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Archive for the ‘Sigma’ Category

Since I’m all giddy about my new Sigma lens, I thought I would write a few notes about the 18-200 lens I bought a few months back and how’s it worked for me.

In the latter part of 2008, December I think it was, I decided to upgrade my everyday lens from the 18-55 kit lens that came with the camera to something a little bit better. The all-in-one lenses like the Sigma 18-200 or the Tamron 18-270 were all the rage and definitely had my interest. The Sigma version went on sale right when I was looking to buy so I grabbed one as my primary lens. I have not been disappointed. To put it simply, this is a great lens that is extremely versatile, produces very good pictures and I’ve had no regrets in buying it.

I haven’t taken as many pictures as I like with it, but I have been happy with everything I have been able to take. This lens stays on the camera 98% of the time since the range works well for so many situations. It works extremely well outdoors and I have had no problem getting 1/1000 sec or high shutter speeds. For indoor use the OS does work quite well, although you can’t always see it working in the lens. Unless you are zoomed in tight you may not notice it taking the shake away, but you can hear it kick in from time to time.

When I first got the lens the zoom was pretty tight. However, it has loosened just a little, so when you point the lens down it does begin to creep. It’s really not that big a deal since the lens does have the lock button to keep it in place. It’s just something that happens once it gets a bit of use.

If you don’t already have a lens with this sort of range, I highly suggest the investment in one. It’s great to be able to take a “wide angle” shot of a landscape or classroom and without moving, zoom in for a closer shot. For “sightseeing” trips, trips to the beach, and just general walking around this is the lens is very handy.

The only thing I would change is that right after I bought this lens, Sigma came out with the 18-250mm version. Not only would the extra zoom be beneficial, but it also has HSM which is certainly quieter and quicker than the non-HSM version. I’m not normally tracking fast objects and it only hunts in very low situations, but these two extras would have been nice. I don’t think this lens is loud, but compared to HSM, yes there is some noise. If only I’d known it was coming out!

I have no regrets though since I am nothing but pleased with what I have. However, I would grab the new version if I didn’t already have my copy.

Although the subject matter is quite boring, here are a couple more shots from my new lens. 

And just for size comparison here is a shot of my 70-200mm lens next to the new 150-500. It is noticeably longer and quite a bit heavier. But it does show the relative size.

While I have barely taken any photos I have already noticed a few interesting things. As you may know the zoom and focus rings are reversed on the 150-500. The zoom is the first ring, closest to the front and the focus in located toward the back. Not sure if that’s good or bad, just different.

Unlike the 18-200mm lens I have you can really notice the OS kick in on this one. I notice quite a bit of shake as I handhold the lens at 500mm. But once you hold the shutter halfway down for a second everything smoothes out and the shake is all but gone. The picture of the fly above, while not perfect, was taken at 500mm and 1/100 sec with me handholding the camera. It’s not an award winner, but considering I was about 10+ feet away and aiming at something that small, I feel the fact you can even tell what’s there is pretty impressive. The whole picture isn’t a blurred mess so the OS is doing a fine job of holding things steady.

Even though it’s an f/5 – f/6.3 lens, I have still been able to get pretty high shutter speeds. I’ve only been able to take pictures after 6:30 pm so even though it’s still light out, the camera doesn’t exactly agree. However, it is still hitting 1/800 at some points and 1/320 without much trouble. And even at the lower speeds it’s still able to grab photos. I doubt this will work as an indoor shooter or in low light, but for outdoor summer shots (which is my main way of using it) I don’t foresee any issue in grabbing his speed shots.

I said it before, but this thing is big. There is absolutely nothing subtle about this monster. It is significantly bigger than the 70-200mm so I fully expect when I use this in a crowd I will get plenty of looks.

I’m looking forward to taking more pictures this weekend to get a better feel for how the lens works and the range it has. I really like the OS and you can hear it working. Some people may be turned off by that since you can hear some whirring and some clicks, but so far I don’t see it as a problem. So far I am very excited about this lens and feel it can really deliver some pretty impressive images.

After lusting after this lens for over a year, I finally broke down and bought it. The reviews seem pretty favorable and most people seem very pleased with the image quality and usability of it. So, with much trepidation I ordered it from Amazon and had them express ship it to me. The economy is poop, so buying big lenses may not be the best use of my money, but I’ve inching toward this day for months now, so it should all work out for me.

I ordered the lens on Friday and it just showed up a few minutes ago. I’m extremely excited to try it out, but the sun is starting to set so I really can’t get any good pictures with it tonight. However, I did do the next best thing which is to take pictures of me taking it out of the box and putting it on the tripod!

Just as a size comparison, here it is next to a bottle of Mt. Dew. No, that’s a 2-liter, not some 20oz shot of Dew! I’m not sure which one I like more! When fully extended it surpasses the 2 liter bottle. And with lens hood, it’s ridiculously long!

First off, this thing is huge! It uses and 86mm filter and seems to be nearly a foot long. It has great balance though. It doesn’t feel like it wants to tip forward or backward. In fact with the camera on there, it balances perfectly.

I did take a couple of quick shots to show off the zoom. The first one is just a shot of the pond from my patio. You can see the picnic table in the distance. The second picture is zoomed in to 500mm and you can see a lot of the detail of the bench. I know, it’s not a riveting picture, but it does show the range of this thing. That bench is probably about 200 yards in the distance.

And finally, here is the whole thing assembled and sitting on the tripod. Is it me or does this thing look like a small piece of munitions?

And here are a few other random shots to show this thing off. I’ll try to take some more pictures tomorrow, but the forecast is calling for rain so I might not have the best of luck.