Four Thirds 'Bigma' Discontinued (1 Viewer)

I see Sigma have now stopped production of the their 50-500 zoom lens in Four Thirds mount. This means there is now no Four Thirds lens longer than 300mm available. Not good news for bird photography.

Ron

NoSpringChicken said:

I see Sigma have now stopped production of the their 50-500 zoom lens in Four Thirds mount. This means there is now no Four Thirds lens longer than 300mm available. Not good news for bird photography.

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I wonder why they would do that. Poor sales, perhaps?

Perhaps one of the major attractions of 4/3 and m4/3 is the compactness of the kit. Attaching a really chunky lens tend to cancel that out, perhaps implying one may as well buy a full size dSLR if one is going to want long focal length lenses?

pdh said:

Perhaps one of the major attractions of 4/3 and m4/3 is the compactness of the kit. Attaching a really chunky lens tend to cancel that out, perhaps implying one may as well buy a full size dSLR if one is going to want long focal length lenses?

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Maybe. There's a discussion about it here:
http://e-group.uk.net/forum/showthread.php?t=9098
Theories include it being discontinued because of poor sales, or only being produced in batches every 3 months. Optimists think a new version will be released, pessimists think Olympus itself is abandoning 4/3 (for micro 4/3).

Whatever the truth is, it doesn't look that great. The number of 4/3 camera manufacturers isn't increasing very fast, is it? Pity - a universal open standard for lens mounts would have been nice.

There are now numerous rumors of an E5 to replace the E3 and E30, there are a few rumors about a replacement for the E620 as well.
Rumors have several theories about when the E5 will be released, they ranged from March 2010 to the summer of 2010.
Rumor also has it that the E5 is ready for production but Olympus doesn't have the production capacity to produce it along with the M4/3 cameras. The M4/3 apparently is a huge success and is using all of Olympus's production capacity.
I presently own an E510 and was considering purchasing a 500mm lens but noted that Sigma had stopped producing them. This will certainly affect my decision as to purchasing any further DSLR's from Olympus.
Figure I will be replacing the E510 in the next year or so and have time to wait to see if they produce any more 500mm lenses, if not I will have to consider another camera manufacturer.

Latest rumor is that a replacement for the E-620 will be summer of 2010, E3, E30 replacement will be fall 2010. Also rumored there will be a new series of lenses. Mind you rumors about the E3, E30 replacement have been floating around since at least 2006.
Although Olympus has a smaller share of the DSLR market I doubt they will stop producing DSLR's or the big lenses.
The E3 and E30 are past due for replacement and hopefully they will not keep us waiting much longer. Part of my decision to purchase the replacement will be whether any big lenses will be available.

Hmm, I'm pretty happy with my E-520, but I suppose that will finally "died", so I'm interested in any option for replacing it.

Rumors updated over the weekend, seems now they claim E-620 replacement will be announced in June, E-3, E-30, announced 3rd week of August, will be at Photokina in September and will be available in early 2011.
Rumors mind you, again they have been circulating for years and none have been correct to date.
I do believe there are new DSLR's on the way but when they will appear is anyones guess.
My E-510 is still serving me well, but I am interested in some of the newer technology and am pretty eager to see what Olympus has to offer.

Cristian Mihai said:

Hmm, I'm pretty happy with my E-520, but I suppose that will finally "died", so I'm interested in any option for replacing it.

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if your happy with the E520 you will love the E 620.

lets hope any new model will be as good. but they do have to pay attention to making more choices of lenses for wildlife and bird photography.

It would be nice if they produced some 400 or 500mm lenses. I have the 300mm lens which is pretty good but would like to get a 400mm lens. The only option is Sigma but they are not manufacturing them anymore.
The rumors didn't specify if the new lenses would be 4/3 or m4/3.
My E-510 is working nicely but I would be interested in some of the newer technology that has been developed since the E-510 was first introduced.
Hopefully we will see some new DSLR's and lenses from Olympus this summer.

I think a Pro quality 300mm SWD lens would be quite useful. Paired up with the 1.4x or 2.0x converters it would give a reasonable range for bird photography. The Canon 300 2.8 is becoming increasingly popular here, used with and without converters, and produces some superb results. Mind you a Zuiko version would be rather expensive and quite heavy.

I still think light weight and small size are the four-thirds system's main selling points. I went to a barbecue on Saturday and found up my old E-510 to take with me so that my friends could have a play with it. I was amazed at how light and small the E-510 felt after the E-30m, especially with the 40-150 lens on rather than my 70-300. I think the E-30 is a more complete camera but the E-510 has got a lot going for it and in some ways has a clearer niche to fit into than the bigger camera.

I hope Olympus do continue to develop the four-thirds cameras and lenses but I can't see too many new lenses being introduced in the near future.

Ron

Sigma discontinued production of the old non IS bigmas a few months back and they quickly disappeared from store inventories. The new IS bigmas are heavier, much more expensive (~$1500 vs ~$1100 USD), and available on all mounts except 4/3. I'd imagine the folks at Sigma rightly concluded most 4/3 shooters weren't going to kick down the extra cash for redundant IS.

It is a real loss to 4/3 shooters. There's simply nothing else on the market to replace it at this time. The good news is that you can get a 50-200 SWD & EC-20 for around $1200-1300. That gives you a superb fast tele for sports, events, and even portraits + a decent 400mm @ f/7.1 for birding, surf, lunar, etc.

I do hope Oly will introduce a high grade long zoom to replace the Bigma. I'd love something like a 200-500+ f/4 for less than $2K. I'll keep my fingers crossed...

I second what everyone else has to say about the 620. It's a great body, and a deal for the price. I'll be using two to shoot a wedding in two weeks. The articulating screen is very useful, backlit keys are a nice feature, UI is getting better with every body.

Main downsides I found on the 620 vs my old 510: The sound of the IS on both my 620 bodies is louder and much cheaper sounding than the 510. Mirror slap also seems louder and more pronounced. Finally, even with the HLD-5 I find the body uncomfortably small, whereas the 510 with 3rd party grip was perfect for me. Speaking of the HLD-5, Oly gives you a dial, but left the EV comp button off the grip. Lame! You gotta step up to the E-30 for that feature I suppose...

I suspect we'll see the 4xx and 5xx lines die off replaced by the 6xx series, E-30 replacement, and E-3 replacement. Exciting times in 4/3 world. Oly's gotta deliver the goods and produce a pro camera that's not only competitive to the market now, but 18 months from now. I can't wait to see what happens...

Drifting off topic slightly ... looking for alternatives, assuming one is prepared to abandon AF, one can choose from a wide range of mounts that can be adapted for 4/3 if one buys old manual focus lenses. But the second hand market is tricky, you can never be sure of the exact model you're getting, let alone the condition it will be in, so it's hard to find reviews to give guidance.

Are there any new lenses out there (400mm or 500mm) that can be focused manually on an adapter? Lots would focus "by wire" these days, wouldn't they, so they couldn't be used on an adapter.