NOTE:
Because I changed my monitor for much better and calibrated, colors in these stills may be unsaturated (I was working on my older monitor when I uploaded these stills). Soon I will fix this.
Today is 11th of March 2015. I have this lens from yesterday and I took some shots.
Because I changed my monitor for much better and calibrated, colors in these stills may be unsaturated (I was working on my older monitor when I uploaded these stills). Soon I will fix this.
Today is 11th of March 2015. I have this lens from yesterday and I took some shots.
First impressions are very good - lens is solid, heavy and gives nice images (very good to 350 mm, good above 350 mm). Unfortunately 5.0 is only ot 150 mm, 5.6 on 200-300 mm, 6.3 on 400-600 mm.
Lens works with my old Canon tc 2x II (max focal length is 1200/13). Soon I will try it with Kenko 1.4x mc4 dgx.
15th of March 2015.
I took more shots and I recorded sample videos. Video quality is good, even on 600 mm (at f/8.0). OS works fine, but it's not good for a handheld videos above 300 mm (lens is too heavy and if you will move camera to the left, right or up and down, picture will not be smooth).
Lens is heavy (with camera it's more than 4 kg), so after few shots I need to take a little break.
OS is ok, I can take steady shots on 600 mm with 1/100.
13th of April 2015
I tested this lens on three football/soccer matches and I am happy with the results. AF with limiters works fast (similar to my previous lens - Canon 300/4 IS), picture quality is ok, even with iso 6400. I changed focal length when it was a rain and strong wind. Condition of this lens is still ok with no dust or water inside.
Sigma works fine with Canon tc 2x II (AF is very slow in live view mode), but not with Kenko 1.4x mc4 dgx where AF is hunting and hunting...
On my Canon 60D camera, picture quality is also good, but soft at 6.3 (especially at 500-600 mm). For a bird photography I think that it's a good lens (with max iso at 1000), but it looks better on full frame camera on all aperture settings and focal length.
8th of May 2015
More tests on Canon 60D.
What can I say about this camera and lens? If you need it for a bird photography or wildlife and you like good picture quality, you will need to stop down aperture to 7.1-8.0 at 500-600 mm (there's no need to do this on a full frame camera). It reminds me situation with my previous lens - Canon 300/4 IS, where this lens was too soft on f4, good at 5.6 on Canon 60D. On Canon 1DX it was good at 4.0, very good at 5.6.
AF is ok on a static scenes and situations (when you will use a limiter it will be faster), but for a fast moving subjects it's not good in my opinion. Maybe on a 7D II it's much better. On Canon 1DX its fast and accurate.
28th of June 2015
I took many shots on air show, but sky was overcast. Resolution is good, but it's much worse when you shoot under the light. AF works fine. For panning max in this lens for me is 1/160.
Here you can check some shots (last shots, without last two with F-16 taken with Sigma on Canon 60D, I took with Canon 70-200/2.8 IS II):
http://krzysztofsmejlis.blogspot.com/2015/06/piknik-lotniczy-w-swidwinie-2015-zdjecia.html
Pros (on Canon 1DX):
- very good image quality to 350 mm, good above (softer at 600/6.3, better at 600/7.1 or 8.0);
- build quality;
- splash & dust resistant;
- good AF, even in low light conditions
Cons
- 400/6.3, not 400/5.6 like in Tamron 150-600;
- heavy;
- much worse image quality when you shoot under the light;
- 600/6.3 on apc-c is too soft
8th of May 2015
More tests on Canon 60D.
What can I say about this camera and lens? If you need it for a bird photography or wildlife and you like good picture quality, you will need to stop down aperture to 7.1-8.0 at 500-600 mm (there's no need to do this on a full frame camera). It reminds me situation with my previous lens - Canon 300/4 IS, where this lens was too soft on f4, good at 5.6 on Canon 60D. On Canon 1DX it was good at 4.0, very good at 5.6.
AF is ok on a static scenes and situations (when you will use a limiter it will be faster), but for a fast moving subjects it's not good in my opinion. Maybe on a 7D II it's much better. On Canon 1DX its fast and accurate.
28th of June 2015
I took many shots on air show, but sky was overcast. Resolution is good, but it's much worse when you shoot under the light. AF works fine. For panning max in this lens for me is 1/160.
Here you can check some shots (last shots, without last two with F-16 taken with Sigma on Canon 60D, I took with Canon 70-200/2.8 IS II):
http://krzysztofsmejlis.blogspot.com/2015/06/piknik-lotniczy-w-swidwinie-2015-zdjecia.html
Pros (on Canon 1DX):
- very good image quality to 350 mm, good above (softer at 600/6.3, better at 600/7.1 or 8.0);
- build quality;
- splash & dust resistant;
- good AF, even in low light conditions
Cons
- 400/6.3, not 400/5.6 like in Tamron 150-600;
- heavy;
- much worse image quality when you shoot under the light;
- 600/6.3 on apc-c is too soft
Aperture - f/8.0; shutter speed - 1/160; iso 1000; focal length - 600 mm (cropped)
Aperture - f/5.6; shutter speed - 1/800; iso 8000; focal length - 206 mm (cropped)
Aperture - f/6.3; shutter speed - 1/2000; iso 2000; focal length - 401 mm (cropped)
http://pogonszczecin.pl/galeria/15/669/Pogon-Szczecin---Gornik-Zabrze-3-1--1-0---fot--Krzysztof-Smejlis.html
Aperture - f/5.0; shutter speed - 1/400; iso 6400; focal length - 175 mm
Aperture - f/5.6; shutter speed - 1/320; iso 250; focal length - 185 mm
Aperture - f/8.0; shutter speed - 1/800; iso 500; focal length - 534 mm
Aperture - f/5.6; shutter speed - 1/320; iso 250; focal length - 500 mm
Aperture - f/8.0; shutter speed - 1/200; iso 200; focal length - 309 mm
Aperture - f/8.0; shutter speed - 1/400; iso 2000; focal length - 600 mm
Aperture - f/6.3; shutter speed - 1/1600; iso 4000; focal length - 600 mm (+ 1,10 EV in PS)
Aperture - f/6.3; shutter speed - 1/1000; iso 500; focal length- 600 mm (cropped)
Aperture - f/6.3; shutter speed - 1/800; iso 500; focal length - 600 mm (cropped)
Canon 60D + Sigma 150-600
Aperture - f/8.0; shutter speed - 1/400; iso 250; focal length - 600 mm
Aperture - f/8.0; shutter speed - 1/320; iso 500; focal length - 600 mm (cropped by 35%)
Aperture - f/8.0; shutter speed - 1/400; iso 250; focal length - 600 mm
Aperture - f/7.1; shutter speed - 1/320; iso 500; focal length - 600 mm
Aperture - f/6.3; shutter speed - 1/500; iso 500; focal length - 500 mm
with Canon tc 2x II
Video:
Video:
with Canon tc 2x II and Kenko 1.4x
On 1DX
Unboxing & sample videos:
