Sigma 150-500 opinions?

Ian-Highlander

Ian-Highlander

Suspended / Banned
Messages
302
Name
Ian
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi guys, after peoples opinions on the 150-500 Sigma lens if possible.

We're desperately short on cash (as always it seems) however I'm getting more and more frustrated with the lack of reach on my lenses for bird photography. I have lenses coming out of my ears for portraits but the only two lenses I have for birding really are my Nikon 55-200 and a really cheap Sigma 70-300, the Nikon is the better of the two and does take nice shots if I can get close enough (examples on my Flickr feed) but that's few and far between.

We really can't afford anything if I'm honest with myself, but the frustration is starting to win and I've been teasing myself "window shopping" on line for months now looking at all the amazing kit I'll never be able to afford. However I've come across the Sigma 150-500 and read a lot of reviews and info about it, general concensus online seems to be that it's a little slow focussing, fairly soft at the long end but pretty good and sharp at the sort of 150-350 ish range and again even though I can't really afford it, does come in at what looks like a good price.

So just after any real world thoughts and experiences with this lens and what peoples opinions of it are and think of it in general before I give serious thought to giving the credit card a further bashing.

Also any realistically priced alternatives that might be a better option?
 
I've got one Ian and love it. It is a wee bit slow to focus and it tends to hunt quite a bit in low light conditions. Having said that its a great lens for the money. As the reviews say, at the far end of the focus range it does produce slightly soft images. Again that doesn't really bother me much because it can be corrected at the PC.
What I will say though is that if you are going out in the field all day you'd better have strong arms...its a heavy brute of a thing.
Treat yourself...you'll love it.
 
theres some good vintage stuff thats possible, tamron adaptall 60-300 or 300mm prime, 500mm mirror lens. we got a good pentacon 300mm f4 thats good. 2kg tho...
 
I borrowed one sometime ago from a mate of mine to do some birding with and got some okay results from it, for the money its great value, the cheapest option to get 500mm or 750mm on 1.5x crop etc. The focusing is a tad bit slow, but for the price its a bargain.
 
Chris Wilson said:
There really isn't anything else that gives you that much bang for your buck.
Many of my friends have them and regularly take good shots.
Check out the 150-500 group on Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/groups/sigma150-500/
Nuff said!

cheers, cw
Click to expand...
The bang for your buck comment is pretty much the conclusion I'd come to, I'm just worried that it won't perform as well as I would hope (and yes I'm aware my own failings are the main reason for that lol).

Thanks for the link, had a quick look just now but am at work and will have a better rummage through it later on. (y)
 
Portybear said:
I've got one Ian and love it. It is a wee bit slow to focus and it tends to hunt quite a bit in low light conditions. Having said that its a great lens for the money. As the reviews say, at the far end of the focus range it does produce slightly soft images. Again that doesn't really bother me much because it can be corrected at the PC.
What I will say though is that if you are going out in the field all day you'd better have strong arms...its a heavy brute of a thing.
Treat yourself...you'll love it.
Click to expand...

As I do almost all my photography hand held, the weight "might" be an issue but I guess I need to try before I buy, problem with living out in the sticks a bit is finding somewhere with one in stock to play with. Thanks for your thoughts though, definitely nudging towards this lens despite it's obvious pitfalls.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts so far, definitely giving me more food for thought.
 
Last edited:
It's a cracking good lens, used it on my Canon 350D and Canon 7D for several years before buying another Sigma lens.
Img_1230.jpg
 
I got one a few months ago while my Canon 70-300L was being repaired after a fall. I wanted more reach anyway so it was a good excuse. I've used it a few times and can say that it takes a lot of getting used to whereas the 70-300L took no getting used to. You can get decent shots but a lot more effort is required and it is soft at the long end so you have to stop down. Build quality isn't great either, e.g., black finish already coming of the zoom lock button after only a few operations. But for the money there really aren't many options.
 
Used to have one but traded it in against a Nikkor 105mm Micro.

Pros (of the 150-500):
mm/£ - hard to beat
Weight (compared to other options)
Reach (compared to other affordable options)

Cons:
Weight (but see above!)
Slightly soft at the long end
Can be slow to achieve focus (but then follows well)

My reasons for selling it on were mainly that I hadn't used it much in the time I had it, which was down to me being ill for most of the time and so not taking it out. If I wanted a long lens for my SLRs, I would have another one but I now get more reach from a 70-300 mounted on a Nikon 1 series body when I want it. I used to have the older version, the 170-500 non OS and the 150-500 is sharper.
 
Hurry up then,i think the £100 rebate has been extended ;)
 
Thanks, yeah I'd found it for £519 from http://www.simplyelectronics.net/ma...currency=gbp&gclid=CNv_oPrmvL4CFWbItAodJEkAGg but then realised they're in Hong Kong. Having already done this with my camera without realising I was buying from abroad (bought the D7100 from eglobal.co.uk not realising they're actually in Hong Kong) and got away with it, I'd prefer to go down the route of sourcing one in the Uk as cheaply as possible, but it's still an option if I get desperate :D
 
There are grey importers that say they cover all uk taxes but their lens is a little dearer than the HK company you mention
 
Yeah it wasn't the tax side that bothered me (and not what I meant when I said I got away with it), indeed I ended up paying import duty on it when it arrived. What I meant really was potential damage to the product, risk of it never arriving, not knowing who you're dealing with etc etc. It's still an option I guess, but the wait for the camera was tense once I realised it wasn't coming from within the Uk.
 
Last edited:
Damage to a product would also apply if you walked into a UK shop and bought it over the counter too, surely.
It's come from Japan on the banana boat either way lol
 
I once had the misfortune of having to return one of my 50 inch plasma tv to currys
Whilst the purchase was easy painless and straight forward the return wasn't 12 weeks of stress
My experience with companies outside the UK when a problem has arisen has been far better
 
I love my Sigma 150-500 OS, I've had it for around two and a half years now and it's been great. I've used it for everything from wildlife to aviation shots and I've found mine to be sharp wide open and at the long end too. This was taken at 500mm at f6.3, 1/800, ISO1000 on my 5D3 and was a jpeg SOOC with just a crop.


Dunnock (Hedge Sparrow) close up. by modchild, on Flickr

And just to see how good it was this is a massive crop from the above crop to show even closer detail. As said above, there's been no sharpening or any other PP apart from what the camera was set for.


Dunnock (Hedge Sparrow) crop for detail. by modchild, on Flickr

These were taken in the back garden in December 2012 and were taken at 500mm with the lens at f8, 1/250, ISO200 for both shots and again they are jpegs with no other PP apart from a crop.


Starlings In The Garden 2 by modchild, on Flickr


Starlings In The Garden 4 by modchild, on Flickr

And a metal bird on take off again taken at 500mm, 1/1000, ISO640 and f10 and again is a large crop.


F-16AM Fighting Falcon by modchild, on Flickr

There's quite a few other shots on my Flickr album if you want to have a look too.
 
I think that some of the criticism the lens gets is from people comparing it to a fast long prime. At the long end it does benefit from being stopped down a little which does make it relatively slow at f/8 or narrower while an f/4 prime will still be at f/5.6 or so at a similar amount of stopping down. The bottom line is that 2nd hand, the Sigma is £599 and a 500 f/4 IS Canon L is £5399 (Sigma Canon fit). (Mifsud's current ad in AP.) For new, add a couple of hundred to the Sigma's cost and a couple of grand to the Canon's - your money, your choice.

Of course, there may be times you NEED the f/4 - that's what lensesforhire are for!
 
Ian-Highlander said:
Thanks Stuart, the Dunnock shot is particularly impressive considering the bad things I've read about this lens at the long end. Think that's pretty much made my mind up completely, now to decide which kidney I'm most partial to so I can raise the money :LOL:
Click to expand...
Probably only need to lose half a kidney if you check out Panamoz...
 
the one on ebay that was linked, great western camera's, there a good shop, go there regularly :)
 
I was looking into the Sigma 150-500 not long ago and I saw loads of great pictures that others had taken with the lens. I tried it out and I loved it on my 550D with lots of nice shots which I don't have anymore because my memory card messed up before I uploaded them to the PC:rolleyes: The only downside are the points said above about slow focusing, etc, but for that price you really can't complain. It's great for the money. I also think that a few bad comments about the Sigmas are down to brand snobbery. I'd be more than happy with the sigma, the only reason I didn't at the time is because I got offered a new Canon 100-400 L lens for the same price which I couldn't turn down because it's meant to be twice the price of the sigma, and I went for the slightly better build quality.

Give in to your temptations!
 
pingu666 said:
the one on ebay that was linked, great western camera's, there a good shop, go there regularly :)
Click to expand...


I agree. I bought my 150-500 from them and whilst it was advertised as refurbished it was spotless. Before purchase I contacted Sigma regarding the 3 year warranty and was informed that this company were the only people allowed to sell "refurbished" Sigma lenses that would be covered by the Sigma warranty.
 
Just got mine delivered from Amazon, certainly seems like a lot of lens for the money, and although I've not deployed it in anger yet the focus doesn't seem any slower than my 70-300VR (but I'm not sure if that's considered a slow focusser...)

I paid £685 from Amazon, after verifying that it's eligible for the cashback and three year warranty, but the price seems to be fluctuating somewhat.

Really good images above, gives me hope that I can get some of my own!
 
love mine, got to say the lens has no problems focussing on bikes at over 140mph that I've had, love mine
 
BBR said:
I would try mbp or one of the other companies that sell second hand.
Click to expand...
I looked at used examples in a few places including here, but the cashback made it unfeasible. Several on here for £550 with no warranty or provenance, or £585 for a brand new one with 3 year warranty.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top