Sigma 300-800 with I.S ? any sigma 800 owners???

what does anyone else think??

if sigma put 4 stop I.S. (or whatever they call it) in their big gun i'd buy one TODAY!!! they have just added I.S. to their mid length lenses...

what does anyone else think?? just pie in the sky stuff?? is it wrong to lust after products that aren't even made yet??

or are there any Sigma USA reps on here? or anyone work for Sigma on these pages?

and what about the 300-800? any one can say anything abut this lens? i know Romey (the famous Philippine bird photog) says it's "as sharp" as a canon 500 or 600... but takes real skill, and time effort and energy in the set up?? plus a 300 dollar tri-pod and a 200 dollar head?? who's useing what?? manfrotto 501 503 fluid? or Wimberly all the way??

im a "surf photog". "from the shore". so reach is key to me. you can never have too much. my Canon 100-400mm is a kiddy toy. meaningless!! not even NEARLY long enough. the 800 would be going on my 1.6X 40D. maby even with non-reporting 1.4 x converter?

im worried a fixed Canon 600 IS wouldnt be as "good"?? maby it'd be sharper, maby it'd be "cooler". but not as "good" for my use??

anyone doing that? anyone know anything??

6k USD in Hong Kong? Singapore price??

I don't have the sigma 300-800 but I have other telephoto lenses and read about them all the time.

I've read from other surfers that the 600 f4 is the standard and minium focal length. I also think think the 300-500 sigma would be good because the IS isn't so important on a moving subject.

Andr uses a Sigmonster for surf shots, you might want to get in touch with him:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1029&message=26174341

Romy
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PHILIPPINE WILD BIRDS
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(Over 240 species captured in habitat, and counting.)

I have a sigma 300-800 and its a great lens. I bought it used its the older non DG version. I got it for about 4 grand with sigma 2X converter, sold converter for 100 bucks.

Yes it needs a solid tripod. If you dont need to carry it far then a heavy duty aluminum tripod by bogen will do. As fars as a head get either a wimberly or use a Bogen 3421 gimble head. Alot cheaper than wimberly. I have the bogen head works fine. If your shooting surfers i wouldnt think IS would be very usefule as you will need a fast shutter speed anyway. Heres a shot at at 1/250 a sec at 800mm. With a gimble head and at least 1/200 a sec 800mm is not real hard to get a sharp pic. IS would be nice but the sigma 300-800 new is allready quite expensive. Used ones sell in the 4 grand range.



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http://www.pbase.com/dc9mm

Only folks with very specialized needs, deep pockets and a spare wheel barrow will be able to use the new Sigma lens.

Guys will post requests they don't understand the engineering and physics for, so why not have a 1200 f1 lens with 5 stop IS. If it comes mounted in a vehicle kind of like a machine gun placement at the top it might work. It will probably only weigh 75 pounds and need to have off setting weights on a special tripod mount to make it usefully movable. It will only cost a couple of hundred thousand dollars, and three people in the world will buy one. Heck why not make it?
--
Rationally I have no hope, irrationally I believe in miracles.
Joni Mitchell

rsn48 said:

Only folks with very specialized needs, deep pockets and a spare
wheel barrow will be able to use the new Sigma lens.

Guys will post requests they don't understand the engineering and
physics for, so why not have a 1200 f1 lens with 5 stop IS. If it
comes mounted in a vehicle kind of like a machine gun placement at
the top it might work. It will probably only weigh 75 pounds and
need to have off setting weights on a special tripod mount to make it
usefully movable. It will only cost a couple of hundred thousand
dollars, and three people in the world will buy one. Heck why not
make it?

Click to expand...

The OP is not talking about the 200-500mm f/2.8.

--
Whoever said 'a picture is worth a thousand words' was a cheapskate.

http://www.pbase.com/dot_borg

Buy it with Four Thirds mount along with an Olympus E3 body with in body IS. The 2x crop factor gives you a stabilized 5.6/600-1600.

That seems to be the best solution for ultimate reach available today.

Rainer Raffalski

yeah. the Olympus. I have a buddy who just got one. when i read the specs i wasn't really blown away. but it's a really REALLY nice little camera!!! i was surprised by the "fit and finish" quality. no worse than my 40d really. and it feels like a quality item. and its such a nice size!!! and cheap too!!!

thanks for the suggestion Reindeer!

Rainer!!! sorry brother!! spell checker!!! hahaha

I used a friend's 300-800 last summer shooting birds in the wetlands. It has a fantastic range and produced great images. My only wish was that it had a focus limiter switch. There were occasions where the focus was racking. Though I didn't necessarily miss any action shots, who knows what kind of bird positions I could have gotten had it been a bit snappier to focus.

I also shot the same lens on the Mk3 with stacked 1.4 and 2.0 tc, manual focus of course. Very useful!
--
~ Kevin ~

Visit my newly created gallery: http://www.NatureImagesByKevin.com

You can find me also at:
http://www.Pixel-Shooter.com

I am not a sigma owner.
I use the older manual focus Nikon 800mm 5.6 lens on a 30D for surfing.
The depth of focus is critical with manual focus.
Auto focus on the sigmas would be easier.
Personally I think an 800mm on a 1.6 crop is too long.
I would go with a Canon 500 or 600 f4 and a 1.4 converter when needed.

You may need more reach and want the 800mm.
Also images can get atmospherically hazey with very long focal lengths.

sorry , I meant to reply to original poster

excellent info guys. there was a troll or two! but they will be ignored in all my posts.

to the poster who said something along the lines of "are you sure you need 800 on a 1.6 body" dude. some of the reefs i shoot here are far man. i dont know if you have ever been to Nusa Dua on Bali (course you have!) its a bloody long way from the temple to the outer bomby. Also "temple" section and main peak at Ulu. a 500 would be great for "the race-track" and "bingin", for shoreys like K-spot my 100-400 is EXCELLENT. super sharp and fast enough... but, really, sometimes the guy is a 100 meters away and i want to see the whites in his eyes. even the sponno's branding on the board at 100m + distance. we get a LOT of light, all the time, and those who commented on the shutter speed are totally right, unless it's sunset/birding? surely 4 stops is 4 stops to anyone??? i dont "need" IS, but i have a feeling sometimes, swinging this big gun, i might "want" IS.

i just dont think the 600 is long enough, even on a 1.6X (the whole reason i have a 40D!) and the new Canon 800 will not sink in price to 8 k for a year or 2. so a 6 always running a 1.4?? plus it's also a whole lot more money!!! so that only really leaves old 600 or 800 primes, which sometimes go really cheap. under a grand! the AF simga 800 is expensive, and the older ones dont focus, so that kinds solves that. no thanks.

it only really leaves the 300-800 doesnt it? i saw one go for 3500 not long ago.