New Sigma 150/600 contemporary (1 Viewer)

nikonmike · Apr 19, 2017

rosbifs said:
Thanks all. i have started the fine tuning with the docking station.

I took a set of pictures - middle of the road, sign on building, roof and distant. Then took same pictures at -10 across the board and finally +10. I found it very difficult to differentiate between them! I have been away without the tripod so that won't have helped but the writing on a small electrical box was clear at 20m on all settings...

I plumbed for +10 and want to run some shots through at this and then review and fine tune. I got some pretty good shots of a chiffchaff that started to show (even full screen) some details I'm looking for. Looks like I'm getting there.

If ime understanding you i dont think thats the right way,having to remember this as i dont need to do it now.

You want your target about 25 times the focal length away,if you stand a book up and along side it place a ruler at a 45 degree angle,put the 6 inch mark level with the front face of the book,then focus on the face of the book
When you look at the image the focus point should be on the 6 inch mark,the ruler markings will soon ahow you if its more in focus behind the 6 inch mark or in front.

nikonmike · Apr 19, 2017

This explains it better than me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpiJ9qX_-Ds

rosbifs · Apr 20, 2017

lots of playing - lens now a

rosbifs · Apr 20, 2017

Lens now at -8 across the board.

getting there...

nikonmike · Apr 21, 2017

If that was me i would put something like a matchbox on short grass or sand and just check,those two surfaces would show front or back focus straight away,use the lens wide open for a shallow depth of field.

If you look at the Chaffinch on grass it shows the focus area very well.

rosbifs · Apr 21, 2017

I've been taking pictures of 'sloping' objects with a tripod - roofs, for one, at varying distances and then yesterday some trees. My expectations of this lens have been raised by the standard of the pictures by the other users on this thread.

The difficulty I have is that nothing, in front or behind, really looks in focus or pin sharp in comparison. I felt I was getting somewhere yesterday and two of the Wallcreeper pictures are getting somewhere near the sharpness I'm looking for for a hand held in the field photo. Shot at 600mm x1.6 means at 1/1000th shutter I'm probably at the lowest end of the speed I need...

nikonmike · Apr 21, 2017

rosbifs said:
I've been taking pictures of 'sloping' objects with a tripod - roofs, for one, at varying distances and then yesterday some trees. My expectations of this lens have been raised by the standard of the pictures by the other users on this thread.

The difficulty I have is that nothing, in front or behind, really looks in focus or pin sharp in comparison. I felt I was getting somewhere yesterday and two of the Wallcreeper pictures are getting somewhere near the sharpness I'm looking for for a hand held in the field photo. Shot at 600mm x1.6 means at 1/1000th shutter I'm probably at the lowest end of the speed I need...

Don't ask why but i found i was more confident and got better results when i used the dock and changed my lens OIS to (i think its called) active.

rosbifs · Apr 21, 2017

nikonmike said:
Don't ask why but i found i was more confident and got better results when i used the dock and changed my lens OIS to (i think its called) active.

didn't notice that setting...

Roy C · Apr 24, 2017

There are various OS (Optical Stabilisation) modes to choose from when using the Dock. For hand holding 'Dynamic view mode' is considered the best by many folk including myself.

Attached a few snaps taken with this lens

rosbifs · Apr 27, 2017

Now I'm starting to get a bit peed off...

I took various pictures over the last few days. The thing that is annoying is that quite a few show poor focus, still, and what's more there is nothing actually pin sharp in focus - let alone the birds.

Various situations - with or without mono support.

I have taken some pretty sharp pictures, off the bat, when I borrowed my friends 300mm lens.

Its frustrating because there are some pretty amazing shots on here with this lens. I can't be that bad a photographer.

Am I expecting too much from my equipment? I can't believe so....

BChiker · Apr 28, 2017

rosbifs said:
Now I'm starting to get a bit peed off...

I took various pictures over the last few days. The thing that is annoying is that quite a few show poor focus, still, and what's more there is nothing actually pin sharp in focus - let alone the birds. ...

Am I expecting too much from my equipment? I can't believe so....

Frankly it appears that your technique is fine. However the 4 images posted appear to have low contrast, perhaps an overcast sky. I’d suspect the camera has more influence on the sharpness of the focus than the lens under these conditions.

rosbifs · Apr 28, 2017

Thanks for your confidence.
However, the bee-eater and the stork were in pretty good light. The point is that others have some really sharp pictures - in flight on the ground and generally sharp. The Little Bustard shot in particular there is a lot of chance that some of the grass would have been in focus or sharp but nothing...

There has to be something or an explanation.

nikonmike · Apr 28, 2017

rosbifs said:
Thanks for your confidence.
However, the bee-eater and the stork were in pretty good light. The point is that others have some really sharp pictures - in flight on the ground and generally sharp. The Little Bustard shot in particular there is a lot of chance that some of the grass would have been in focus or sharp but nothing...

There has to be something or an explanation.

How far are you prepered to think this out and ime only throwing things in not suggesting any one cause,do yo shoot raw or jpeg,if its raw how good is your PP ability,if its jpeg does your camera have jpeg settings that need adjusting,

Images over any distance mostly suffer some degredation due to atmospheric conditions,you say shots with a 300mm are better but better than what your lens @ 600mm or your lens @300mm.

I would expect possibly better results with a 300mm prime rather than a 600mm zoom.

nikonmike · Apr 28, 2017

To me the Little Bustard looks to be at the very rear of your sharp area,would you consider uploading some full preferably raw images to dropbox and let others have a look at the full file with out any editing.

Vespobuteo · Apr 28, 2017

rosbifs said:
Now I'm starting to get a bit peed off...

I took various pictures over the last few days. The thing that is annoying is that quite a few show poor focus, still, and what's more there is nothing actually pin sharp in focus - let alone the birds.

Various situations - with or without mono support.

I have taken some pretty sharp pictures, off the bat, when I borrowed my friends 300mm lens.

Its frustrating because there are some pretty amazing shots on here with this lens. I can't be that bad a photographer.

Am I expecting too much from my equipment? I can't believe so....

Perhaps you do, the photos look pretty normal considering the circumstances.
(checking EXIF, time of the day etc.)

I don't expect to get many good shots in the middle of the day in diffuse light, too strong light or heat haze at medium to long distance, even with the best equipment. You really need good environmental and lighting conditions to get the sharpest shots.

The downsides with the zoom is that you start at f6.3 in the longer end. Stopping down to f8 might sharpen up the photos a bit but you might loose some bokeh. You really don't need 1/1000s shutter speed for slow moving birds. With f/8 and 1/250-1/500s you can keep the ISO at the same low level. Do you use a tripod/monopod, bean bag or OS/handheld?

To get a grip of the maximum performance of your combo
I would test the lens on a solid tripod with mirror lock up in a controlled environment on a test target, at different distances, f-stop and zoom settings.
Then you could also check for any back/front focus issues etc.

rosbifs · Apr 28, 2017

nikonmike said:
How far are you prepered to think this out and ime only throwing things in not suggesting any one cause,do yo shoot raw or jpeg,if its raw how good is your PP ability,if its jpeg does your camera have jpeg settings that need adjusting,

Images over any distance mostly suffer some degredation due to atmospheric conditions,you say shots with a 300mm are better but better than what your lens @ 600mm or your lens @300mm.

I would expect possibly better results with a 300mm prime rather than a 600mm zoom.

I want the lens to work. i'm jealous of other users pictures on here which to me seem to be of the quality i was expecting - what i'm not expecting is every picture to be of that standard - hand held, tripod, lighting but some.
i don't shoot raw but will try to see if that makes a difference - my pp ability is fairly limited though. i would be happy for others to play with any pics.

the 300mm i used before was the canon 300mm f4. i would expect its pictures to be better than this lens. I have tried taking pictures at part zoom, no zoom as well to see if that makes a difference. I broke the lens hood - could that be the missing factor?

i'm never going to be a professional photographer but out of say 800-1000 pictures taken with this lens very few are of 'top' quality. I'm not giving up though and have tried the focus adjustment.

Out of interest you say that the focus point seems to be in front of the bustard - would this need a + or - adjustment using the dock station? I think I took a good 20-30 pictures of the bird and on none does there seem to be a pin point focus either in front or behind.

nikonmike · Apr 28, 2017

At the moment dont shoot raw if your not sure of your pp skills,are you shooting at the bigest file size for jpeg,does your camera have any adjustments for sharpness contrast ect with jpegs.

Awful to admit this but i have been using mirrorless cameras and have forgotten if front is + or - ,i always went against convention but it worked for me,i only ever did mine at 600mm and with the target about 12ft away with the lens wide open so i got the narrowest DOF possible.

nikonmike · Apr 28, 2017

Just remembered your lens hood question,not having one can reduce contrast and you could get flare.

rosbifs · Apr 29, 2017

Still playing but this is the sort of thing I'm after!

taken across the road. c.8 metres no crop
1/800 f7.1 iso 125 484mm

changed some settings 'neutral' sharpness 1

wondering if f7.1 is getting to the sweetspot....

rosbifs · Apr 29, 2017

Playing with a new found enthusiasm

Tiles - taken 7 metres - good detail
Other pictures taken at about 15metres
Wall can see brush strokes and bird roppings - you can make out what the bird had eaten (joking).
Blackbird - not great but probably furthest, poorest light, angled view (3 floors) and through a window! Still can see some of the feathering...
Good detail on the flagpole

So looks like getting to grips with it and it was more likely camera settings rather than lens. I have the lens set to C1 default - highest focus speed, dynamic image stableliser (misspelt) and OS1 but don't know whether this is overridden by the C1 setting - interesting to know if I start using the monopod again.

Will get out in earnest tomorrow and find some birds...

I have a camera expert coming in a couple of weeks and we will address the focus depth/issue. I think its a fraction front but set at -5 for closer focus -8 for longer.

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