What do you think about the Sigma 120-300mm f2.8?

[pecrow]

i'm considering swapping my canon 300mm f4 for a sigma 120-300 f2.8.
does anyone on here have any experience with these sigma lenses for aircraft photography?

I use the 300mm almost exclusively for low level aircraft but i'm finding it a little short on a 1diii body. with a 1.4x extender, i'm up to f5.6 and usually highish iso.
i'm hoping that a f2.8 lens will help that but a canon 300mm f2.8 is out of the question.

i'd be especially interested to hear about the autofocus speed and accuracy.

 

[gary996]

Its meant to be a very good lens (you mean the newest version). You're still going to be a 300mm though. A Sigma 1.4 extender will get you to 400mm at f4 (full frame). I don't know what extender you have, but pretty sure if it's the Canon one it wont fit on the Sigma.

 

[vulcan2912]

Why not just pick up a Sigma 300 F2.8. That's not a bad lens and it works great with a 1.4 tcon. It's also passable with a 2X. The loss of IS doesn't really matter for the lowfly stuff.
It's actually pretty hard to find a lens that won't Af ok for low flying. You tend to be focussed at infinity most of the time and aircraft move in straight lines across the plane of the camera. Your panning technique is much more important than lens Af speed.

Gary

 

[Neil B]

The last dozen or so shots on my Flickr have been with this lens and mostly with the 2x converter, i like it but i would say that wouldn't i