The new Sigma 150-500mm lens (1 Viewer)

For anyone interested, a gallery of test bird photos from the new image-stabilised Sigma 150-500mm lens appears on the Birding World website, www.birdingworld.co.uk

They look very impressive. I wonder if they will ever do it in four-thirds format?

Thanks for posting, some encouraging shots there with this new lens esp some of the 500mm ones at slowish shutter speeds.

Encouraging results. However, weighing in at just over 1.9kg I'm far from convinced about the "comfortably hand-holdable" description. Many thanks to the un-named photographer for publishing the results.

Great shots! I'm pretty sure that I will order the lens soon.

DonFrambach said:

Great shots! I'm pretty sure that I will order the lens soon.

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i just did thoes results are very encoraging and as Roy says slow shutter on some of them - i also see it was a1sevo on the perched shots .
Rob.

A couple of shots taken with the Sigma 150-500. The Ringed Plover chick was quite close,the Oystercatchers were quite a distance away.First shot is hand held,2cnd resting on a bean bag in the hide .
Both these shots were taken with the 450D.

Very Nice images Christine, the lens looks good and full of potential, I am sure we will see many more images from this lens once people cotton onto it, and it becomes more available.
regards I4ani.

If only it was just a teeny weeny bit faster than 6.3...

For the money its rather good.aprox 100% crop pp done.
hand held mk3 1/320 f6.3 iso 200
Rob.

Don`t know how much it costs but there are a few shots there that are outstanding. But, you knew it was coming, there are also a few iffy shots in my opinion. Especially the Lapwing which looks like it has been over processed ?

Looks very impressive. Out of curiosity Rob, how far away was the bird?

I'd be interested to see how it fares with a (Sigma) 1.4x converter too.

Martin Thomas said:

Looks very impressive. Out of curiosity Rob, how far away was the bird?

I'd be interested to see how it fares with a (Sigma) 1.4x converter too.

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APROX 25/30ft
this is full frame closer would be better im sure . dont have that tc will try my ef1.4 when i get a chance,i dont exspect to much though
Rob.

I must admit, that I am a little disappointed as I had expected a bit more feather detail. But according to price / performance I think the lens is OK!

Thanks for taking the trouble to reply Rob. I didn't mean to direct the request at you for testing with the converter - sorry if it came across that way but must say I'm curious how it fares!

Cheers.

Lens looks good for using slow shutter speeds, but image quality doesn't seem as good as my old Tamron 200-500. Difficult to tell with images on the web though.

Rob, Do you have one of these lenses ? If you do then it would be good if you could post some piccies up please.

JohnZ said:

Rob, Do you have one of these lenses ? If you do then it would be good if you could post some piccies up please.

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yes i have one - do you mean Pics of the lens ?
will post some tomorrow .
Rob.

Looking at the shots on birding world and Rob's sparrow I'd say the image quality looks very simialr to the Sigma 170-500, which given the price was what I was expecting.

Rob - I'd be interested to hear how you feel OS compares to IS, does it seem to be as effective? If so it would be very interesting if Sigma were to add OS to the 300 f2.8 and 500 f4.5. Also what's the Af speed like, how does it compare to your other lenses?

i did a little revew in another forum on my thought's
To me its quite light feel's nice in the hand and easy to swing up onto a bird in flight just did that with this shot OS is slower to startup than IS but that should not be a problem .
The zoom ring is tight but it will ease off with use im sure.
I think its well made although im sure the felty outer surface will were off with use not that that bothers me at all.
its a shame it does not have a limit switch as it does take longer to focus if you lose the bird SO dont lose it
The triopd ring is nice and big enough to hold onto when carrying the len's /camera and on that plate at the back your thum almost fits in the gap between the camera and plate (ITS AT THE BACK OF THE TRIPOD PLATE ) but it feels sharp as the gap is just a little small well it is for my thum .
I bought the lens mostly for aircraft and a little birding and im sure it will do the job nicely AF is very fast on my MK3 in fact it suprised me just how quick it was .
Iv only shot at 500mm at the moment as this should be were it would not be at it best However it is very good at 500mm f6.3 It does need a fair bit of light ( i like fast SS when hand holding )but if your happly to shoot at 400 iso and above then it will be fine in bright non sunny day's
the bottom line
Im lucky enough to be able to buy most things i want and would not be bothered if i lost money having tried something and not likeing it then selling it on at a loss .
Im keeping this lens, i like it and it fills a zoom gap (dont like the 100/400 ) its a nice range has OS fast AF and from my small tests the IQ is very good and must be close to the ef 100/400 .
added.
I use to have a 170/500 and did not like it at all IQ was not as good as this lens the OS works just like IS the image settels very nicely its just slower at start up. IS half a second OS 1 second .
..just back from field testing the lens. the shot was the best i managed today 1dmk3 - lens at 500mm 1/640 f6.3 iso 200 resting on car roof .the lack of a limit switch showed itself today now and then wile trying BIF i lost the bird of the focus point and it would go way out of focus and that made it very hard to find the bird again very hard.
i found the best thing to do is point it at the ground aprox distance of the bird and get focus back then try for the bird again not easy to do.
Rob.