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Nikon D7000 and Sigma 300mm f2.8 (1 Viewer)

apbarr

Well-known member
Scotland
Out trying out my new set up. This photo was taken using the Sigma 1.4x converter. Any thoughts welcome.
 

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Looks nice and sharp, particularly the water droplets falling from the beak! Nicely composition as well.

That makes me tempted to try out the Sigma 300 2.8 for my own D7000!
 
Thanks, I've just moved back to Nikon after a short lived move to the light side. Bought the Sigma as a replacement for the Canon version and results so far are promising. Seems very good value for money.
 
It looks great to me Alex, I'm thinking of getting this combo for myself and seeing this makes me want to reach for the cheque book even more.
 
It looks great to me Alex, I'm thinking of getting this combo for myself and seeing this makes me want to reach for the cheque book even more.

I'm sure you won't regret it, I picked my lens up used from MPB Photographic for a good price so it's probably worth looking around.
 
If you had provided a full resolution image, it would have been more interesting...but it's a nice shot, especially considering you're using a TC.

I've been a Canon guy for a while, although the D800 looks great to me, if I could afford one. However, I have Canon lenses which I prefer over their Nikon counterparts, so it would be problematic to go without AF, to try and use them on a Nikon body. (I'll admit there is one Nikon lens I definitely want to try, though...which clearly is better than the Canon version.)

But this Sigma 300 f/2.8 lens has interested me in the past. I'm pretty sure it has even been taken on Space Shuttle missions...I recall seeing it in a brief shot, I believe it was in an IMAX movie.

I've wanted to try it, but none of the rental places stock them; they only stock the 120-300 f/2.8 zoom. However, the new OS version of the zoom looks like it would be very nice, especially since the stabilization didn't add to the retail price any. The published MTF charts do also seem to show improvement. It's a couple of pounds heavier than the prime version, though.

I emailed a wildlife primate photographer who sold his Sigma 300 and replaced it with the previous Canon 300 (there's a version 2 of it out now as well). He said the Sigma had severe CA, and the Canon had none.

I personally have rented the Canon 500 and 200 supertelephotos...and preferred the 200. I couldn't get the 500 to AF accurately no matter how I set the microadjustment, but the 200 was the sharpest lens I've ever tried, by far, and needed no focus tweaking. It also rendered color in a way that made my Canon camera look like medium format digital! To top it off, I was getting sharp exposures (of stationary objects) of over half a second well after sunset...while mounted not on a tripod, but a monopod! The IS is clearly superb.

I have heard of people buying the Sigma 300 f/2.8 prime for around $1800 (US dollars) on ebay. Every time I search, I can't find it. That would definitely be worth the price. For $3000 though, I suspect the zoom would be better...or else a used Canon.
 
If you had provided a full resolution image, it would have been more interesting...but it's a nice shot, especially considering you're using a TC.

There's a larger version on my Flickr page but still not full resolution.
I sold my Canon 300mm f2.8 for around $2,600 more than I paid for the Sigma. The new 120-300mm Sigma was also around $1,000 more than I paid for the 300 prime so I decided it was worth trying it out. I have noticed a bit of CA in objects that are well out of focus but nothing that presents a problem so far. I'd like to try out the 120-300 OS at some point in the future.
 
Very interesting. Yes I saw the larger image. It's good that you got such a great price on it, also. I believe the "out of focus" CA is called "bokeh fringing". I've seen it a lot on primes in the 50 to 85mm range, but never on a long supertelephoto...so that's an interesting thing to know also.

Did you switch from a Canon to the D7000? Was it one of the Rebel models? The D7000 does produce a somewhat technically better image than the 7D (with better high ISO performance), but overall I doubt it's as capable of a camera. Certainly the replacement for the 7D will be much better than it, but at this rate, Nikon just may trump them again before it comes out! I don't own a 7D, though. And in my opinion, the 60D was a big mistake for them to introduce.
 
Very interesting. Yes I saw the larger image. It's good that you got such a great price on it, also. I believe the "out of focus" CA is called "bokeh fringing". I've seen it a lot on primes in the 50 to 85mm range, but never on a long supertelephoto...so that's an interesting thing to know also.

Did you switch from a Canon to the D7000? Was it one of the Rebel models? The D7000 does produce a somewhat technically better image than the 7D (with better high ISO performance), but overall I doubt it's as capable of a camera. Certainly the replacement for the 7D will be much better than it, but at this rate, Nikon just may trump them again before it comes out! I don't own a 7D, though. And in my opinion, the 60D was a big mistake for them to introduce.

I switched from a 7D and so far I've no regrets. Too early to tell if I'll regret it in the longer term.
 
Ok, my mistake...I haven't seen that. I had asked a D7000 owner in the past if it had it, and he didn't think it did. That makes it a better camera in my opinion, then.
 
What do you mean by af micro adjustment.

Thanks.

You are able to make fine adjustments to the autofocus point either moving it further away from or closer to the camera. Your chosen setting is then stored by the camera and used whenever that particular lens is used. Up to 12 lenses can be set with individual settings.
 
I've been a Canon guy for a while, although the D800 looks great to me, if I could afford one. However, I have Canon lenses which I prefer over their Nikon counterparts, so it would be problematic to go without AF, to try and use them on a Nikon body. (I'll admit there is one Nikon lens I definitely want to try, though...which clearly is better than the Canon version.)

.

While adapters allow Nikon lenses on a Canon body, it appears the reverse (Canon lens on Nikon body) is not possible - I've searched for such an adapter without success
 
While adapters allow Nikon lenses on a Canon body, it appears the reverse (Canon lens on Nikon body) is not possible - I've searched for such an adapter without success

Canon has a shorter registration distance (rear lens element to sensor), Pentax falls in the middle (almost the same as Zeiss) and Nikon has a much longer reg dist.

This is why it's easy to find adaptors for Canon cameras to take other brand lenses (as effectively all they are doing is adding a glass-less extension tube with electrical contacts) and much more difficult for Nikon (as they have to have an optical converging lens inside which then detracts from the IQ and makes them much more expensive).
 
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Thanks for the clarification Frogfish.

It's also a shame the distance from lens to sensor in Leica cameras is so short, because none of their M mount lenses will work on "crop" and larger sensors from other brands...only on micro four thirds cameras. It might be possible for Leica to make versions of their M lenses that will mount on other brands, but they don't seem to want to. I guess they make enough profit from their partnership with Panasonic. The M lenses certainly are priced about as high or higher than all others. The one I would love to try is the 75mm f/2 Summicron. It looks like its price has come down a bit since last I checked, it's around $2700 now. It used to be $3700. The 50mm f/.95 Noctolux is still around $10k, I think.

I use a Fotodiox adapter (with "dandelion" focus confirmation chip) to mount a Nikon-mount lens to my Canon, the Cosina Voigtlander 58mm f/1.4. It is truly a magical lens. The adapter needed some tweaking to tighten it, and that damaged my admittedly cheap jeweler's screwdriver!

The bokeh highlights via this little Voigtlander may not be quite as smooth as the very best "normal" lenses in terms of bokeh...although they're smooth enough for me...but oh that sharpness!! Other than the 50mm Zeiss Makro Planar (which is an f/2 maximum lens, not 1.4)...I do believe this Voigtlander may be the absolute sharpest ~50mm lens there is. I've only used it on my crop camera, but I doubt the IQ drops off much even on a full frame, to the corners. One other quirk is that it won't meter light very accurately on my camera, with the aperture closed down. But it's possible any lens would do the same, with a manual aperture ring...since the only way to mimic light metering with automatic lenses to compare, would be to try to hold down the "depth of field preview" button while light metering. I doubt many DSLR's can do that, if any...nor would you want to, obviously.

The corners on the crop sensor via this lens, wide open (at least at or near infinity focus) stay absolutely sharp...with essentially zero lateral CA...and a small to normal amount of longitudinal (bokeh) CA. And there's very little vignetting wide open, if any...which is astounding and unheard of, to me. The color and contrast are up there near or with some of the very best, as well. Certainly the Canon 85mm f/1.2 "magic canonball" had more vignetting at f/2.2 than this Voigtlander has at f/1.4, on my camera. That 85mm also wasn't as sharp anywhere near the wide aperture end. By f/5.6 the "canonball" was a bit sharper than the Voigtlander is at the same aperture. But that's a huge, heavy, motor-focus driven $2000 lens!

Not many people know or care about this Voigtlander "Nokton", but it's a pleasure to use. Obviously it is "only" manual focus, and manual aperture. The build and feel are identical to other Zeiss lenses I have rented...and at much lower cost. It was the Photozone.de resolution test that ultimately convinced me to try this lens. I will probably never sell it.
 
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Canon has a shorter registration distance (rear lens element to sensor), Pentax falls in the middle (almost the same as Zeiss) and Nikon has a much longer reg dist.

This is why it's easy to find adaptors for Canon cameras to take other brand lenses (as effectively all they are doing is adding a glass-less extension tube with electrical contacts) and much more difficult for Nikon (as they have to have an optical converging lens inside which then detracts from the IQ and makes them much more expensive).

The need for the optical converging lens is to allow such combinations to focus to infinity. Without it only macro work is possible. One Canon combination needing adapter glass is FD mount lens to EOS mount camera and explains the difference in price between apparently identical adapters

Where electrical contacts exist, they power a chip which will allow the camera to select the correct aperture in appropriate mode ( eg Canon AV) and give confirmation of AF
 
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The need for the optical converging lens is to allow such combinations to focus to infinity. Without it only macro work is possible. One Canon combination needing adapter glass is FD mount lens to EOS mount camera and explains the difference in price between apparently identical adapters

Where electrical contacts exist, they power a chip which will allow the camera to select the correct aperture in appropriate mode ( eg Canon AV) and give confirmation of AF


Interesting. According to wikipedia, the Canon FD mount was abandoned by 1992, and had no provision for autofocus. It was replaced by the EF mount. So I'm not sure how there could be electrical contacts on an FD mount lens. In any case, are there any FD lenses which would merit going to the trouble to try to use them on newer EOS bodies?
 
The "electrical contacts" are on the adapter and tell the camera body that something is attatched to it, so it can meter light and confirm autofocus. Focusing has to be done manually, you just get a bleep when correct. Below cut & pasted from 2 online auctions (you may deduce that most sellers are located in Asia)

Listing details

AF Confirm Canon FD To Canon EOS EF Mount Adapter

AF chip, with stop screw, lock pin,

Focus Infinity

With Canon front and rear caps

Deliver with Registration

Product Features:

For using Canon EOS cameras with Canon FD lens. It has correction optic and therefore focusing can be to infinity.

This AF-Confirm adapter is an emulation of Canon EF auto-focus lens and has the electronics to communicate with the EOS camera and bring back these two Great Features!! By using our adapter your Canon FD lenses can trigger the Focus Confirmation indicator and you can Really get the desired Light Metering Modes as you wish.

It is a solution you can purchase for your Canon FD lenses and enjoy instantly the fun of using manual focus lenses with focus confirmation and various light metering modes. No more painful focus guessing and difficulties in telling correct focus by naked eye.

You should remember that the pusher with the fixed ring doesn’t work, so diaphragm control of the lens is set manually. This adapter can work with lenses having both only automatic diaphragm (A) and selector A/M (automatic/manual diaphragm). It is possible to use Macro rings and other accessories.

Working with Canon FD lenses acknowledgement of the focusing with green light is not made. The aperture is set «0.0». Expo-modes:

1.P (program) – identical to Av mode;
2.Tv (flash priority) – doesn’t work;
3.Av (diaphragm priority) – works as usual;
4.M (manual) – aperture and flash are changed. Inaccuracy of exposure defining is indicated by expo-correction.

Settings:

1.Put red marks of the adapter and lens collar together.
2.Turn the adapter clockwise till the fixative click.
3.Set Canon FD lens.


Points to consider.
1. where a lens within the adapter is needed for infinity focus, there will be loss of IQ
2. there are old camera lenses, and old camera lenses. Carl Zeiss lenses are still sought after, often with M42 mount, which can be attatched to a Canon EOS body without the need for glass in the adapter.
3. SLR equipment is finding its way to car boot sales, charity shops, online auction sites and it is possible to purchase equipment for a few pounds
 
 

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