Sigma 150-600mm contemporary

I am now an owner of 150-600mm Contemporary lens.
It will be going off to Sigma to get it calibrated as the images at 600mm on my 7Dii are a little soft.

Would it not be cheaper to buy the Sigma USB dock and calibrate it yourself?
 
Would it not be cheaper to buy the Sigma USB dock and calibrate it yourself?
Always strikes as a bit strange to buy an expensive bit of kit, find it does not work properly, buy some more kit and then spend valuable time making the expensive kit work properly. If my Sigma 150-600 lens had not worked properly out of the box (it works just for me) I would have taken it back to the shop and allowed them to spend time and money making it work.
 
Would it not be cheaper to buy the Sigma USB dock and calibrate it yourself?

The dock is apx £39, then you gave to set up a table of objects ( AA batteries are good choice with writing facing the camera ) staggered to the left and right of a centre object apx 1cm behind and in front of the centre object. This is known as front and back focus test. Then taking various photos at different focal lengths while focing on the centre object. Then via on large screen and check which object ( if the centre one is not Sharpe ) is in focus.
Then you can use the docking station to move the focusing forward or backwards. This is trial and error as you need to re shoot the test and calibratE again.
So it can be a lengthy process.
Now I did some test shots in my garden and it could be I was not far enough away, ie 10m or so or I had the wrong sector set on the lens. As the lens on under warranty I thought let sigma do the calibration, as the job needs good weather and some time set up and to perform the test.
 
Always strikes as a bit strange to buy an expensive bit of kit, find it does not work properly, buy some more kit and then spend valuable time making the expensive kit work properly. If my Sigma 150-600 lens had not worked properly out of the box (it works just for me) I would have taken it back to the shop and allowed them to spend time and money making it work.

I totally agree, it's one reason I'm avoiding the Sigma and will get a Tamron 150-500 G2.
I've never had a problem with a Tamron lens and yet over the years I've heard about people sending a bad copy of a sigma back and now the idea of sending a lens back for recalibration is a lot of faffing about.
I'm sure this is the minority but I just couldn't be bothered with the hassle.
 
The dock is apx £39, then you gave to set up a table of objects ( AA batteries are good choice with writing facing the camera ) staggered to the left and right of a centre object apx 1cm behind and in front of the centre object. This is known as front and back focus test. Then taking various photos at different focal lengths while focing on the centre object. Then via on large screen and check which object ( if the centre one is not Sharpe ) is in focus.
Then you can use the docking station to move the focusing forward or backwards. This is trial and error as you need to re shoot the test and calibratE again.
So it can be a lengthy process.
Now I did some test shots in my garden and it could be I was not far enough away, ie 10m or so or I had the wrong sector set on the lens. As the lens on under warranty I thought let sigma do the calibration, as the job needs good weather and some time set up and to perform the test.

Wish I had never asked :D
 
As the lens on under warranty I thought let sigma do the calibration, as the job needs good weather and some time set up and to perform the test.

Was the lens badly front or back focusing? I'm surprised, that Sigma would calibrate, as part of the warranty service.
 
Was the lens badly front or back focusing? I'm surprised, that Sigma would calibrate, as part of the warranty service.

The photos were soft or just looked out of focus.
My first photo was apx 7-8 meters away !
That may been too close.
Unfortunately the weather turned bad so I did not get a chance to head to a park or the street. So I just decided to box it up and send to sigma. Which I have done today .
 
Was the lens badly front or back focusing? I'm surprised, that Sigma would calibrate, as part of the warranty service.

Sigma UK are an excellent company to deal with and will go out of their way to help if they can. I have 3 lenses that I bought used some years ago that marked the body of my full frame Pentax K-1 due to the mount being too tight of a fit. They changed all 3 mounts for new ones, calibrated the lenses and checked the firmware. They also sent the body to Pentax in Japan to have the marked part replaced. All it cost me was the price of postage to them.

For calibration it's best to send the body as well if you can.
 
Sigma UK are an excellent company to deal with and will go out of their way to help if they can. I have 3 lenses that I bought used some years ago that marked the body of my full frame Pentax K-1 due to the mount being too tight of a fit. They changed all 3 mounts for new ones, calibrated the lenses and checked the firmware. They also sent the body to Pentax in Japan to have the marked part replaced. All it cost me was the price of postage to them.

For calibration it's best to send the body as well if you can.


Sigma for me have always been very helpful, more so than Canon !
 
I can tell you now that if there is a problem with your lens focusing, then Sigma will calibrate it for you under warranty.
 
What do you guys think the chances are of Sigma making a native Sony version of this lens? Some amazing shots in this thread, keep up the good work.
 
Really happy to get my first 'long' lens a couple of weeks ago, and took it to Cotswolds Wildlife Park for its first outing with my Canon 6D Mark II. These shots have been unaltered, looking forward to doing a bit of post-processing when I get the time.

I was really happy with it - this seems like a great lens for the money.

IMG_9883 by daff-ington, on Flickr

IMG_9976 by daff-ington, on Flickr

IMG_0052 by daff-ington, on Flickr

IMG_9879 by daff-ington, on Flickr
 
I had my first outing with this lens last Sunday, unfortunately in poor light with a dull overcast so it was far from ideal conditions. These are the best of what I shot, just trying to get used to handling the big lens. I am in awe of those shooting handheld b-i-f with it, but they give me something to aspire to!

20181104-D300-DSC_0914-Cygnet by Lindsay Pennell, on Flickr

20181104-D300-DSC_0915-SwanSleeping by Lindsay Pennell, on Flickr

I'm not expecting any praise for these but I guess I felt it worth sharing that whilst we see lots of quite stunning images taken with this lens on here, even we less skilled and talented togs can produce something adequate with it.
 
Picking up one of these from the Classifieds to use whilst my Nikon 200-500 is away for repair.
Can anyone tell me what settings you have found useful to change with the Dock please ... anything I might want to check out?
 
Picking up one of these from the Classifieds to use whilst my Nikon 200-500 is away for repair.
Can anyone tell me what settings you have found useful to change with the Dock please ... anything I might want to check out?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts about how it compares with the Nikkor 200-500mm.
 
Picking up one of these from the Classifieds to use whilst my Nikon 200-500 is away for repair.
Can anyone tell me what settings you have found useful to change with the Dock please ... anything I might want to check out?

Christopher Frost has just done a full test and review on this lens, well worth a watch, I like his dry humour and he's very thorough.

View: https://youtu.be/WoOY5vIoBpE


It confirms what I already know about my lens....and that is - it is a great lens and very reasonably priced.
I had left mine in default mostly, but I shall be following his advice with my copy - setting OS to moderate seems to be the way to go, and also set to slower/accurate AF.
 
Last edited:
Morning snappers,
I picked up my new beast and took it out yesterday for the first time, it is a great lens but how best to carry it, my arm was dropping off after awhile.
I normally use a peak design slide, but I know it is not good to carry the weight of the lens with the body only, would using the slide attached at one end to the top camera mount and the other to the tripod foot arca plate be sufficient ?
I read a lot about turning off VR when using a tripod, because of the focal length of this this lens, I presume turning it off would makes things worst........
Sorry if these have been asked before, I have read a lot of the thread but it is quite long..
 
Morning snappers,
I picked up my new beast and took it out yesterday for the first time, it is a great lens but how best to carry it, my arm was dropping off after awhile.
I normally use a peak design slide, but I know it is not good to carry the weight of the lens with the body only, would using the slide attached at one end to the top camera mount and the other to the tripod foot arca plate be sufficient ?
I read a lot about turning off VR when using a tripod, because of the focal length of this this lens, I presume turning it off would makes things worst........
Sorry if these have been asked before, I have read a lot of the thread but it is quite long..

I always carry my 'long' lenses either by holding the tripod foot or by a shoulder strap connected to the tripod foot, personally I would never use the camera or part of the camera to support the weight of a 'long' lens,
There are opposiing opinions about VR on a tripod, I suggest you experiment and see what works best for you ...
 
Morning snappers,
I picked up my new beast and took it out yesterday for the first time, it is a great lens but how best to carry it, my arm was dropping off after awhile.
I normally use a peak design slide, but I know it is not good to carry the weight of the lens with the body only, would using the slide attached at one end to the top camera mount and the other to the tripod foot arca plate be sufficient ?
I read a lot about turning off VR when using a tripod, because of the focal length of this this lens, I presume turning it off would makes things worst........
Sorry if these have been asked before, I have read a lot of the thread but it is quite long..
When I had the sigma, I used a shoulder strap connected to the lens foot.
Not noticed any difference with IS on or off when us I g a tripod.
 
Last edited:
Morning snappers,
I picked up my new beast and took it out yesterday for the first time, it is a great lens but how best to carry it, my arm was dropping off after awhile.
I normally use a peak design slide, but I know it is not good to carry the weight of the lens with the body only, would using the slide attached at one end to the top camera mount and the other to the tripod foot arca plate be sufficient ?
I read a lot about turning off VR when using a tripod, because of the focal length of this this lens, I presume turning it off would makes things worst........
Sorry if these have been asked before, I have read a lot of the thread but it is quite long..

I carry mine on a strap attached to the lens foot. If it's on a tripod then OS is turned off.
 
I think I will attach one end to arca plate of the tripod foot the the other to the bolt which tightens up the tripod foot on the lens, I believe this is where you would attach the strap that came the lens, unfortunately this strap is not quick release, like the peak design.
 
Hello all, I took possession of one of these lenses just before Christmas and took a few shots of birds/squirrels etc in the garden but all was not good. I was at the point of packing it all away and sending it back but I found this thread instead. Read it from page 1 to end and, thanks to Roy C, Dougan and others, put the lens down and waited for a brighter, sunnier day. First lesson learned: this lens needs light (esp on a 7D). Second lesson learned: you can't expect miracles at long distances (i.e far away as opposed to long focal lengths). I can't remember who it was who mentioned 15-20 feet being a sweet spot but I was aiming at the bottom of my garden at 25-30 yards and pixel peeping x10! So thanks, y'all saved me a) a disappointment and b) unnecessarily sending the lens back. I'd post the obligatory first decent pic but I haven't yet got the post count required...
 
As the new cameras are 20+mp I don't look at them on screen anymore than 50% as in most cases this will print A3. Its when we look at them at 100% we see the faults in them.

One from this lens taken yesterday, I haven't used the dock but calibrated my D500 at 600mm using the micro autofocus option on the camera.

full
 
Lens and dock had firmware updates September last year incase you missed as I did.
[ Contemporary | 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | 015 | For CANON EF Mount ]

-
Firmware Version 2.00

It ensures compatibility with Canon’s in-camera Lens Aberration Correction function, which enables correction matching the optical characteristics of the attached lens.
It corrects the phenomenon that abnormal images appear or operation errors occur when Canon’s in-camera Lens Aberration Correction function is enabled.
It has improved the AF speed in certain combinations with some cameras.

-
Firmware Version 1.03

It has improved the AF accuracy when the lens is attached with the SIGMA MOUNT CONVERTER MC-11 EF-E.
It has reduced the operation sound of the lens diaphragm blades when attached with the SIGMA MOUNT CONVERTER MC-11 EF-E and used for shooting movies.
It has improved the AF accuracy when the lens is used for shooting movies as well as Live View on EOS DIGITAL SLR cameras.*1
It has reduced the operation sound of the lens diaphragm blades when used for shooting movies on EOS DIGITAL SLR cameras.*1
It is fully functional with the Canon Digital Cinema Camera EOS C300 Mark II.
*1 The degree of improvement differs depending on the camera used.
* For customers who own SIGMA MOUNT CONVERTER MC-11 EF-E, it is necessary to update this to the latest firmware Ver1.02.


-
Firmware Version 1.02

It has improved the AF algorithm to further enhance AF speed.

-
Firmware Version 1.01

It has improved the AF accuracy when attached to the TELE CONVERTER TC-1401.
* Please refer to the camera’s instruction manual for information on AF operation when used with tele converters.
* This firmware update standardizes the data processing to improve AF accuracy and resets the focus adjustment values.
 
Back
Top