New Sigma 150/600 contemporary (1 Viewer)

[Nick Leech]

Roy, have you seen enough yet to be convinced the IQ of the Siggy-C is superior to that of the Tamron 150-600 (especially at the 550-600mm end)?

Or is the "jury still out"?

 

[Roy C]

Roy, have you seen enough yet to be convinced the IQ of the Siggy-C is superior to that of the Tamron 150-600 (especially at the 550-600mm end)?

Or is the "jury still out"?

Just about every shot I have taken with the Siggy has been at 600mm and I have not complaints whatsoever as far as sharpness goes at the long end Nick.
I feel that the Sigma resolves fine detail a little better but it is hard to say for sure as I shot the Tammy with the FF (5D3) and I was often reach limited whereas I have shot the Siggy with the 7D2 just just about all of the time. To this end I will try it with the 5D3 this week to see how it pans out.
I am fairly sure that the AF is snappier on the Siggy but I will confirm this after using it with the FF.
I do think that the Sigma has a nicer feel to it somehow but at the end of the day it is IQ that matters.

 

[hosesbroadbill]

Tamron sold on ebay and shipped today. Happy to have the Sigma now and looking forward to bigger and better things.

 

[Roy C]

A couple more recent snaps with the lens. Only common stuff but good practice |=)|

 

[Roy C]

Spent an enjoyable (but frustrating) hour this morning trying to capture Swallows in flight. Mostly all binners but did manage a few near misses. Attached is about the best of them.

 

[hosesbroadbill]

Spent an enjoyable (but frustrating) hour this morning trying to capture Swallows in flight. Mostly all binners but did manage a few near misses. Attached is about the best of them.

Considering the subject that is quite impressive. Still don't have a exif reader. Could you tell me the settings on this please and also how much it was cropped?

Also how did you find the AF on the lens?

 

[the black fox]

looks bloody good to me roy ,i certainly would be pleased with that

 

[Roy C]

Considering the subject that is quite impressive. Still don't have a exif reader. Could you tell me the settings on this please and also how much it was cropped?

Also how did you find the AF on the lens?

It is just under 40% of the frame. f8, 1/8000 sec, ISO 2500, 600mm.
The lens seemed OK but I switched off the OS and the dock settings. On the Camera I changed the 1st image priority to the 'mid point' and 2nd image priority to 'speed' and used all 65 AF points.
I may play around a bit more with the priority settings next time and try 'Focus' and 'Mid' probably wont get as many shots but hopefully the in focus ones will be a bigger percentage.

 

[hosesbroadbill]

It is just under 40% of the frame. f8, 1/8000 sec, ISO 2500, 600mm.
The lens seemed OK but I switched off the OS and the dock settings. On the Camera I changed the 1st image priority to the 'mid point' and 2nd image priority to 'speed' and used all 65 AF points.
I may play around a bit more with the priority settings next time and try 'Focus' and 'Mid' probably wont get as many shots but hopefully the in focus ones will be a bigger percentage.

what is the advantage of the in camera settings. Since I got the 7d2 I have had them set to focus priority for 1st and 2nd image. Have not taken it off of that. Did you find that you got more sharp shots they way you have it set now? Was is just for tracking purposes? It would seem the opposite but honestly I do not know which would would better. When I tried getting the Martin shots I posted a while back I got very few in focus shots as it was so difficult to track the birds and then to have the camera set to focus priority it slowed down acquiring focus. But when I did manage to get them, they were sharp. So not sure if faster but less accurate focus is better or worse. Like I said, honestly have no clue which is better.

 

[Roy C]

what is the advantage of the in camera settings. Since I got the 7d2 I have had them set to focus priority for 1st and 2nd image. Have not taken it off of that. Did you find that you got more sharp shots they way you have it set now? Was is just for tracking purposes? It would seem the opposite but honestly I do not know which would would better. When I tried getting the Martin shots I posted a while back I got very few in focus shots as it was so difficult to track the birds and then to have the camera set to focus priority it slowed down acquiring focus. But when I did manage to get them, they were sharp. So not sure if faster but less accurate focus is better or worse. Like I said, honestly have no clue which is better.

The advantage of the in-Camera settings is that they are easy to change in the field . I most always use Focus priority for 1st and 2nd images for normal stuff but when trying to capture these hunting Swallows the AF will not fire until you have one perfectly in focus and even then it is not always that the shutter will fire in time. If you have the 2nd image as 'focus' as well then it is nigh on impossible to shoot a high speed burst (the 2nd image priority effects all the shots in a burst other than the first shot).
I find it impossible to track these birds in-flight as they most often only stay in the viewfinder for a second or two if you are lucky and even then they are up and down like a yoyo. For me it is just a case of rattling off a bust and hoping the occasional one will be in-focus and I can only do this if the 2nd image priority is not set to 'Focus'.
Like I said in my post I am going to try different combo next time, either way I am sure it is best to switch the OS off for fast undulating flyers like this. For me there is no point in using any of the Sigma dock settings in these circumstances.

 

[hosesbroadbill]

The advantage of the in-Camera settings is that they are easy to change in the field . I most always use Focus priority for 1st and 2nd images for normal stuff but when trying to capture these hunting Swallows the AF will not fire until you have one perfectly in focus and even then it is not always that the shutter will fire in time. If you have the 2nd image as 'focus' as well then it is nigh on impossible to shoot a high speed burst (the 2nd image priority effects all the shots in a burst other than the first shot).
I find it impossible to track these birds in-flight as they most often only stay in the viewfinder for a second or two if you are lucky and even then they are up and down like a yoyo. For me it is just a case of rattling off a bust and hoping the occasional one will be in-focus and I can only do this if the 2nd image priority is not set to 'Focus'.
Like I said in my post I am going to try different combo next time, either way I am sure it is best to switch the OS off for fast undulating flyers like this. For me there is no point in using any of the Sigma dock settings in these circumstances.

Agreed. No OS is best for sure. Curious how you make out with different settings. Perhaps I should expand my focus horizons a bit.

 

[Roy C]

I have come across a strange problem with the lens regarding the focus limiter settings. I have customised C1 in the dock but only the focus priory and the OS settings - the focus limiter setting has not been customised. C2 has not been customised at all. Now here is the weird thing, when I have C1 or C2 switched on all the none of the focus limiter options on the lens works, that is they all give the full range no matter what you switch it to on the lens. The only way I can get the full range of focus limiter options is by switching customisation off - Its no big deal for me as I use the full range just about all of the time but was wondering if anyone else has come across this?
p.s.
I have just read this in the dock manual The setting of SIGMA Optimization Pro is prioritized and the focus limiter switch which is incorporated in the lens is disabled when the Customization mode is effective. surely this should only be if you customise the Focus limiter range!!!!! but it looks like even if you do not touch the focus limiter settings the settings on the lens are disabled.

 

[the black fox]

On the sport I have C1 set for close range up to 10 mtrs and C2 set for long range 10 mtrs to infinity saves fiddling around with switches all the time ,works for me

 

[Roy C]

On the sport I have C1 set for close range up to 10 mtrs and C2 set for long range 10 mtrs to infinity saves fiddling around with switches all the time ,works for me

Yep, I will just have to customised C2 as well as C1 - I will leave C1 at full and put C2 at MFD to say, 15 mtrs for close range stuff.
I was thinking that if you did not customize the the focus limiter section then you could just carry on using the lens switch but it does not work like that :C

 

[the black fox]

Full tends to slow the focus down though Roy hence my two settings

 

[Roy C]

Full tends to slow the focus down though Roy hence my two settings

Yes I know that Jeff, that is why they put these focus limiters on the lenses but on balance I prefer to shoot most of the time with the full AF range. If you shoot within a given range then limiting the focus is fine but I never shoot from hides or managed reserves but am more of a walker that takes along a Camera and I want to be ready for anything that might pop-up. The only time I really want to limit the focus range is when I am shooting in the garden when something like MFD-10 metres is fine.
I could of course set a fairly large range via the dock but the wider the range the less gain you are going to get in terms of focus speed anyway.
There is a case with lenses like this to limit the far distance range anyway on the grounds that IQ is nothing special if you are not fairly near to the bird but I sometimes take distant record shots for my county birding organization website where fine detail and IQ is of no significance.
I was snapping some Swallows in flight the other day and the birds were coming out from their under tunnel nest site and flying around hunting insects before darting back into the tunnel to feed their young, most all of my shots were from at least 15-20 metres away. I was amazed when one of the birds suddenly pitched on a tree just 10 feet or so away from me, because I was on full AF range I was able to quickly take a burst before it was off again, I just had enough time to wind the zoom back to get it in the frame - in this case I would have missed the shot if I had a limiter set. Nothing special but I would have been kicking myself if I had missed it.
At the end of the day I guess we all have different needs from our gear and there is no one right way - its whatever suit you best as you say.

 

[Roy C]

I have just been trying out the new 'fine detail' picture style in DPP4, looks as if it could be useful for birds. I am thinking that it may picks up fine detail without that dreaded over sharpened look. Will do some more conversions.

 

[Roy C]

Got into some Dunlin in breeding plumage yesterday. Very difficult as they were hyperactive and feeding like there is no tomorrow. I was fairly disappointing with the results but that was probably down to me or the atmospherics. Nice to see them even though the shots were cr#p.

 

[the black fox]

Nothing wrong with either of those Roy ,better than I,m getting at the moment had bad man-flu all week

 

[Roy C]

Nothing wrong with either of those Roy ,better than I,m getting at the moment had bad man-flu all week

Lol, I hope you get better soon Jeff :t: