New Sigma 150/600 contemporary (1 Viewer)

jshen808 · Jul 7, 2015

@ Roy C

Your posted picture is super shot!

The Contemporary has "potential", it's saving grace may be it's ability to micro adjust the focus. I have not found a good working "formula" for the m.a. yet, right now I'm back to shooting at default "0's", and it's decent for me, as long as I change my D3300 camera's image setting from "L" large 24mp to "M" medium 13.5mp, then the images are sharp enough.. but I'm like you, I desire to be even sharper and better quality. Please take a look at two pics I took below, these are very tiny and small African Waxbills, these pics were taken with a m.a. I was working on, using vivid colour default setting anf with basic post processings, image sizes 1800x1200..

http://www.pbase.com/image/160561357/original

http://www.pbase.com/image/160561360/original

Cheers, John

Bsmooth · Jul 7, 2015

I've heard so much about this lens and the one from Tamron, and seen great images from each. So far the Sigma looks to have slightly better image quality, but its pretty close. Plus with a lens this long, theres a lot of others things that come into play as well, so its difficult to say one lens is far above and beyond the other.
Roy thats a good image, but it seems to be slightly focused just in fron of th bird. If you look at the branch its on, its in very good focus. Its probably only a matter of a fraction of inches or even a fraction of an inch .
Do most use this lens with a tripod or just freehand ?

Ad B · Jul 7, 2015

Hi,

It's a pitty, Roy C has left the building...
But that's hís choice.
Okay, the 150-600 lenses (both Sigma and Tamron) aren't the best lenses. Several are much better.
But these lenses are much, much more expensive and much heavier.
I am going to enjoy this Sigma for a long time, I hope.
I don't see the sometimes very good pictures of others as "self promotion".
It are examples to learn from, ask questions and make comments (possitive comments are always welkom...)
So others, please keep on posting and don't let yourself drag into that negative spiral.
Enjoy your hobby, enjoy photography!!

B

Ad B

tommybj · Jul 7, 2015

jshen808 said:
@ tommybj

For your D7100 camera, please try this, set you camera's image size setting down to 4800x3200 (15.36mp). On your lens, set the micro adjustment on focus to defaults (all "0"). Then take some test pictures, and see if your results are better. Please give it a try okay

Cheers, John

Hi John. I have tried your suggestion to set it at 4800x3200( as I am shooting raw, the only way to do that is to set the camera as 1.3 dx) and setting ma on lens at zero and I was glad to see it helped allot. But the odd part is that I tried to put the settings at 6000x4000 and they turned out ok, considering it was clouded with dark skies. So maybe my first shots which looked awful were user error big time

. By the way, your pictures of the African Waxbill looks very sharp to me

Cheers Tommy

jshen808 · Jul 7, 2015

tommybj said:
Hi John. I have tried your suggestion to set it at 4800x3200( as I am shooting raw, the only way to do that is to set the camera as 1.3 dx) and setting ma on lens at zero and I was glad to see it helped allot. But the odd part is that I tried to put the settings at 6000x4000 and they turned out ok, considering it was clouded with dark skies. So maybe my first shots which looked awful were user error big time . By the way, your pictures of the African Waxbill looks very sharp to me
Cheers Tommy

Tommy,

Thanks for your kind comment!

..and I'm glad things are working good for your camera and lens :t:

Cheers, John

jshen808 · Jul 7, 2015

Ad B said:
Hi,

It's a pitty, Roy C has left the building...
But that's hís choice.
Okay, the 150-600 lenses (both Sigma and Tamron) aren't the best lenses. Several are much better.
But these lenses are much, much more expensive and much heavier.
I am going to enjoy this Sigma for a long time, I hope.
I don't see the sometimes very good pictures of others as "self promotion".
It are examples to learn from, ask questions and make comments (possitive comments are always welkom...)
So others, please keep on posting and don't let yourself drag into that negative spiral.
Enjoy your hobby, enjoy photography!!

B
Ad B

Ad B,

I'm hoping Roy changes his mind about leaving, he has a lot of experience and knowledge to share.

I'm with you about us keep on sharing and encouraging the learning and growth of our hobby and photography :t:

Cheers, John

tommybj · Jul 18, 2015

Hi.
I've had the C for a month now and it has taken a while to get where I am today. I had trouble with the focus and MA and has been going through all kind of setups to get where I am today. I first tried to shoot without any MA from both camera and lens but I was not happy with the result. Then I tried to MA with DotTune as recommended by many here and other places. I got some odd readings and not allways the same if i went through the DotTune ones again. I had readings at 600 mm /14 meters from -5 to +8 all depending of the sheet I used. I then got recommended by John (jshen808):t: to reset all settings in lens and camera (Nikon D7100) and shoot in 1.3x mode (15,6 mp) and it went alot better but still not good enough. I then tried to do a new setup using DotTune and used the average measurement gotten from the very different results. It didn't get any better and today I dediced to start all over again, but this time i would use a pheasant feather because of the fine details in the feather. I took 3 pictures at each adjustment from +5 to -5 to rule out any shaking from tripod. At 600 mm / 6 meters I saw a big difference on IQ between no MA and +2, where i got the best result. I must say, i'm much closer at this point to get better pictures.
I'll attached some pictures taken today, I still think the seagull shows a little front focus, but think its only needs a +1 adjustment in the lens. Pictures is no crop and all settings in LR set to Zero, even the default sharpening.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/7829942@N07/19811085295/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/7829942@N07/19803757102/in/dateposted-public/

So my recommndation is not to use DotTune if you own a Nikon D7100, use a feather or anything else with fine details.

Retrodaz · Jul 22, 2015

I can't decide between this and the tamron. I am also getting the canon 7d mk2

stevo · Jul 22, 2015

Personally speaking i'd get the sigma,simply because of the DOC that you can buy allowing customization.

Cheers.

Steve.

Retrodaz · Jul 23, 2015

Has anyone used the Sigma with a 1.4 TK yet on a 7D MK 2?

nikonmike · Sep 18, 2015

Thought i would add my experiences to this thread,i had the Tamron 150-600 in Nikon mount on a D7100 for nearly a year,during that time it went back twice for what is a common fault with Nikon mount,focus freeze,finally i returned it to the dealer and got a full refund,added the refund to my D7100 and got a D750,saying i was finished with long lenses.
Long lenses are a drug though and at the moment i have the Sigma 150-600 C on loan,struggling to get the weather for proper test shots so i took it out on the front to try the combination on cars moving towards me.

12 shots of this BMW coming at me @ 30 mph.all sharp so i thought wonder what the detail is like,the car was 60 yds away for this shot,the crop was at 300% according to photoshop and you can read the post code.
What i am saying is ime very impressed with this lens,its certainly as good as the Tamron and may prove to have the edge on it.

hosesbroadbill · Sep 18, 2015

jshen808 · Sep 18, 2015

nikonmike said:
Thought i would add my experiences to this thread,i had the Tamron 150-600 in Nikon mount on a D7100 for nearly a year,during that time it went back twice for what is a common fault with Nikon mount,focus freeze,finally i returned it to the dealer and got a full refund,added the refund to my D7100 and got a D750,saying i was finished with long lenses.
Long lenses are a drug though and at the moment i have the Sigma 150-600 C on loan,struggling to get the weather for proper test shots so i took it out on the front to try the combination on cars moving towards me.

12 shots of this BMW coming at me @ 30 mph.all sharp so i thought wonder what the detail is like,the car was 60 yds away for this shot,the crop was at 300% according to photoshop and you can read the post code.
What i am saying is ime very impressed with this lens,its certainly as good as the Tamron and may prove to have the edge on it.

That's great shot! Did you loan the lens from a friend or a camera/lens store? I wonder if any lens micro adjustments was done to this lens, and if has, wonder what are they? Right now I'm still struggling to find the best micro adjustments for this lens, I really think the potential is there. Thanks!

nikonmike · Sep 19, 2015

jshen808 said:
That's great shot! Did you loan the lens from a friend or a camera/lens store? I wonder if any lens micro adjustments was done to this lens, and if has, wonder what are they? Right now I'm still struggling to find the best micro adjustments for this lens, I really think the potential is there. Thanks!

Thanks

Its actually a customer return as he felt the OS wasn't working,after a few plays with it i can see where he was coming from,there is very little in the way of visual confirmation its clicked in.
There has been no micro adjustment to the lens and none in camera,if i decide it needs any i will first use my normal long lens method which is,600mm at the closets focusing i am likley to need and the lens open wide,unless there is something wrong with the lens the extra DOF should help with all other settings.

Roy C · Sep 23, 2015

I guess most of you already know it but for any that does not there is a new Firmware update for both the 150-600 S and 150-600 C, I think it is only for Canon. It is to the to improve the AF accuracy when attached to the TELE CONVERTER TC-1401. I have always been happy with the performance of my 'C' with a 1.4x tc (Canon MkII) but updated the firmware today just in case it also effects my tc. I tried it out this afternoon with the 1.4x tc attached and it worked fine even though the light was absolutely dire. The update take just a couple of minutes with the dock.

micloi · Sep 23, 2015

I reported to sigma as soon as i received my Canon fit 150-600 the issues with the AF with the Sigma 1.4x TC and they brushed it off...

Barred Wobbler · Sep 23, 2015

Roy C said:
I guess most of you already know it but for any that does not there is a new Firmware update for both the 150-600 S and 150-600 C, I think it is only for Canon. It is to the to improve the AF accuracy when attached to the TELE CONVERTER TC-1401. I have always been happy with the performance of my 'C' with a 1.4x tc (Canon MkII) but updated the firmware today just in case it also effects my tc. I tried it out this afternoon with the 1.4x tc attached and it worked fine even though the light was absolutely dire. The update take just a couple of minutes with the dock.

Good to know that Roy, because I've never been able to get my 150-600 Sport to autofocus with the 1.4 teleconverter, either the Canon MkIII that I owned already or the Sigma 1401 which I ordered (and sent back when it wouldn't work) in case it was a dedication problem.

Time to dig out the dock.

Roy C · Sep 23, 2015

Its to early to say if it has improved performance with my Canon 1.4x tc MkII but the firmware update has certainly not done any harm. This is just one of loads of in focus shots I got with the tc attached this afternoon. Very poor image as it was ISO 3200 on the 7D2 so not ideal

Barred Wobbler · Sep 23, 2015

Barred Wobbler said:
Good to know that Roy, because I've never been able to get my 150-600 Sport to autofocus with the 1.4 teleconverter, either the Canon MkIII that I owned already or the Sigma 1401 which I ordered (and sent back when it wouldn't work) in case it was a dedication problem.

Time to dig out the dock.

Well that was a good idea - I don't think.

I updated the firmware and fired off one or two shots with the bare lens. So far so good. Then I put my Canon converter behind the lens and it wouldn't even respond to pressing the focus button, never mind find focus. At least with the old firmware it made an attempt, even though it rear-focused.

I checked to see if the lens was still set to AF in case I'd knocked the switch. It was OK.

I tried on Live View and instead of getting the expected image (live view focused OK with the old firmware) I got a message on the camera screen telling me to ensure a lens is attached. The Canon MkIII doesn't even register as a lens! I'm even worse off now than I was before the improvement.

I checked the firmware with the TC in place and it just told me my firmware is up to date.

The TC still focuses fine with my 400/5.6, so it's a Sigma lens problem.

Roy C · Sep 23, 2015

Barred Wobbler said:
Well that was a good idea - I don't think.

I updated the firmware and fired off one or two shots with the bare lens. So far so good. Then I put my Canon converter behind the lens and it wouldn't even respond to pressing the focus button, never mind find focus. At least with the old firmware it made an attempt, even though it rear-focused.

I checked to see if the lens was still set to AF in case I'd knocked the switch. It was OK.

I tried on Live View and instead of getting the expected image (live view focused OK with the old firmware) I got a message on the camera screen telling me to ensure a lens is attached. The Canon MkIII doesn't even register as a lens! I'm even worse off now than I was before the improvement.

I checked the firmware with the TC in place and it just told me my firmware is up to date.

The TC still focuses fine with my 400/5.6, so it's a Sigma lens problem.

I suspect it could be to do with your MkIII converter (there is more electronics in the MkIII). My Canon MkII converter works absolutely fine with the lens on both the 7D2 and 5D3. BTW the update was specifically to deal with the TELE CONVERTER TC-1401 but it also works with the Canon 1.4x Mk II

New Sigma 150/600 contemporary (1 Viewer)

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