Which 500mm lens

Calum l

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Calum
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Hello folks, I'm after some advice on which 500mm lens you would recommend. I'm currently torn between the sigma 50-500 and 150-500 os model. I'll be using it mainly for aviation photography on my Nikon D90. I'm keen to know about speed, image quality etc. cheers in advance,

Calum
 
I recently got a 50-500mm OS for my 50D but haven't had much chance to try it on aircraft. These were from Sunday (local RNLI day) and I was quite pleased with them but waiting for the Bournemouth airshow before deciding if I am really happy with the lens or not. AF speed seemed pretty good though.





 
Cheers Mike and great shots! I was concerned about AF speed due to some reviews slating it so I'm keen to hear what the opinions here are
 
I was at Waddington airshow in july with a 5D3 and a Sigma 150-500 OS and managed to get some pretty good shots (even though the weather was cloudy, wet, dull and windy). The AF speed easily kept up with the action and the IQ is pretty damn good IMO.

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All these are SOOC with no PP apart from a crop, all were taken wide open at f6.3 apart from the crossover shot which was at f7.1.
 
I've used one for Aviation photography, was pretty pleased with the results, the focus seemed to keep up pretty well but occasionally did just miss completely.


He's Behind You! by Measurez, on Flickr


Corsair. by Measurez, on Flickr

Link to rest:

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAm5JqG

Cheers, Harry.

EDIT:

Sorry meant to say it was the 50-500 I had.
 
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Cheers Harry, some cracking shots there too! I'm leaning towards the 150-500 at the moment mainly for price and the optical stabilisation.
 
The 150-500 is a great lens, I use it to follow grass track racing like motorbike speedway. I get some great results, all my sports shots on my website (www.gilespj.co.uk) is taken with it.

On my lens the OS seams to mess up AF in full mode sometime but no problems in pan mode. I use both on crop and Full frame cameras.
 
I have the 150-500 with my d90 used it for aviation and for motorsport. You do need good light thou to use it to its best capabilities. I think there are a few on my Flickr
 
Cheers for the info guys! It is much appreciated. Think the 150-500 is the one for me.
 
The 150-500 is a very good lens for the money. It has a very efficient OS system and stopped down a little produces very nice sharp and well saturated images. Some minor niggle are no zoom lock and no focus limit switch. Its fairly weighty but quite manageable to handhold for a days shooting I find. I'm sure you wouldnt be disappointed in your choice if you go for it.
Andrew

http://www.andrewa.zenfolio.com
 
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When you say no zoom lock I take you mean able to lock it at certain zoom points
 
Yep. Used them a few times, allways good for me.
There is now a panamoz section within the supplier/shopping section on here too.
 
Kerioak said:
I have also been thinking about this lens - could anyone show some full sized, unedited crops from around the focal point please?

I can upload one of my raw files for you to take a look at if you wish?
 
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