Sigma 120-300 ex dg os (not sport)

antc

antc

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Hi all,

Is anyone using the above for sports use? I am wanting to shoot things such as football, athletics, rugby, occasional motosports/wildlife etc with one. Been considering the Canon 300 F4 L IS also, but thinking F2.8 may hold an advantage for this type of work.

The body I will be using it with is a Canon 7d.

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Yep. I use it for football and rugby. I love mine. Not had a problem with focussing speed or IQ. Just the weight :lol:
 
kelack said:
Yep. I use it for football and rugby. I love mine. Not had a problem with focussing speed or IQ. Just the weight :LOL:
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Hi Kelly, thanks for the response. What body do you shoot it with? Weight wise its over 3kg isn't it? I guess you use it on a monopod.

Did you consider any other lenses when buying it? What made you go for that lens over others?
 
I use it on my 1D mkIII. And I think it is. I attempted to use it once at rugby without the monopod as I'd forgotten it. I struggled!

I have an L 70-200 2.8 which I used before that but needed that extra reach and couldn't get on with a 300 or 400. I like the flexibility of the zoom. Most people don't but I'm slightly strange like that. I went for that because of the price and that it was still quite a good lens for a Sigma.
 
kelack said:
I use it on my 1D mkIII. And I think it is. I attempted to use it once at rugby without the monopod as I'd forgotten it. I struggled!

I have an L 70-200 2.8 which I used before that but needed that extra reach and couldn't get on with a 300 or 400. I like the flexibility of the zoom. Most people don't but I'm slightly strange like that. I went for that because of the price and that it was still quite a good lens for a Sigma.
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Wow yeah I bet! Cant imagine holding up 3kg plus a camera for a whole rugby game. Monopod definitely required :)

I too have the same Canon 70-200 lens and like you mentioned I also want the extra reach. Never had the opportunity to try a 300 or 400 prime but to be fair, I think both are out of my price range really, so maybe a bad idea to try one, as if I like it I will only want one lol :)

I do like the flexibility of the zoom, although I realise it may not be at the same IQ level of a prime, but you gain the convenience.

Do you have any links to images taken with your 120-300? Would love to see some more, I have been trawling the internet for a while.

Just got to decide if the weight issue is going to cause me problems for the sigma, or if I can get away with a Canon 300 FS IS. I don't shoot professionally, purely as a hobby, but of course would like to achieve as good a results as possible.
 
I've been using the Sigma for about 6 months on a D300s (or a D700 when the light fades). I bought it to replace a very old 300 2.8, thought it might be a bit lighter but it isn't. I couldn't use it for long without a monopod.

I'd been used to using a 300 and 70-200 combination on two bodies. The first time I used the Sigma, covering a couple of international hockey matches, I found I'd shot about 60% more frames than usual. I find the flexibility of the 120-300 really useful, I'm leaving the 70-200 in the case and using a 24-70 on the second body now.

Most of the recent shots on my website are shot through the Sigma.
 
I had my eye on that lens for a while until I saw the sport version IQ. Only thing that puts me off 3rd party lenses is that it's hit and miss on whether you get a good one or 'Friday' copy. Resale value, in my experience is never a good thing. I think MPB have a non sport model for canon at about £600 just now.
 
I use a 300mm f4 IS from Canon. It replaced the Sigma 100-300 f4 which was a briliant lens. I use a Canon 70-200 on anther body.

The reason I switched from Sigma is the aftersales service - my Sigma drowned at Silverstone despite the use of protective covers. It was away for a month - 6 weeks before I got it back, then it had to go back again to be adjusted.

I also had a 120-300 f2.8 for a while. I think it had been dropped in an earlier life as it wouldn't focus reliably - not reliably enough for motorsport anyway. That was away for weeks as well.

With Canon, I've always had my stuff back within 2 weeks, usually 1. The two weeks was during the narrow gap between two massive sporting events, from memory probably the London Olympics and Wimbledon.
 
Sporty_Tog said:
I had my eye on that lens for a while until I saw the sport version IQ. Only thing that puts me off 3rd party lenses is that it's hit and miss on whether you get a good one or 'Friday' copy. Resale value, in my experience is never a good thing. I think MPB have a non sport model for canon at about £600 just now.
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That was the non OS (and non DG) version.
 
There are four versions of the 120-300. In date order:

Sigma 120-300mm F2.8 DG APO HSM

Sigma 120-300mm F2.8 EX DG APO HSM

Sigma 120-300mm F2.8 EX DG OS APO HSM

Sigma 120-300mm F2.8 DG OS HSM | S


I mean non-EX version above btw!
 
I had this one Sigma 120-300mm F2.8 EX DG APO HSM
Was great for sport.. not one for hand holding and not even for touching in the cold weather haha.. but deffo a freat lens..

Strange comments above.. I dealt wiht sigma a few times.. found them very helful on the phone and decent price for repairs and not too long either.. i thought great company to be honest... but I accidently had to get a prime canon 300 f4 and use that for a game and have never looked back :)
 
KIPAX said:
Strange comments above.. I dealt wiht sigma a few times.. found them very helful on the phone and decent price for repairs and not too long either.. i thought great company to be honest...
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Yup, similar experience here.
 
andrewc said:
I was dealing with a Sigma authorised repair agent. Delays were always due to parts which had to come from Japan via Sigma UK.
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haa right.. I always avoide.. straight to sigma or straight to canon :)
 
i understood that a proportion of things sent to sigma directly were then sent out to the company I used, so it was easier to cut one link from the command and communication chain by dealing direct.
 
Thanks for the great feedback and comments guys, just what I was looking for. I have a few more questions now if thats ok.

@KIPAX - Are you using a 300 f4 for your sports or something a lot faster and more exotic?

As this will be a decent sized investment, are there other lenses that I should really be looking at instead of these? I notice Sigma do a 300 2.8, there are also various versions of the Canon 300 2.8 also.....

Please let me know what you think, regardless of budget I guess as I can make the decision on that bit, but its great to get honest reviews and thoughts on these things from people who use or have used these lenses and also important regarding the already mentioned after sales and support from various companies.

Thanks in advance and for being patient.
 
In the interests of transparency I'm first going to say that I've got a 120-300 OS to sell after upgrading to the S model.
At the risk of infuriating the mods, I'll also add that I wasn't going to put it up for sale on here until March or so, but if you decide that you are interested let me know and I'll place an Ad in the classifieds.

As for your question...

Forget the 300/2.8, the 120-300s are generally miles better and it's a very old lens design.

The Canon /4 has a big weight advantage, but you lose the flexibility of the zoom and the wider aperture. The OS version has good AF speed and is sharp across the frame.
It isn't as good as the Canon 300/2.8 IS in regards both of those (although not far off), but then again it's half the price.

The closest 300/2.8 in terms of budget would be the 300/2.8, but given their age and the inability to repair them if the AF wears out, I wouldn't touch them nowadays.

As for Sigma service - IMO the are pretty damned good, transparent about costs and make every effort possible.
 
DemiLion said:
The closest 300/2.8 in terms of budget would be the 300/2.8, but given their age and the inability to repair them if the AF wears out, I wouldn't touch them nowadays.
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Mark, how does the Sigma 'S' compare with the old non IS Canon 300 2.8.
I have the Canon but was thinking of selling it and obtaining the Sigma 'S'
 
Sgt_Bilko99 said:
Mark, how does the Sigma 'S' compare with the old non IS Canon 300 2.8.
I have the Canon but was thinking of selling it and obtaining the Sigma 'S'
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Good question Dave, also how does the Sigma 120-300 OS compare with the new OS Sport model?

I understand the sport can be tweaked via the usb dock, where as the older OS model cannot, not sure if this makes a massive difference. Also how does the 120-300 OS take convertors, mainly the 1.4x but if you have used the 2x would be interested although I realise it will hit AF and IQ.

Yes would be very interested also Mark in the lens you are selling. Obviously done by forum rules and classifieds.
 
antc said:
Yes would be very interested also Mark in the lens you are selling. Obviously done by forum rules and classifieds.
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Ask a few more questions on here first and make sure it's what you want. I'll stick something up in the next week or so but beware that I'm a bit hectic at the moment! :)
 
DemiLion said:
Ask a few more questions on here first and make sure it's what you want. I'll stick something up in the next week or so but beware that I'm a bit hectic at the moment! :)
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Of course and thanks, any thoughts on my last post Mark? Aside from the but you quoted :)
 
Sgt_Bilko99 said:
Mark, how does the Sigma 'S' compare with the old non IS Canon 300 2.8.
I have the Canon but was thinking of selling it and obtaining the Sigma 'S'
Click to expand...


Never used the Non IS version so I couldn't say really but it's fairly favourable against the Ver1 IS and maybe 10% behind the Ver2.
 
The newer (Sigma) version is more robust, has a much better hood, has adjustable AF reaction and adjustable focus distance limiters.
I'd say that the AF (once tweeked) is faster. That's it so far.
 
DemiLion said:
The newer (Sigma) version is more robust, has a much better hood, has adjustable AF reaction and adjustable focus distance limiters.
I'd say that the AF (once tweeked) is faster. That's it so far.
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Thanks.

Have you used any TC with the OS version of the lens? If so how do you find them?

Also, do you have any links to images you have taken using the OS version.
 
There are some pics in the sports section somewhere from a couple of years ago, taken with and without a TC.
If/when I put a sales post up, I'll include some more recent stuff.

I've got a 500mm now, so I don't really tend to use a TC that much anymore.
 
DemiLion said:
In the interests of transparency I'm first going to say that I've got a 120-300 OS to sell after upgrading to the S model.
At the risk of infuriating the mods, I'll also add that I wasn't going to put it up for sale on here until March or so, but if you decide that you are interested let me know and I'll place an Ad in the classifieds.
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Duly noted and no issues here Mark
 
Hello Anthony, I have had for the past 9 years the Sigma 120-300mm F2.8 EX DG APO HSM. (NON OS).
I have used it for all sorts of photos mainly with a monopod, I have used it though hand held with some success.

Here's a hand held photo at last years proms in the park, this is at F/2.8, 1/2500 sec, ISO 640, 300 mm Canon 1D MKII (my better half).
View attachment 26552

This is with my Canon 1D MKIV this year at Portsmouth harbour approx 4-5 miles from subject no crop straight from raw file.
F/11, 15 sec, ISO 50, 373 mm (with Canon extention x2 II)
View attachment 26553

Another with the 1D MKII, 9 years ago, at one of my first weddings, F/2.8, 1/8 sec, ISO 800, 300 mm, using a monopod.
View attachment 26556

Clearly not sports subjects but hopefully shows the lens has potential & I see from the info on the new Sigma 120-300 f/2.8 has a USB connection for updating the AF to make it quicker etc.
And just to reiterate the point of using a 2x extender this is still quick at f/5.6 for a 600mm (full frame).

I would think the faster AF available plus the OS on the newer 120-300 will be make a difference, however, for me I find this doesn't hunt & is pretty quick even with the 2x extender.
 
antc said:
@KIPAX - Are you using a 300 f4 for your sports or something a lot faster and more exotic?
.
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haha I use a canon 400m f2.8

I took my camera bag out of the boot of the car and slung it over my shoulder.. not realising it wasn't zipped up.. my canom 1dmkII attached to the sigma 120-300 flew through the air. hit the concrete and the sigma broke off near the camera.. snap.. connections sticking out as it bounced along the floor... and for a second I thought I heard the 1dmkII laugh..

The camera nothing.. worked perfect.. the lens useless.. called sigma who gave me a price of 70 quid to replace the end bit.. But i had a job that monday (bank holiday) womens cup final and needed a long lens so i bought the 300f4 off ebay as i could pick up on way to job.. used it and was a revelation.. 10 times betetr than the sigma.. not as versatile but the colours where brilliant.much better.... so when the sigma came back fixed.. sold it and the 300 f4.. got a 300 f2.8 and eventualy sold that and got 400 f2.8

well you did ask :)
 
KIPAX said:
haha I use a canon 400m f2.8

I took my camera bag out of the boot of the car and slung it over my shoulder.. not realising it wasn't zipped up.. my canom 1dmkII attached to the sigma 120-300 flew through the air. hit the concrete and the sigma broke off near the camera.. snap.. connections sticking out as it bounced along the floor... and for a second I thought I heard the 1dmkII laugh..

The camera nothing.. worked perfect.. the lens useless.. called sigma who gave me a price of 70 quid to replace the end bit.. But i had a job that monday (bank holiday) womens cup final and needed a long lens so i bought the 300f4 off ebay as i could pick up on way to job.. used it and was a revelation.. 10 times betetr than the sigma.. not as versatile but the colours where brilliant.much better.... so when the sigma came back fixed.. sold it and the 300 f4.. got a 300 f2.8 and eventualy sold that and got 400 f2.8

well you did ask :)
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Thanks Kipax, I did as and you duly told :)

Very interesting observations indeed regarding the sigma vs 300 f4 canon.

I should have realised you would be using the "big 400" for your sports work, makes perfect sense.

Well I should update this thread as I have now made not only a decision but also a purchase. I have got myself a Canon 300 F4 L IS. After a lot of thinking, weighing up, viewing thousands of images taken with it along with others lenses I have decided that this will be the best fit to me at this point in time. Of course, its not f2.8, but its not 2.8 cost either.

Looking forward to getting out and using it and seeing what I can produce and what its capable of. Its my first big prime lens (have various short primes) so its a leap into new territory for me.

Thanks everyone for all your help, comments and advice, really is much appreciated. Keep them coming if you have any more.

@KIPAX - Have you any photos online you took with the 300 F4 when you had it?
 
have the Sigma 120-300mm and the Canon 300mm f2.8. I bought the Sigma a few years ago after being impressed with Kipax’s photos on POTN. I was very happy with it until it started having focus issues, that’s when I went for a second-hand Canon. The quality from the Canon is second to none (being a prime), but I do like the versatility of the Sigma zoom. I took the Sigma to their place in Welwyn Garden City and they were very helpful but were unable to solve the issue, however, they did send it back to Japan free of charge and it is now as good as new (I just paid the cost of a service).
 
I've been using the 120-300mm F2.8 EX DG APO HSM for low light indoor sports and have been really impressed with it, so much I hardly use my Canon 70-200 f2.8. I do miss the loss of the "wider angle" the Canon gave but really happy for the longer reach. I'd be interested to know if anyone now has the 'S' version and how it performs. OS is really an issue as I never use it but sharpness is crucial.
 
Pretty well:

1496236_10202308203707084_8285311811161135249_o.jpg
 
I take it your happy with it Mark? Just been looking around for a reasonable supplier, where did you buy yours from ?
 
I bought it second hand on here mate & yup, I'm very happy with it. In combination with a 7D2 it's a cracking set up.
 
As I mentioned early I have been very happy with the results from my 120-300 EX DG HSM that I've decided to upgrade to the latest sports version and now have ordered one. I've also decided to sell my much loved Canon 300L f2.8 IS as I now no longer use it (listed on the for sale section if anyone interested). Looking forward to using this in January at a major team event and hoping it will be everything I understand it to be. Once I have I'll also be listing my current mint 120-300 ;)
 
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