Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sport

Phal · 2 Jul 2015 at 22:49

crinkleshoes said:
The newer (Art+) are rather quick... almost up to the speed of decent Canon glass.

Enjoy

The lenses I've tried have all been from the new batches of lenses.

The 18-35mm F1.8 lens is in their Art range and the 120-300 F2.8 I tried was from their Sports range.

IQ was/is great on both of those but focusing always seems to leave doubts in my mind.

crinkleshoes · 3 Jul 2015 at 11:04

Can't say I've tried either of those.

I know the 35, 50 and 150-600 sport to be nice and quick

Phal · 3 Jul 2015 at 13:24

crinkleshoes said:
Can't say I've tried either of those.

I know the 35, 50 and 150-600 sport to be nice and quick

Well primes tend to focus quicker anyway so the 35 and 50 are probably fine.

Overall speed of focusing never really seemed to be the issue so much as the accuracy/consistency of it.

As I said though, I didn't have the 120-300 for long. On it's own it seemed pretty good but with a TC was a bit meh.

The 18-35mm is where I've seen the most issues with focusing! Maybe one day I'll sit down and test it properly lol

mrgubby · 4 Jul 2015 at 19:29

Over the last week I've used my 7D Mk I + 150-600 sport to shoot BTCC & Sea Eagles, no problems with focusing speed

Bipolar Kittens · 13 Jul 2015 at 19:38

I finally received the lens today. First impressions, **** me it's heavy! I literally can't hold it for more than a few minutes without getting an arm ache. I'm not very alpha, should have gone to the gym more than twice in my life.

I'm definitely seeing a tripod in my life before I go to RIAT on Sunday.

Phal · 13 Jul 2015 at 20:27

Bipolar Kittens said:
I finally received the lens today. First impressions, **** me it's heavy! I literally can't hold it for more than a few minutes without getting an arm ache. I'm not very alpha, should have gone to the gym more than twice in my life.

I'm definitely seeing a tripod in my life before I go to RIAT on Sunday.

Took me a while to realise but this is where a strap can really help. I never bothered with one before because it just got in the way but with the strap mounted on the lens I only have it there when I need it.

I have my strap short enough that I can just prop my elbow up against my body and the strap does a lot of the work by locking everything together since your arm/elbow is kinda pushing against the strap a little.

It's not perfect and you'll start to struggle if you need to aim quite far up but for subjects no more than 30-40 degrees over the horizon or below the strap is awesome. Anything over that is a lot harder because the strap is doing nothing really and you basically end up balancing the camera and lens on your face and arms lol

crinkleshoes · 13 Jul 2015 at 21:42

Mine's up for sale in the MM... I fancy a 100-400 Canon instead

Bipolar Kittens · 13 Jul 2015 at 22:08

Phal said:
Took me a while to realise but this is where a strap can really help. I never bothered with one before because it just got in the way but with the strap mounted on the lens I only have it there when I need it.

I have my strap short enough that I can just prop my elbow up against my body and the strap does a lot of the work by locking everything together since your arm/elbow is kinda pushing against the strap a little.

It's not perfect and you'll start to struggle if you need to aim quite far up but for subjects no more than 30-40 degrees over the horizon or below the strap is awesome. Anything over that is a lot harder because the strap is doing nothing really and you basically end up balancing the camera and lens on your face and arms lol

I'll give that a test tomorrow, but it's first outing will be at an air show on Sunday so I'll need to hold it way higher than 40 degrees. 3kg's doesn't sound a lot, but it is when you're holding it in front of your face.

Phal · 13 Jul 2015 at 23:14

Bipolar Kittens said:
I'll give that a test tomorrow, but it's first outing will be at an air show on Sunday so I'll need to hold it way higher than 40 degrees. 3kg's doesn't sound a lot, but it is when you're holding it in front of your face.

Yeah my 200-400 is 3.6kg

obviously certain positions are better than others but a monopod or tripod is nice for an airshow depending what's allowed.

The only issue with a tripod or monopod at an airshow is if the planes pass over you or close. Tracking them when they're long/medium distances isn't a problem with a tripod/monopod but you need to pick up the camera for the times they get very close or you just miss out on those close shots (unless you have two bodies of course)

2StepSteve · 14 Jul 2015 at 00:35

crinkleshoes said:
Mine's up for sale in the MM... I fancy a 100-400 Canon instead

Have a read of this and prepare to WTF (Bare in mind also this is the contemporary model): http://blog.sigmaphoto.com/2015/sigma-telephoto-lens-throwdown-part/

Bipolar Kittens said:
I'll give that a test tomorrow, but it's first outing will be at an air show on Sunday so I'll need to hold it way higher than 40 degrees. 3kg's doesn't sound a lot, but it is when you're holding it in front of your face.

I actually bruised my nose a couple of weeks ago whilst shooting a kingfisher handheld with the lighter 150-600C.

smr · 14 Jul 2015 at 09:10

crinkleshoes said:
Mine's up for sale in the MM... I fancy a 100-400 Canon instead

Having got a 100-400 in my posession at the moment I can safely say thats the telephoto I'll be buying too... going to get the mk2 for Christmas.

It's heavy enough, I simply can't invest in something heavier which the Sigma and Tamron are, and considerably heavier too.

D.P. · 14 Jul 2015 at 16:29

smr said:
Having got a 100-400 in my posession at the moment I can safely say thats the telephoto I'll be buying too... going to get the mk2 for Christmas.

It's heavy enough, I simply can't invest in something heavier which the Sigma and Tamron are, and considerably heavier too.

there isn't a big difference between the canon 100-400 and the Sigma C/Tamron.

Canon 100-400mm MK2 is 1.6KG
Sigma C is 1.9KG.

I don't think you would really notice the 300g.
The Sports is another matters, that is 2.9Kg.

D.P. · 14 Jul 2015 at 16:43

2StepSteve said:
Have a read of this and prepare to WTF (Bare in mind also this is the contemporary model): http://blog.sigmaphoto.com/2015/sigma-telephoto-lens-throwdown-part/

I actually bruised my nose a couple of weeks ago whilst shooting a kingfisher handheld with the lighter 150-600C.

Another good review. Pretty much everything I have seen have suggested the Canon 10--400 and Nikon 80-400mm are now redundant the Sigma a C and S are just plain better across matching focal lengths.

The sports model really gives the Canon and nikon 400mm f/2.8 and 600mm f/4.0 lenses a run for their money in regards to sharpness.

Bipolar Kittens · 14 Jul 2015 at 21:37

Picked up a tripod and ball head today, much happier with the lens now