lens (boxed) in another very thin Amazon box with 2 bits of brown paper.

These 2 were taken with the 50-500mm OS on my Pentax kit, if I had got this sort of IQ I would have kept the lens in a heartbeat.



 
heres one i took today with the lens on my 70d slowly getting there with the lens its a different beast to any i have owned before thats for sure
.View attachment 33490
 
Has anybody considered the sport version? Apart from the price difference any reasons for not going with that option?
 
Has anybody considered the sport version? Apart from the price difference any reasons for not going with that option?
The sports version is the only one available at the moment !!
 
For anyone interested, the contemporary has just been released - first ones filtering into stores today. SRS Microsystems in Watford is where I got mine, and I think they've got another few Canon mount ones too if you give them a ring. Can't wait for work to be done so I can go play!
 
For anyone interested, the contemporary has just been released - first ones filtering into stores today. SRS Microsystems in Watford is where I got mine, and I think they've got another few Canon mount ones too if you give them a ring. Can't wait for work to be done so I can go play!

I will be interested in hearing how it is... (Fellow Watford person)
 
I have a question for anyone with the Sports version.

When you have the lens attached to your camera, do you have ANY movement on the lens mount? When I have my Nikon D750 on the lens I find my camera can still rotate a little bit - making a sort of rubbing sound at the same time. The movement is only small but all of my current (and past) lenses have been rock solid when I've attached them to bodies. So, do your bodies still move when attached to the lens? (Rotational movement)

I've contacted Sigma and they suggest I send it in to be checked. That will cost me postage both ways. If there is something wrong with the lens I may be better off asking the retailer (Amazon) for a replacement instead of having a 5 week old lens repaired. That's assuming this movement isn't normal though ...

Grrr
 
Just accidently bought one from Digitaldepot, I need something to point it at now :wideyed:
 
I have a question for anyone with the Sports version.

When you have the lens attached to your camera, do you have ANY movement on the lens mount? When I have my Nikon D750 on the lens I find my camera can still rotate a little bit - making a sort of rubbing sound at the same time. The movement is only small but all of my current (and past) lenses have been rock solid when I've attached them to bodies. So, do your bodies still move when attached to the lens? (Rotational movement)

I've contacted Sigma and they suggest I send it in to be checked. That will cost me postage both ways. If there is something wrong with the lens I may be better off asking the retailer (Amazon) for a replacement instead of having a 5 week old lens repaired. That's assuming this movement isn't normal though ...

Grrr

I have that with every long lens including my 300mm f/2.8L with and without t/c.
 
I will be interested in hearing how it is... (Fellow Watford person)

The good - build is marvellous, feels fab to hold and functions (focal limiter, custom functions, manual focus override, strap that attaches to tripod foot) are well thought out, well placed and all useful. Autofocus is absolutely silent and really fast on my 100D

The odd - very strange bokeh when there are parallel lines (ie brickwork)

The ugly - complete failure of autofocus on my 70d unless focus is already nearly there. If you try to go from something 10m away to something on the horizon there's nothing, the motor doesn't move at all and doesn't even make an attempt at refocusing.

It's already been taken back, but some sample pictures before i returned it are here. Sorry for low quality, just dashed off some handheld shots in prety poor light. https://www.flickr.com/photos/gengen/sets/72157651162054097/
 
The good - build is marvellous, feels fab to hold and functions (focal limiter, custom functions, manual focus override, strap that attaches to tripod foot) are well thought out, well placed and all useful. Autofocus is absolutely silent and really fast on my 100D

The odd - very strange bokeh when there are parallel lines (ie brickwork)

The ugly - complete failure of autofocus on my 70d unless focus is already nearly there. If you try to go from something 10m away to something on the horizon there's nothing, the motor doesn't move at all and doesn't even make an attempt at refocusing.

It's already been taken back, but some sample pictures before i returned it are here. Sorry for low quality, just dashed off some handheld shots in prety poor light. https://www.flickr.com/photos/gengen/sets/72157651162054097/


Sounds similar to the Tamron problem only it occurs in a different way,its not the change in focus distance with mine it just refuses to try to focus some times.
 
The ugly - complete failure of autofocus on my 70d unless focus is already nearly there. If you try to go from something 10m away to something on the horizon there's nothing, the motor doesn't move at all and doesn't even make an attempt at refocusing.

I had 2 copies of the 50-500mm OS do exactly the same thing. If you do a search on google it seems to happen a fair few times.
 
The good - build is marvellous, feels fab to hold and functions (focal limiter, custom functions, manual focus override, strap that attaches to tripod foot) are well thought out, well placed and all useful. Autofocus is absolutely silent and really fast on my 100D

The odd - very strange bokeh when there are parallel lines (ie brickwork)

The ugly - complete failure of autofocus on my 70d unless focus is already nearly there. If you try to go from something 10m away to something on the horizon there's nothing, the motor doesn't move at all and doesn't even make an attempt at refocusing.

It's already been taken back, but some sample pictures before i returned it are here. Sorry for low quality, just dashed off some handheld shots in prety poor light. https://www.flickr.com/photos/gengen/sets/72157651162054097/

I tried a demo one on my 70d at the show last Sunday ,with no problems at all .and you state it's fine on the 100d ,it does sound more likely to be a problem with the 70d to me .
I also noticed on your sample pics that you haven't stopped down at all every shot at f6.3 hence the peculiar bokah on the brickwork .
And also you appear to be using very low ISO values for all shots even though you yourself state it was poor light .please don't take this the wrong way but I really can come to two conclusions it's either a fault with the camera or user error or a combo of both .i have stated many times that you really have to think what your doing with these lenses
 
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I tried a demo one on my 70d at the show last Sunday ,with no problems at all .and you state it's fine on the 100d ,it does sound more likely to be a problem with the 70d to me .
I also noticed on your sample pics that you haven't stopped down at all every shot at f6.3 hence the peculiar bokah on the brickwork .
And also you appear to be using very low ISO values for all shots even though you yourself state it was poor light .please don't take this the wrong way but I really can come to two conclusions it's either a fault with the camera or user error or a combo of both .i have stated many times that you really have to think what your doing with these lenses

I think you're looking at diff shots then - only the first few are at 6.3 (I was trying to get anything to work and it just so happens the ones i've posted are wide open), everything else is stopped down. I'm also went for a range of ISOs - the brickwork one is at 1000 and the last few are at 1600, there's only a couple at anything low. As I said - I was playing fast and loose before the rain came down in sheets, and I know you have to think (I had the Tamron for a year before a really unfortunate accident), but I'm also pretty confident that ISO and aperture should have absolutely no bearing at all on whether the lens attempts to focus, fair enough they'll impact the end results, but AF functioning should be independent.

I tried with another 70d in the store and another copy of the lens so it remains to be seen where the fault lies, as more filter out will be very interested to see if this is a unique issue or not.
 
Sounds similar to the Tamron problem only it occurs in a different way,its not the change in focus distance with mine it just refuses to try to focus some times.

Even the best, most expensive long lenses can struggle to focus at times. When changing from near to far, the image can be so far out of focus the lens doesn't know what to do. The same thing can happen if the AF point doesn't have a nice bit of contrasty detail on the subject to latch on to.

The Sigma has a three-position focus limiter to help with this, ie to prevent it getting too far out of focus by mistake if you accidentally let the AF point stray on to the background for example. If it's a persistent problem, it's quite easy to adopt a handholding position so you can tweak the manual focusing ring to just nudge it in the right direction and then the AF will take over. Or another trick is to focus on something else that's not so far out of range first, then that will pull your main subject a bit sharper and the AF will then pick it up.
 
Even the best, most expensive long lenses can struggle to focus at times. When changing from near to far, the image can be so far out of focus the lens doesn't know what to do. The same thing can happen if the AF point doesn't have a nice bit of contrasty detail on the subject to latch on to.

The Sigma has a three-position focus limiter to help with this, ie to prevent it getting too far out of focus by mistake if you accidentally let the AF point stray on to the background for example. If it's a persistent problem, it's quite easy to adopt a handholding position so you can tweak the manual focusing ring to just nudge it in the right direction and then the AF will take over. Or another trick is to focus on something else that's not so far out of range first, then that will pull your main subject a bit sharper and the AF will then pick it up.

With the Tamron it would appear to be a fault somewhere that Tamron can not sort,i have never owned any lens that would not try to focus,if it was focus hunting even for a split second i would allow for other causes,with the lens cap on in total darkness it will focus hunt so lack of subject in the focus point, lack of light, lack of contrast, can not be the cause of it freezing,i have tried the MF nudge but it has no effect,only switching off and on will sort it quickly.
We have forum members with this problem using as i am D7100 also D4,D610,D600 and D750,its already been back once with out a fix ime now waiting for my dealer to have something nice in secondhand to lend me while it goes back again.
 
Guys, can we please concentrate on Sigma 150-600mm S version in this thread. If you want to discuss Contemporary version please make another thread. Thanks :)

You'll need the thread title changed, maybe as you started the thread you'll be able to do that ?
As I type this the thread title is "Sigma 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM owners thread". That encompasses the Sports and Contemporary versions. :p
 
You'll need the thread title changed, maybe as you started the thread you'll be able to do that ?
As I type this the thread title is "Sigma 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM owners thread". That encompasses the Sports and Contemporary versions. :p

Very good point :) I've done that. I think if we'll start talking about both versions in one thread it will be too confusing. In the end they are two different lenses.
 
I have done quite a lot of looking around on Flickr and other web sites hoping I could find a way to keep the 150-600mm sport (I still have mine sitting here boxed up) and the more pictures I see taken with the sport version the more certain I am that it's best with a full frame body.
 
I have done quite a lot of looking around on Flickr and other web sites hoping I could find a way to keep the 150-600mm sport (I still have mine sitting here boxed up) and the more pictures I see taken with the sport version the more certain I am that it's best with a full frame body.
that tends to go along my thought train to mike ,i get nice pics with the 70d from it but it does tend to show up noise quite badly ,and although easily fixable it niggles me ,the files from the slightly larger sensor on the 1d3 though come out clean as a whistle ,i'm gonna get hold of a friend that has a 6d and give it a go on that as i,m sat on the fence between reach and quality .
the other thing you have to take into account is atmospherics on a crop sensor its at almost 1000mm focal and does tend to show a heat haze .
 
that tends to go along my thought train to mike ,i get nice pics with the 70d from it but it does tend to show up noise quite badly ,and although easily fixable it niggles me ,the files from the slightly larger sensor on the 1d3 though come out clean as a whistle ,i'm gonna get hold of a friend that has a 6d and give it a go on that as i,m sat on the fence between reach and quality .
the other thing you have to take into account is atmospherics on a crop sensor its at almost 1000mm focal and does tend to show a heat haze .

I'd love to see some examples from full frame.
 
Can't understand this as I,m getting up around the 95% hit rate ,far far higher than I was getting with the 400 prime ,either you need a m.a adjust or something's wrong with either the lens or your technique . Any problems I have had have turned out to be my own errors once I looked into it
 
Can't understand this as I,m getting up around the 95% hit rate ,far far higher than I was getting with the 400 prime ,either you need a m.a adjust or something's wrong with either the lens or your technique . Any problems I have had have turned out to be my own errors once I looked into it

I've calibrated on very first day. I think, I have a bad copy.
 
I would suggest de-calibrating it I assume you mean m.a ,and start afresh ,unless your getting consistent back or front focus issues leave alone .also what camera are you using it with as I have said my results vary from one to the other ,but it's not a focus issue with either of them just how the files look bEfore p.p .it took a few weeks for me to gel with the lens but I think results are starting to show its quality now .
You still have to fill the frame with the bird as much as possible but also take into account d.o.f when you do .hope this helps
 
piotr i assume you have the usb dock ,if so try this twitch i have just done .it has helped sharpness as far as i can tell significantly ,so utilising either C1 or C2 enter focus limit from 5mtrs to infinity ,(for close targets that pop up) /then change to focus accuracy-priority which gives smooth operation around point of focus ,/then change the o.s to dynamic view mode which a a recognisable os effect to images in the viewfinder .once done don't forget to re-write the files to the lens .

i did a few test shots through the double glazed window as the rain set in again both taken with the 1D3 the only p/p being noise reduction and cropping. exif info on both is 1D3 /.iso1600/600mm focal length /1/320th sec/ hand held focus point on both is the eye .from this i can a much improved sharpness level at 100% and improved detail ,how it works in the field is still the unknown quantity but it looks to be the way forward .my gut feelings say'sView attachment 34148 View attachment 34149 that like a new car these lenses have to be run in and finely tuned
the right hand image is the altered settings one
 
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