Sigma 170-500mm APO lens

[m18nye]

Have been looking at a couple of Sigma 170-500mm APO lens' on ebay. Just wondering what peoples views are on the lens or would I be better off paying the extra for the new 150-500mm by Sigma?

Thanks

 

[pete.rush]

Have been looking at a couple of Sigma 170-500mm APO lens' on ebay. Just wondering what peoples views are on the lens or would I be better off paying the extra for the new 150-500mm by Sigma?

Thanks

What would you be using the lens for? wildlife, aviation, motorsport?

 

[m18nye]

Wildlife and motorsport and maybe a little bit of sport.

Thanks

 

[micloi]

I would go with either the 120-400 or the 150-500 if you can afford them.
They are sharper and the OS works wonders. Also the AF is faster and quiet.

I did have the 135-400 which is a shorter version of the 170-500 and I was quite disappointed with its performance (slow and noisy AF, very soft above 300mm)

 

[LizardMan]

I used to have the 170-500, recently just sold it on ebay and bought the new 150-500.

I bought the new one for £600, but if you've got the cash it's well worth it! The Opictal Stabilisation on it is amazing, really amazing.

I mostly got the old one for a safari, if I'd known how good the OS would be, I would have got a bank load or just stolen the money if need be, it would have made so much difference!

Not that I did too badly with the 170-500, but be warned it is an absolute beast to carry.

 

[artyman]

Sigma have just announced a new 50-500 with OS so there may be a softening of prices on the 150-500 in a bit if you can afford to wait.

 

[scottthehat]

as you have a sony with is built in SteadyShot i would buy a 170-500mm, i have had 3 170-500mm and all 3 have been optically better than the 2 150-500mm i have had,

 

[LizardMan]

50-500? Surely that's a zoom too far?

 

[Nod]

If you can afford it, the 150-500 is sharper, faster to both aquire and follow focus, quieter and has OS (although that may not be important if you have in camera stabilisation, athough switching off the in body and on in the lens, the viewfinder image is stabilised which can be a good thing).
As said above, the 50-150 has just been updated to OS and it may be worth having a try of that, just to confuse things a bit more!

 

[pete s]

I think I read that older model 170-500's (Non DG ones) can throw up error99 messages on Canon/Nikon bodies.

I may be wrong, but may be worth researching.

 

[Mike.P]

I would probably be waiting for the new 50-500mm to see how it performs although the old one isn't a bad performer .. especially with inbody SR.

 

[Trex500]

I have just been researching the sigma 50-500, here is one review I found.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/reviews/Sigma-50-500mm-f-4-6.3-EX-DG-HSM-Lens-Review.aspx

 

[scottthehat]

here one taken with a 170-500mm.

 

[Graham00]

My order for a 150-500 (cheapest) £628 from One Stop Digital will take 2 weeks as they've had to change courier away from Fed Ex, apparently parcels have gone missing but it will be worth the wait. I think from what i've seen/heard the 150-500 is the way to go.

 

[micloi]

My order for a 150-500 (cheapest) £628 from One Stop Digital will take 2 weeks as they've had to change courier away from Fed Ex, apparently parcels have gone missing but it will be worth the wait. I think from what i've seen/heard the 150-500 is the way to go.

You could have got one from the UK with official Sigma warranty for only £50 more :shrug:

 

[AlistairD]

It's a pretty good lens for the money. There are a few for sale used on eBay most of the time (and I've one for sale on POTN at the moment.)

Here's one of my favourites with this lens...

Alistair

(Items for sale on POTN - Hopefully I'm allowed to post this link here.... :nono: :shrug