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

one from yesterday evening ,a rook on our front garden feeder ,taken through double glazed windows ,hand held at 600mm and at 1/160th sec ,this lens keeps surprising me
View attachment 34999
 
Still not sure about my copy. AI servo with my 7D is flakey, my 120-300 locks on much better :(
 
mrgubby said:
Still not sure about my copy. AI servo with my 7D is flakey, my 120-300 locks on much better :(
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Brian,
Sorry to hear about this! Perhaps you should return and exchange for another copy. It can be that your current copy is faulty, it can happen. When I ordered my first copy of the revered Nikon 105mm f/2.8 macro, it wasn't focusing right. I returned and exchanged for a second copy, and my second copy was perfect, and a keeper.
Cheers, John
 
Jeff,
May I ask, how do you have your lens setup with your Canon camera for shoots? Do you use Al Servo also?
Cheers, John
 
I'll carry on testing it then it'll be back to the shop on Friday if it doesn't improve :(
 
Brian,
Just a suggestion to at least check focus. Turn off the Al Servo on the camera. Set the camera in Spot metering, using manual mode set shutter speed to 1/1600 and f-stop to f/8 and auto ISO to at least 1600 and turn off the OS on the lens. Take some shots in good daylight of an object and check how good it focuses.
Try taking some shots using another setting. Again to turn off the Al Servo on the camera. Use the same as previous but use shutter speed 1/125 and this time turn on the OS on the lens. This is to check the OS function of the lens.
If the focus checks out, and the OS of the lens checks out, and only the "Al Servo" is in question. This could be a matter of having a firmware update in the future for the lens using the usb dock to do.
Cheers, John
 
jshen808 said:
Jeff,
May I ask, how do you have your lens setup with your Canon camera for shoots? Do you use Al Servo also?
Cheers, John
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john i use 99.9% of the time RAW, A/V, A.I SERVO ,i use single point a/f for stationary birds and ring of fire on the 1d3 for b.i.f ,with the 70d i use either single point or expanded 9 point a/f for b.i.f . i would suggest to brian that he MIGHT have expanded point a/f set in the 7d a lot of people do ,i would advise from experience with this lens to switch it off it only needs a slight movement to be completely OOF at these lengths .
with the usb hub i have found the two most important LENS settings are to enable dynamic mode in the o.s ,and to change a/f setting to focus point priority .

then a few sessions down the gym to build up the muscles in your left arm is advised as well :naughty:
 
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a couple more from this week ,this time with the 1D3 ,i'm coming to the conclusion that the 70d is the better camera for it though .might have to think about upgrading to a 7D2 later this year though .View attachment 35306View attachment 35307
 
the black fox said:
a couple more from this week ,this time with the 1D3 ,i'm coming to the conclusion that the 70d is the better camera for it though .might have to think about upgrading to a 7D2 later this year though .
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Super captures, Jeff! Both your 1D3 and 70D cameras are capturing superb images with your Sport lens. In regards to 70D vs 7D2, the 70D still is a great camera. Below are DPReview's conclusion about both..

70D..
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canon-eos-70d/18

7D2..
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canon-eos-7d-mark-ii/18

Both you and your gears are doing great, keep up your great work! :)
Cheers, John
 
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There are some posts in this thread that sound like sales pitches from sigma,could just be the way ime reading them though ;)
 
mikew said:
There are some posts in this thread that sound like sales pitches from sigma,could just be the way ime reading them though ;)
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Hello Mike,
I hope your not thinking of lil' ol' me?? ;) ..Maybe I sound like that from working nearly ten years as a computer tech, doing many onsites and phone supports also.
Ever since I owned my first Nikon D70, I never considered purchasing any third party lenses until now. The Contemporary will be my first non-Nikon lens, but since I'm waiting on pre-order, I just purchased my second non-Nikon lens, a Samyang 8mm Fisheye lens.
So I'm just your friendly neighborhood photographer. :D
Cheers, John
 
Super captures, Jeff! Especially with your first picture, I feel as if I could reach out and touch it! :)

I hope to be able to get close to what you are capturing now, when I get my Contemporary. :D

Cheers, John
 
Jeff i am enjoying your images and would much rather see real world results than read test results when you never know how biased they are due to advertising revenue ect,to come clean it was Johns post that where to me reading like a Sigma sales plug,and i apologize to John if i misread them.
 
no problem mike ,i tell it like it is ,there are a lot of variables with this lens its just finding them .i.e after tuning the other week i now have it working superbly on my 1D3 at both close and long range stuff ,however after yesterdays foray with the 70d i have found it to be great close up to medium distance ,but back focussing a bit at distance ,so i have once again adjusted the long range M.A on the 70d .its been putting it mildly a long hard slog and this lens has turned out to be a super tool that needs lot of TLC to get it right ,but getting there day by day .View attachment 35517
 
mikew said:
Jeff i am enjoying your images and would much rather see real world results than read test results when you never know how biased they are due to advertising revenue ect,to come clean it was Johns post that where to me reading like a Sigma sales plug,and i apologize to John if i misread them.
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No worries, Mike. :)
I have heard others saying the same thing that I believe, that both Nikon and Canon have messed up, and not knowing what today's consumer wants and needs.
I am excited for both Tamron and Sigma for being bold and innovative to bring their lenses to market, so we can use and enjoy them. I'm glad we have choices! ;)
Both Nikon and Canon seems to only want to play with the big boys who are willing to pay hefty prices for their lenses. For me, thanks to forums like this, I'm learning more about the fine choices and selections of third party lenses. :D
Cheers, John

Another super shot, Jeff! :)
Can't wait until I get my Contemporary, then we can compare notes. :D
Cheers, John
 
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sthwild said:
70d or 1d3 Jeff?
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Yes, Jeff uses both camera bodies with his Sport lens. :) ..oops, I though I was responding on a different thread ;)

..according to Jeff's flickr, he used his 70D. :)
 
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Gradually getting to grips with lens, it seems to work better with my 6D than my 7D Mk1 :(

I'll have to beg/borrow a 7D Mk2 to see how much difference it makes then maybe sell my other kidney :D
 
i prefer my marginally larger sensor 1D3 over the 70d although you gain more m/p on the newer camera and a bigger crop there is not really that much in it once you start to process ,this however is nothing to do with the lens its just way the larger sensors perform better whatever lens you use .
 
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Had a call from my local camera shop today. I put my name down and they have had some come in today. Off to pick it up at the weekend, looking forward to see how it performs on my 7D Mk1.
 
Hi all. I just received my Sigma 150-600 Sport from a local camera store in Cincinnati, OH/USA. I did some in-store testing tethered to a laptop (I'm a commercial photographer and almost always shoot tethered). The lens was sharp enough to make me follow thru and buy it. Got it back to the studio, threw a Nikon D810 on the back, slapped some light/studio strobe on one of my dogs and shot away. At just about the minimum focusing distance at 600mm at f9 I got the attached file. Please note you're looking at the center part of the frame. I did sharpen in Photoshop at the default "Smart Sharpen" setting. Quick note that Adobe recommends "Smart Sharpen" as the best way to sharpen. I've never shot a Nikon 600mm f4 so I can't compare but I have to say that I'm pleased with the Sigma. My Nikon 300mm f4 is sharper but the Sigma will do it's job if I do mine. Please note that at minimum focusing distance at 600mm, especially wide open, if you miss focus you miss big time. Same holds true in any high magnification situation. Oh, yes, the build quality is very, very good and regarding the weight, yes, it's noticeable but keep in mind that for a 600mm, though a 6.3, it's still about half the weight of the Nikon 600mm f4; maybe that means the Sigma is actually light weight?
 
Right, picked it up today. It's bloody big isn't it !

Had a quick run out to a local lake...

grebe by Steve Jelly, on Flickr

I need to improve my technique, I'm not used to using such long (and heavy!) lenses. I've got next Friday off, so I'll be out again if the weather is OK.
 
Had a trip down to BWC today....

This one was shot on the 6D, handheld at 1/250 sec, fully extended to 600mm. Given the weight and size of the lens I was quite pleased with this.

BWC May 15
by Steve Jelly, on Flickr

And again, this one one is handheld @1/250 sec on the 6D - quite a nice combination.

BWC May 15
by Steve Jelly, on Flickr
 
not been on this thread for a while ,but still plodding on with the lens ,for the unitiated to get the best performance out of this lens you NEED the usb dock or its just a normal zoom lens ,so once acquired in your C1 setting put in
A/F set to main focus point priority .
O/S set to dynamic view
focus length set to 10-12 mtrs to infinity (adjust this to suit your subjects)

all three changes need to be done and each one must be re-written to the lens one at a time . this turns the lens into a high power optic ,it really does work in practise try it .!!!!

couple from today to prove it View attachment 38073View attachment 38074
 
I need to source a hub, the dealer bought mine from didn't have a Canon unit in stock; interesting what you can do with the custom function though.

I was quite impressed with the performance on the 6D yesterday. Admittedly nothing was moving that quickly, but the results look good. All I have done is just drop the RAW files into Lightroom, crop a little, and resize. No noise reduction and no additional sharpening.
 
If only i wasn't so old and $nackered i could carry it and use it :(

Certainly some great results
 
At first it seemed heavy, but you sort of get used to it. I did a number of handheld shots at 1/250 over the weekend which look great (in my opinion of course).
 
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