Sigma 500mm f4.5

DoubleT

DoubleT

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Matt
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Im in serious consideration of buying the sigma 500mm f4.5 my only concern is im thinking how unusable this lens could be have such a long focal length.

now, im a bit of a zoom lover because i like the flexibility it gives me without having to swap my lenses about all the time.

primerily the 500mm lens will be used for wildlife and motorsport (from the stands)

im thinking about the 150-500 f5-6.3 to overcome my concerns of flexibility but concered of the speed of this lens.

could anybody with a 500mm prime lens tell me there experiances with using it and what they feel they could comfortable shoot. obviously im not expecting to use it as a walk about lens but having never used a prime lens of that scale im not too sure how flexible the focusing can be ( hope this makes sense)

what would be nice is if somebody could post a few "test" photos. so i can get an idea of its focal range

thanks guys

Matt

:wave:
 
I've found it fine to adapt to a prime. I think the problem with motorsport from the stands could be the size of it. It is a big lens and not easy to handhold for long. I have a Canon 500 and the Sigma is a bit lighter but not a huge amount...

Paul
 
I found shooting with a long prime an interesting learning experience. It helped with my compositional skills because it forced me to make a photo with what i had in front of me (if i wasn't able to move).

The faster F4.5 will be useful and the image quality should be amazing :)

I'm an ex bigma owner so i know about being frustrated with F6.3 @ 500mm :bang:
 
If you will be shooting garden birds, particularly in your garden, then it should be quite easy to adapt to the prime, as you will be able to set up feeding points etc that will give you optimal use of the lens
 
I've found that even in the stands you can usually still manage to use a monopod to support the lens, so hand holding isn't as much of a problem as it first seems.

Could you not find a hire shop for it and try it out in real life conditions?
 
DoubleT,

I had a Sigma 500mm f4.5 lens and was well pleased with it in terms of IQ and is great for garden birds where you can have it solidly supported, handholding for me was a non started as I never seemed to master it.

The thing that pushed me to sell it was it's lack of flexibility and the weight (yes less than canon 500 IS) but not much, coupled with a need for tripod or good monopod it just made mobility a bit of an issue. This is OK for garden birds where you are static and they come to you but not so good if you are on the chase.

Other good points of the sigma is that second hand values are an absolute bargain (~£1K for a non DG).

Would I have another 500mm prime - maybe if I got canon with IS, but 300 &1.4TC may get you everything you need for garden birds.

Hope this is of some help

Cheers

Rob
 
I have just purchased, Ahem!! a 600 F4 Nikon Afs MK1:wacky:... I can't believe the weight of the thing, I'm seriously finding it a handful with a Monopod....as long as you have enough light, hand holding should not be a problem for your lens.......Anyone else had a problem with larger/heavy lenses?:shrug:
 
gaz, ive got Canon 600 F4L and use it on a tripod exclusively, havent tried with a monopod although have thought about it though. As for handholding, erm no i dont think so ;)

The Sigma is a great lens but you do have to plan to use soemthing of this size, you cant just go for a wander with it, its a proper committment. Saying that i drag mine everywhere with me, because i would seriously regret missing a shot if i didnt have it !
 
I have a Sigma 500mm f4.5. Quality I've found to be really good. You can quite easily spot the difference between it and a zoom, there's a certain something that stands out.

My own lens is the non-DG, non-HSM. Personally I'm unconvinced by all the coatings etc that are marketed, but I would have thought HSM would be useful. In fact I find the focussing on mine to be plenty quick. It can be annoying if it doesn't grab focus and "hunts", as obviously the hunting takes a bit longer, but in normal use when it takes normal focus, it's fast enough for me (mainly wildlife and motorsport).

Weight-wise, it's actually fine. I can carry it around all day at a track. I usually swivel the "foot" up to be on top of the lens, then just use it as a handle to carry the lens and mounted camera. When I want to use it, just swing up and hand-hold. No problem to hand-hold, although obviously for wildlife you'll want either a fast enough shutter for the focal-length, a bean-bag, or a 'pod (I use the manfrotto 393 gimbal type mount). For motorsport this is actually less of an issue, since you're usually anyway panning the lens, and so vertical movement is damped by the fact you're moving the mass of the lens horizontally. Certainly I have no trouble getting sharp panning shots down to 1/100 or less. Just fire a burst to maximise the chances. In those case I'd be curious if VR/IS helps the process, or hinders it, by "fighting" the panning motion. If someone will loan me a Nikon 500mm VRII I'd be delighted to do some tests....? :)

I think the 500mm is a lens you would be happy with, for wildlife and motorsport.
 
<< If someone will loan me a Nikon 500mm VRII I'd be delighted to do some tests....? >>

Thanks for the offer, but I'll do my own testing when Mr Nikon eventually gets round to delivering it.
 
Hi,

I use one on my Canon 30D and will post more info about what I think and some samples tomorrow when I get back in from nightshift, if you search my username you will see plenty of pics taken with it since I got it at the end of January this year.

I also posted in this section once I'd bought it as well so have a wee look here too.

Mike.
 
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