Sigma 50-500

Hi, Any one thinking about this lens for birding, would give some great range for birds 100-1000mm but at the long end i suspect a tripod would be the order of the day regards Alan the birder.

would like to test one before i committed myself to buying one, but i am definately interested, hopefully someone will make the jump and post some positive findings when its released

Yes definately! I've read about the Sigma 50-500 mm for Nikon and Canon and I have a friend that thinks it is a fine lens (he has a canon). And if it sell for the same price as it does for C & N then I think it will be the lens for me. I could never justify spending 7,500.00 on that 300mm and the 50-200mm lens would still need the converter for another 400 plus dollars so if this lens sells for $1,000.00 it is the one I'm going to buy.

--
S.Haden
http://www.pbase.com/shaden008

Shirley, hi i am very interested in this lens, i have the 1.4TC but to be honest i am not that impressed by it on my 50-200 lens mixed results but i only blame myself for that.

Let'shope it performs better than the Sigma 55-200 on 4/3. That lens reportedly performs quite well on Nikon and C* cameras - much better than on OLympus.

That range would be great if it performs.
--
Rob Davies
Searun
http://www.pbase.com/searun

equipment in profile

ASR45 said:

Hi, Any one thinking about this lens for birding, would give some
great range for birds 100-1000mm but at the long end i suspect a
tripod would be the order of the day regards Alan the birder.

Click to expand...

Note, at f/6.3 at the telephoto end, it is going to need a lot of light (and obviously a steady tripod). I wonder if thats going to be acceptable for the typical birding (ie, early morning, etc.) where you might not have that much light.

Not for birding, but I’m going to test it as soon as it hits the store. If it is any good, I’m going to buy it. Money is ready …

With TC14, it will be a great thing. It is slow, (it will be even slower with TC), but I carry the monopod and it should be fine. It is heavy, so that will help too.

I’m just hoping that it is nothing like 55-200 on E-system!!! THAT would be a big disappointment.

Cheers,
Alex.

--
Equipment list is in the profile.

I have one on order, I currently use this lens on my 20D's but have just purchased the E500 with a Bigma due in two/three weeks.
--
http://www.kevin-bates.com

My local dealers know nothing about the 50-500 being planned for Olympus mount. That's okay, their prices on the same lenses in Canon or Nikon mounts are out of line with what U.S. dealers are charging, so I'll order it from the States. I'm told it'll be available starting this June.

Every review I've read was generally possitive. The only knock seems to be slow focus speed with some cameras. My E-1 with its battery grip should have no problem powering the 50-500.

Of course a lens that big needs some kind of support beyond, all but, the shortest focal length. Tripods are nice, but I'll rely on a good monopod. I can't foresee using the full 500mm length very often, but, at 300-400mm, a monopod should be fine.

If I can't have more megapixels, then just let me get closer to the action with a BIG lens.
--
Rob
-------------------
Freelance Motorsports & Aviation Photographer

Teh 55-200 performs extremely well (for the money) on the Sigma. What are the problems with it on 4/3?

Thanks

R
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Empowered by Foveon

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Hello,
I was just wondering, it apears to be that Sigma lenses are consistantly cheaper

then Oly lenses, is this because of a quality diference or is it just that people like to
buy lenses made by the same people that made there camera?

--Kate...(No, Bob!)
---------------------------------------------
'E is for Ernest who choked on a peach'--Gorey, The Gaslycrumb Tinies

Dear Oly forum fellow member,

looking at your signature, I have finally understood how that bird flue is spreading around the world so quickly :-(
--
Sergei,
Calgary
E-one+ZDglass=

Bird flue?? WHAT!?

I am completely confused. I have no idea what you mean. Perhaps I should explain my signiture,

the firs part (--kate...(no, bob!)) is from an episode of a Rowan Atkinson (one of my favoret comedians) series called The Black Adder.

The second part ("E is for Enest who choked on a peach") is from an alhpabet by the cartoonist Edward Gorey. What is the deal with Bird flue??

the bird would have to be exposed to the virus before he could give it to me and he has never left my house. If he were to get bird flu I guess I will be the first to go here in the US. I wont stop kissing him for sure. He's my baby.

But, thank you (sincerely) for you concern.
--
S.Haden
http://www.pbase.com/shaden008

We will be counting on you to give us your first thoughts of the lens then! You will have to post some photos and give us the run down, okay? I know I would appreciate it. You can run off all the techie stuff but please post some photos that is all that matters to me.
--
S.Haden
http://www.pbase.com/shaden008

Likewise i await your thoughts Kevin with interest, as you will be the 50-500 lens ambassador for it regards Alan.

Like the UK! Put it this way, it's not Arizona is it?

I am having trouble with the 50-200 and TC14: I have to up the ISO to 400 and shutter speeds of 1/400th to 1/500th are rare on the ground.

I keep coming back with 90-odd bird shots (seagulls flying, ducks squabbling, etc) and a good 90% are blurred in some way. Whether foucs missed, the bird flew out of DOF, it was too-fast moving for the shutter speed, I wobbled the lens, you name it, I've probably screwed it up!

I then used the Fl40 thinking that would 'frieze' them! Not so, the same fast moving birds kept moving fast and the flash limited the shutter to 1/160th!

I then thought aboutplacing some card in the hotshoe to 'undedicate' the FL40 (it can then sync to 1/320th without the shutter appearing in the frame) but I had to come home. Maybe for the next time?

So I'm shooting with a FL of 566mm (283 x 2) I'd hate to think of what it'd be like to have to find a shutter speed double that?

A good 4/5ths of my shots where off a tripod (with all the threads loosened so it could pan, etc) Yet, it must have been my pressing the shutter that 'wobbles' it?

It got so ffustrating that I pre-focussed on an area in MF and waited for the seagulls to swoop through it. That still didn't work.

So, as well as my technique being rubbish (that's why I'm learning on flying birds! If you can do the hard stuff, the easy stuff falls intoplace ) I also know you can't replace bright light.

I know what I'm doing wrong and what I could do to better my keeper rate. I just need to put the work in to learn... and get an FL50! LOL

I think 50-500 owners will be in for a fustrating period. Especially if a double digit E-3 appears.

Basic Wedge said:

My local dealers know nothing about the 50-500 being planned for
Olympus mount. That's okay, their prices on the same lenses in
Canon or Nikon mounts are out of line with what U.S. dealers are
charging, so I'll order it from the States. I'm told it'll be
available starting this June.

Every review I've read was generally possitive. The only knock
seems to be slow focus speed with some cameras. My E-1 with its
battery grip should have no problem powering the 50-500.

Of course a lens that big needs some kind of support beyond, all
but, the shortest focal length. Tripods are nice, but I'll rely on
a good monopod. I can't foresee using the full 500mm length very
often, but, at 300-400mm, a monopod should be fine.

If I can't have more megapixels, then just let me get closer to the
action with a BIG lens.
--
Rob
-------------------
Freelance Motorsports & Aviation Photographer

Click to expand...

EMale said:

I know what I'm doing wrong and what I could do to better my keeper
rate. I just need to put the work in to learn... and get an FL50!
LOL

Click to expand...

If you are going to be shooting with a flash on a long telephoto lens, you might want to use something like the Better Beamer (FL-50's most telephoto position is something 48mm, so it can waste a lot of light):
http://www.birdsasart.com/accs.html#BEAMER

When I originally bought my e1 it was with natural history photography in mind. I wanted a lightweight system that I could fit in a rucksack and take out all day in any weather. I actually wanted a smaller sensor to give me greater depth of field for macro shots and a greater magnification factor when using telephoto lenses for birds etc.

From my point of view, all the 4/3 system lacked two years ago was an affordable, long telephoto lens. I knew sigma was part of the 4/3 consortium and the bigma seemed to be the ideal lens; so I bought my E1, the 50mm macro, the 50-200 and a 1.4x converter and waited.

Now that the bigma is on the horizon I'm not so sure. I find that I'm up against lack of light far to often with the 50-200 and 1.4x converter. If I buy the sigma will I regret it and still lust after the 300 f2.8; will it be money wasted? If I go for the 300mm and no E3 appears that really will be money wasted. An olympus 2x converter for the 300mm lens really would be the icing on the cake for those occasions when maximum reach is needed.

I think that I'm going to wait and do nothing. I'll keep my money until someone either brings out a faster, cheaper long telephoto lens or olympus convinces me that there is a long term future in the 4/3 system by producing an E3 that is at least a match for the nikon D200.

Definitely pushing the shutter on a "loose" tripod can cause some movement. I have proof with some fireworks shots (much longer exposure) but you can see the wobble in some with all the trails showing a little down up movement. Maybe it was mirror slap? Next time cable release for sure and if needed a 2 or 3 second mirror lock up.

I did get quite a few no wobbles too!

This summer for hummers I plan on using the tripod and cable release. May also look into putting the flash/s remotely located closer to the feeder.

500mm end of Bigma I think would pose a whole new set of problems given its speed. But remotely locating the flash at the feeder would help. Of course can't remotely locate the flash in the great outdoors all the time.

Good luck and looking forward to results with the new sigmas!

Dan