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New Sigma 150/600 (4 Viewers)
- Thread starter GYRob
- Start date
Barred Wobbler
Well-known member
I like it.
It arrived at 9.20 this morning. By 9.45 it was in the car.
I fired off a few shots straight out of the box and the images were soft, a marsh harrier in flight. The distance and haze didn't help, but it was clear it wasn't focussing right. I took some shots of a fence post and barbed wire and guessed some micro-adjustment. Looking at the images I got my guess wasn't too far off.
The USB dock was out of stock, so I'll leave the final fine-tuning until it arrives, but I might try a bit of refinement of the micro-adjustment tomorrow if I get the light. I did intend to try it with the Canon 1.4x today, but when I put my hand in my pocket, the case was there, but the extender was still on the 400mm/5.6 that I'd just taken off the camera to fit the Sigma, and that was at home.
Two shots here, hand-held, both about 50% of the linear measure of the images.
It's a bit of a beast, but I lugged it around for 4 hours, covering about 5 miles without a problem.
I'd be pleased to see your settings - could save a lot of effort.
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the black fox
Well-known member
neither of those is to far out ,to save you all the faffing about i have done .get a USB dock first ,don't mess about with M.A in camera as when you fine tune it you will realise as i did that it wasn't out at all ,my gut feeling is these lenses are set middle of the road .when you have a dock ,do the firmware upgrade first ,then in C1 set your o.s to dynamic mode and your a/f to focus point priority .
it really changes the whole performance of the lens ,any in camera fine tune MA can then be done afterwards if needed
it really changes the whole performance of the lens ,any in camera fine tune MA can then be done afterwards if needed
Barred Wobbler
Well-known member
I had an email this evening from Bristol Cameras. The USB dock will be dispatched early next week.
I must say they've been good. Ordered late on Tuesday, lens delivered early today. Included in the bundle was a Sigma 105mm protector filter for the front of the lens. It was included on the website at the bottom of the order, but I hadn't noticed it was there in the package as a freebee.
Nice surprise when I opened the box.
Another shot from this morning. This was a rapid reaction, point-and-shoot effort as the ducks came and went. The crop is near as dammit full frame.
I must say they've been good. Ordered late on Tuesday, lens delivered early today. Included in the bundle was a Sigma 105mm protector filter for the front of the lens. It was included on the website at the bottom of the order, but I hadn't noticed it was there in the package as a freebee.
Nice surprise when I opened the box.
Another shot from this morning. This was a rapid reaction, point-and-shoot effort as the ducks came and went. The crop is near as dammit full frame.
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The centre of balance of the bare lens is to the front of the lens but it should be as your camera will tilt it towards the rear, by how much will depend on the weight of your camera.
Mine didn't need the firmware updating, I think the ones being delivered now are all up to date.
Barred Wobbler
Well-known member
I wasn't referring to a bare lens. I was referring to the lens with a Nikon camera attached when I was handling it. I think I know enough about moments to realise that the weight of a camera would make a difference. I'm not a complete idiot.
As it is, mine is still front-heavy, but by moving the sliding plate on my tripod back it helped a bit, although even then it was front heavy.
The trouble is, 99% my shots aren't on a tripod. They are hand-held and I don't have a sliding plate on my hand. I found the tripod mount very intrusive and uncomfortable in use and I look forward to the new mount when they release it.
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I would test the IQ with and without that filter. I have yet to see a test where the filter did not noticeably diminish the IQ. (but your filter might be that rare quality that beats the odds).
Niels
the black fox
Well-known member
nice shot it looks like the focus has picked up on the rear bird the best ,but still both are sharp enough ,you can even make out water droplets on the front one .when you do that a/f on the main focus point it helps and the dynamic o.s adjustment helps to keep it steady on target .btw you can download the manual for the dock from sigma worth a read through
Paul - Herts
Paul Herts
Tamron 150-600 vs Sigma 150-600 Sport, both on mkiii at f8, centre frame the Sigma just shades it but after that the Sigma wins hands down
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/...meraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=7&APIComp=2
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/...meraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=7&APIComp=2
Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
If shooting on a crop Camera you can disregard the 'corner' performance Paul especially so if you also crop your images. The mid frame does look better on the Sigma for sure as you would expect. I wonder if they will do the test with crop Cameras as you can sometimes get entirely different results.
It will be interesting to see how the 'C' compares with the Tammy (or the 'S') in the TDP controlled tests.
BTW, the Siggy does not look too bad at 840mm on the FF cam
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Paul - Herts
Paul Herts
That's a very good point Roy and I have been sat at work this morning with not much to do so have been doing some comparisons.
Both Tamron and Sigma at 400mm, wide open, the Tamron is much sharper:
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/...meraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=7&APIComp=2
Tamron at 400mm vs Canon 400mm f5.6 is very close with the Canon having the edge.
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/...LensComp=278&CameraComp=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=0
For my purposes, the extra reach over 400mm is a bonus but at the cost of losing the sharpness as 400mm is something I really don't want. Comparing the Tamron at 300mm with the 300 f4 I also have is interesting. Both lenses wide open the Canon is clearly better but closed down to f8 there isn't much difference.
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/...meraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=3
Both Tamron and Sigma at 400mm, wide open, the Tamron is much sharper:
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/...meraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=7&APIComp=2
Tamron at 400mm vs Canon 400mm f5.6 is very close with the Canon having the edge.
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/...LensComp=278&CameraComp=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=0
For my purposes, the extra reach over 400mm is a bonus but at the cost of losing the sharpness as 400mm is something I really don't want. Comparing the Tamron at 300mm with the 300 f4 I also have is interesting. Both lenses wide open the Canon is clearly better but closed down to f8 there isn't much difference.
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/...meraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=3
Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
Yep, I have looked at just about every comparison there is on there for Canon fit lenses.Have you had a look at what difference the Cameras makes to these TDP lens comparisons? - try comparing the 400/5.6 with the 1D MKIII v the 60D.
Full frame Cameras are a lot more forgiving so its a shame that they have not done the Tammy or Sigma with a crop Camera that most folks on here would be using.
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Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
I would disagree that the Tammy is much sharper at 400mm, both wide open Paul - I would say that mid-frame the Sigma just nicks it.
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the black fox
Well-known member
all these test results are just that unfortunately ,you can read into them what you want .its what they produce in real world shooting that counts ,i have tended to stop down my sports lens to f8 for a bit to get better d.o.f must try going back to f6.3 again now i have tuned it .
still can't make up my mind either which camera is best with it they both have there advantages .the 70d for more reach and finer detail ,the 1d3 for faster a/f and smoother to process files might do some test shots in the garden in a bit to see .
still can't make up my mind either which camera is best with it they both have there advantages .the 70d for more reach and finer detail ,the 1d3 for faster a/f and smoother to process files might do some test shots in the garden in a bit to see .
Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
There is a fair bit of difference between f6.3 and f8 at 600mm according to TDP (on both the Tammy and Sigma S). I know from first hand experience that the Tammy was better at f8.
BTW at what point does the Sigma S drop from f6.3 to f5.6? I know the Tammy is f5.6 at 400mm but according to TDP the Sigma could well be still at f6.3 at 400mm?
BTW at what point does the Sigma S drop from f6.3 to f5.6? I know the Tammy is f5.6 at 400mm but according to TDP the Sigma could well be still at f6.3 at 400mm?
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Paul - Herts
Paul Herts
That link is wrong - I seem to have linked to them both at 600 f8 not 400. I was quite bleary eyed at the time but the Tamron was most definitely much sharper, so much so that I wondered if there was something wrong with the Sigma they had used.
I will look again next time I am on the laptop.
Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
Totally disagree if one is trying to compare two different lenses, even if someone has both lenses in the field at the same time (an absolute necessity to compare two lenses) you still have other elements that could skew the results - Light at time of release, settings, and most especially camera shake unless the the set-up is locked down on a good tripod and head and with a remote release.
I have seen very good shots from a lenses like the Tamron 150-600 and very poor shots from lenses like the Canon 600/4 MikII but that does not mean that the Tammy would be the better lens - two different photographers at two different times is meaningless when trying to compare.
The only real way to compare IQ is to shoot both lenses on the same Camera in controlled conditions and at varying f stops, to this end I have always found the digital pictures lens tool to be a very good indication of a lenses capabilities.
Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
Yes I know your link was wrong Paul but I went in and compared the Tammy wide open (f5.6) at 400mm and the sigma wide open (f6.3) at 400mm and to my mind the Sigma slightly shaded it in mid-frame.
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I bought the sigma 150-600 for nikon a couple of months ago and I had the Tamron before. The Sigma is the better lens in everything except stabilization I would say.
I might just be lazy but the tamron stabilizer worked with whatever shutter speed i used handheld. It did take a second to settle but it was quite good after that.
The Sigma on the other hand is not as effective and I have noticed my images get soft if I shoot with OS turned on with shutter speeds of or faster then 1/500. This is annoying since I most often walk around with this lens and use shutter speeds from 1/125 to 1/2000.
I'm gonna have to try this out some more but it is bad when I get a tack sharp image with 1/125 and then switch to 1/500 just to see the same image slightly blurred. I just have to accept this if it is how the OS works.
Anyone else experienced this?
Anyway, the lens is very sharp and I love the build quality, autofocus etc.
I have some images from this lens and the Nikon D750 on my blog.
http://www.ezelius.com/birds/spring-time/
http://www.ezelius.com/birds/a-walk-around-angarnsjoangen/
http://www.ezelius.com/birds/mirrors/
http://www.ezelius.com/birds/spring-weather/
http://www.ezelius.com/birds/saturday-photowalk/
http://www.ezelius.com/birds/fysingen-portraits/
http://www.ezelius.com/birds/the-european-robin/
I might just be lazy but the tamron stabilizer worked with whatever shutter speed i used handheld. It did take a second to settle but it was quite good after that.
The Sigma on the other hand is not as effective and I have noticed my images get soft if I shoot with OS turned on with shutter speeds of or faster then 1/500. This is annoying since I most often walk around with this lens and use shutter speeds from 1/125 to 1/2000.
I'm gonna have to try this out some more but it is bad when I get a tack sharp image with 1/125 and then switch to 1/500 just to see the same image slightly blurred. I just have to accept this if it is how the OS works.
Anyone else experienced this?
Anyway, the lens is very sharp and I love the build quality, autofocus etc.
I have some images from this lens and the Nikon D750 on my blog.
http://www.ezelius.com/birds/spring-time/
http://www.ezelius.com/birds/a-walk-around-angarnsjoangen/
http://www.ezelius.com/birds/mirrors/
http://www.ezelius.com/birds/spring-weather/
http://www.ezelius.com/birds/saturday-photowalk/
http://www.ezelius.com/birds/fysingen-portraits/
http://www.ezelius.com/birds/the-european-robin/
