Has anyone used the new Sigma 100-400mm?

mikew said:
Well ime glad i got mine before you got yours,it was the only option to fit my needs and i may have been put off,i consider it does well for me in my situation

A couple at 400mm

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As I said, it's by no means a bad lens, it's just not as good as I was hoping, but that could well be my expectations (y)
 
I was even surprised at its focusing ability after playing with lens and camera settings

Two more at 400mm

I think i agree with you but its not that bad

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mikew said:
I was even surprised at its focusing ability after playing with lens and camera settings

Two more at 400mm

I think i agree with you but its not that bad

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TBH I've only tracked my dog walking around and it focussed fine for that :lol: I'm sure AF will be more than adequate for F1, it's just whether I can get the shutter speed low enough with the OS (y)
 
Are you getting camera shake or is it just the image does not look stabilized enough in the viewfinder.
 
mikew said:
Are you getting camera shake or is it just the image does not look stabilized enough in the viewfinder.
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Both.
 
I'm a bit surprised by your initial findings but not entirely. I don't have that lens but I do have the 150-600 C. It has short coming as I mentioned above e.g. AF slow but the OS system is fine as is the IQ. I would have thought that the 100-400 was a better lens. Perhaps you have a bad copy and/or you need a dock.

I found the 150-600 too long on an APS camera at Silverstone , the 200-400 range was sufficient. Most of my shots were from close to the track rather than from a grandstand.

I'm sure your panning skills are better than mine and you will get some great shots. Use OS 2 or turn it off?

Whatever you do just enjoy the experience. You have 4(?) days to get best out of your photography gear as I'm sure you are aware.
 
Archie747 said:
I'm a bit surprised by your initial findings but not entirely. I don't have that lens but I do have the 150-600 C. It has short coming as I mentioned above e.g. AF slow but the OS system is fine as is the IQ. I would have thought that the 100-400 was a better lens. Perhaps you have a bad copy and/or you need a dock.

I found the 150-600 too long on an APS camera at Silverstone , the 200-400 range was sufficient. Most of my shots were from close to the track rather than from a grandstand.

I'm sure your panning skills are better than mine and you will get some great shots. Use OS 2 or turn it off?

Whatever you do just enjoy the experience. You have 4(?) days to get best out of your photography gear as I'm sure you are aware.
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Perhaps it's a bad copy, or perhaps I just have a really good copy of the Tamron 150-600mm. Either way, I'm getting the impression people think that I'm saying it's a bad lens, but it's not it's very acceptable (except the OS).

I'm there for 3 days. I've got my 70-200mm f2.8 with 1.4tc too, and I'll probably still take my Tamron down just in case I really don't get on with the 100-400mm for panning.

I'm sure I will enjoy the weekend, after all it's for my love of F1 not a Photography weekend. The Photography opportunity is just a bonus. I would like to walk away with two or three shots I'm happy with though ;)
 
mikew said:
Well ime glad i got mine before you got yours,it was the only option to fit my needs and i may have been put off,i consider it does well for me in my situation

A couple at 400mm

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These are really nice sharp shots, can't fault the IQ.
Maybe it's a learning curve like so many lenses, you seem to be doing well with it anyway.
 
wardy07 said:
These are really nice sharp shots, can't fault the IQ.
Maybe it's a learning curve like so many lenses, you seem to be doing well with it anyway.
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I'm sure it most definitely is, and I'm sure I need to learn the sweet spot (which I think I now have). But as I've said a few times now, overall the IQ is very good. The main reasons for being a bit 'meh' about the lens is the OS, and that it's not as small as I thought.
 
snerkler said:
So the Sigma 100-400mm arrived today and I have to say my initial impressions are that I'm a bit 'meh' about it. It's bigger than I thought, about the same size as my 70-200mm f2.8 but slightly fatter, although slightly lighter of course. Build quality feels pretty good, not amazing but very good. At 400mm wide open sharpness isn't as good as I was hoping, it's not as sharp as my Tamron 150-600mm at 600mm. I think my Nikon 70-300mm VR was better too, but it's a while since I've had that so maybe I'm more picky now ;) It does get noticeably better stopped down to f8. It's still good though. The OS is rubbish, to the point I wasn't convinced it was working at first. I tried all the various settings and found OS 1 the best, and you can just about see it making things move less in the viewfinder. It only gives me 1 stop benefit though. I can get sharp shots at 400mm and 1/400 with it off, but can only get 1/200 with it on. I might get the odd one at 1/125 but not many. I can use slower speeds at 600mm on my Tamron 150-600mm.

So yeah, overall I'm slightly underwhelmed tbh. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I was expecting it to be as sharp as my Tamron 150-600mm. It's still good, just not as good as I was hoping. Also, the OS is disappointing to say the least, by far the worst of any sigma (or any other lens) I've used. I've checked for front/back focussing but don't know whether sharpness and/or OS can be improved with the dock, but I don't have one. Maybe with a bit more use I can get better results and I'll have egg on my face (quite likely ;))

I'm sure the extra reach will come in handy at Silverstone and the sharpness won't matter too much as my panning skills will have far more effect, but it's not a lens I'll be buying.

Edit: up to about 320mm it's very sharp :)
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That's not good. Buy or borrow a Dock and make sure it's set up 100% - it's possible that all those issues would be sorted with a tweak. Shouldn't be necessary I agree, but there we are. I have a Doc for Canon but it's no use to you and hardly worth it after return postage etc - they're only £39 delivered.
 
HoppyUK said:
That's not good. Buy or borrow a Dock and make sure it's set up 100% - it's possible that all those issues would be sorted with a tweak. Shouldn't be necessary I agree, but there we are. I have a Doc for Canon but it's no use to you and hardly worth it after return postage etc - they're only £39 delivered.
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Thought about it but it's too late, I go tomorrow. I'll see how I get on, I'm taking my 70-200mm with 1.4tc and also my Tamron 150-600mm just in case I really can't get any shots with the 100-400mm due to the camera shake. Will just be annoying if I can't as it's not been cheap to hire.
 
snerkler said:
Thought about it but it's too late, I go tomorrow. I'll see how I get on, I'm taking my 70-200mm with 1.4tc and also my Tamron 150-600mm just in case I really can't get any shots with the 100-400mm due to the camera shake. Will just be annoying if I can't as it's not been cheap to hire.
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I hope it does work for you over the weekend, be good to hear your feedback after you've put it through it's paces...but I'm still very much on the fence and will be for a good while yet.
 
So I needn't have worried, the Sigma 100-400mm performed very well and I managed to get some quite slow shutter speed pans done, some as low as 1/15 (not F1 cars though ;)) although hit rate at this speed was predictably low. Here's one shot that I've processed so far, not the sharpest I've got but I liked the overall shot with the colours etc.


DSC_0481-Edit by TDG-77, on Flickr
 
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Another one from the weekend, at 1/30 shutter hand held.


DSC_9296 by TDG-77, on Flickr
 
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Well, I think you did very well by the look of the 2 shots you've posted - and at those shutter speeds too!
Time to start my thinking all over again as I really do want a 100-400 but don't want to pay Canon prices for theirs.
 
wardy07 said:
Well, I think you did very well by the look of the 2 shots you've posted - and at those shutter speeds too!
Time to start my thinking all over again as I really do want a 100-400 but don't want to pay Canon prices for theirs.
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Thanks. My impressions after the weekend are more positive. I still don't think the OS is as good as others I've used, but as mentioned above maybe it can be improved with the dock. Lack of tripod collar wasn't and issue for me as I preferred hand held, I really don't get on with monopods unless you are absolutely parallel.
 
Perhaps it slightly falls short in certain aspects to leave room for a heavier more expensive sport model.;)
 
I thought the C came first but could be wrong.
 
Archie747 said:
Great shots. Were they shot through the fences?
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Thanks. Yes, all shot through fences which is one of the problems with Silverstone. If you want to shoot at track level you have to shoot through the fence. There are a couple of gaps at the Maggots Becketts complex where I think it's access for emergency vehicles but they're not suitable for shooting at imo.
 
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