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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Sigmonster 300-800 (1 Viewer)

Just wondering if anyone else is using this lens for bird photography.
I have had mine for a few years and wouldn't want to use anything shorter.

It is a superb lens but does have limitations, it is only f5.6 so good light needed, it weighs a ton has no OS,and costs a small fortune.

Will upload some photos when I get time
 
Hi Chalky, I know exactly what you mean.
I was a volunteer photographer at Paignton zoo and the light was usually far from great.
was initially using it with a Canon 10D and anything above iso 400 was starting to look noisy, The 40D was much better but still not great.Upgraded to 5DmkIII about a year ago, full frame is great but sometimes miss the 1.6x crop factor.

It works much better on the 5DmkIII and use it mainly at iso 400 but even at upto iso 1600 is looking pretty good

The light is much better over here in Perth as I am sure you can imagine.
 
It is a superb lens but does have limitations, it is only f5.6 so good light needed, it weighs a ton has no OS,and costs a small fortune.

You say 'only ' F5.6 ' @ 800mm and costs a fortune and weighs a ton ?

So you would have preferred it faster... f4 @ 800mm ? Can you imagine the weight and cost of such a beast ? And why would no OS be a problem with a lens you can barely lift off the ground - it'll be on a tripod anyways
 
You say 'only ' F5.6 ' @ 800mm and costs a fortune and weighs a ton ?

So you would have preferred it faster... f4 @ 800mm ? Can you imagine the weight and cost of such a beast ? And why would no OS be a problem with a lens you can barely lift off the ground - it'll be on a tripod anyways

Hi f5.6 isn't fast for a lens but it is fast for an 800mm.
tripod O.S would be nice as even when on a tripod vibration is still a problem.

Canon's latest 600 f4 has three I.S modes and can be handheld for short periods but wouldn't want to be restricted to a fixed focal length.
 
I've got to agree Mark that the zoom range is this lenses saving grace, I love the way you can frame a long shot or track a bird and then zoom in for some detail.

I have to admit that I sometimes have real difficulty in locating the subject when zoomed in especially if the bird is in a tree with a clutterd background, so zooming out to 300 and then back in again once I have centred it.

This lens could be handheld for very short periods (if you are a weightlifter) but because of the position of the zoom ring it is impossible to zoom when doing so, consequently have never tried it.

I recently bought a Carbon fibre tripod which is light enought to lift with one finger but quite happily supports the 20 pound load.This replaced my old heavy manfrotto tripod with it's conspicuous shiny aluminium legs which were also very noisy when trying to quickly extend the legs.

There is only one improvement in my opinion Sigma could do to improve this lens and that is it would really benefiy from a focus limiting switch.
 
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