Which Sigma Zoom????

L

leeharrison2

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Lee Harrison
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I do a lot of nature photography and I've decided I want a bit more zoom... I have recently been using a lens that I bought about 8 year ago through nothing more than naivety, it is a samyang fixed 500mm with manual focus and it's awful i think it was £85 but it has helped me get better picture of smaller birds than I got with my 18-200


Nesting Whitethroat... by Lee Harrisons Nature Photography, on Flickr

Curlew Sandpiper... by Lee Harrisons Nature Photography, on Flickr

Common Tern... by Lee Harrisons Nature Photography, on Flickr

these are three photos that I am happy with taken with the £85 500mm lens and I know I could of got anything this good with my 18-200, but I missed so many opportunities because it was manual focus and as you can all tell and I can till, the quality is awful I had to sharpen these pictures to get them anything like.

Anyway to get to the question, I want to change to a sigma 500 zoom lens, I’m thinking either the 50-500, 150-500 or 170-500 I’ve heard mixed reports about sharpness, but let’s face it I can’t afford anything more than these are (500mm f/4 :() and any of them will be a dam site better than what I’m using now so I’m thinking it give the range I want, give me better quality and give me auto focus which will be great, BUT which one would be the best to go for I’ve looked on the net and keep get different ideas so I thought I’d come to the expert you’ve helped me out a lot before and I’m sure you won’t let me down this time.
If any of you could recommend another lens that would be better and around the £600-£700mark with similar zoom, please feel free to let me know..
Thanks Lee
 
The new Sigma 50-500 OS is considered the best though it is a bit more than the figures you mention. The 150-500 is an excellent performer and a bit cheaper, also probably easier to find secondhand if you want to go that route.

Here is a sample
IMG_5585.jpg
 
They are great pics! From what I have read in reviews in the past, the new 50-500 os is as sharp wide open as the 150-500 is at f8, I can't remember now which review it was though. So really its between those too, and the 150-500 is a great performer for its price and delivers great results from what I have seen. :thumbs:
 
thanks that’s great, I’ll have a look at the 150-500 I think,

Graham00 said:
They're bloody good for a £85 lens, did you say it was an f4 ? bet thats heavy.
Try http://www.onestop-digital.com/ if you're buying new you can save £100 quite easily on the Bigma's !!
Click to expand...

graham00, the lens is actually classed as an f/8 but the aperture ring is build in to the lens but I really don’t think that it's that accurate, I use a D40 and have to shoot on manual (which I do anyway) but an aperture reading doesn't even show on the screen info, makes it very difficulty to take a quick picture and get the lighting right...

Will the 150 -500 auto focus with a my D40, it doesn’t have a built in motor, the 18-200 I use is a sigma DC OS and that auto focuses no problem but most of the 500 zooms that I use are APO DG OS some are EX DG if newer, will these still work???
Thanks again Lee
 
There seem to be quite a few 50-500s coming on to eBay at the moment, with sale prices around £4-500 for mint-looking ones with boxes, paperwork etc. I'm very tempted..

That's a lot cheaper than new, but there's always a nagging doubt with non-CaNikon lenses that they might not have stood up to wear and tear quite as well. Some users of the Sigmas have complained about lack of sharpness, and so people worry about sample variation.

I'm never sure about this - it takes a lot of skill to get consistently sharp results at 500mm on a non-full frame body even with image stabilisation...

I'd be interested in people's views on this.
 
I have the Sigma 150-500. I would perhaps agree that it's a little soft at 500mm but I don't have anything to directly compare it with. This image was taken at 500mm, 1/800 at F7.1 ISO200 and it's quite good enough for me.
GrebWithPerch.jpg

Steve
 
geriatrix said:
I have the Sigma 150-500. I would perhaps agree that it's a little soft at 500mm but I don't have anything to directly compare it with. This image was taken at 500mm, 1/800 at F7.1 ISO200 and it's quite good enough for me.

Steve
Click to expand...

Try closing it down a couple of clicks Steve. You might get a nice surprise. :thumbs:
 
Oggy said:
Try closing it down a couple of clicks Steve. You might get a nice surprise. :thumbs:
Click to expand...

That is the trouble - a couple stops off of an already slow and very long lens is not ideal. Most of the time the light is too low.
 
Agreed - it is a light hungry lens, but on a bright sunny day it is capable of results beyond it's price.
 
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