Nikon Z9 with Sigma 500mm F/4 DG OS HSM Sports

FrankG · Feb 24, 2022

Lasse p said:
Anyone been out shooting lately?
The weather has been dreadful here for the entire week. I am looking forward to the weekend which hopefully will allow me to get out and shoot some more

Not so much - it's been the same here, bad weather with unusual amounts of very high winds most of the time with occasional rather brief interludes of better conditions. Birding wise there is not much about just yet - early spring is starting to break but the birds haven't started arrving back yet (well it's still only February!).

I briefly got out late to a nearby wildlife reserve a couple of days ago to attempt to photograph some raptors and got a bit let down by the Z9: I was surprised to find that all my programmed AF FN button control settings had been reset to defaults ... and I had no idea why. So all I was getting was "auto" mode and none of my preset button functions worked, so no 3D Tracking, no Wide Area modes etc. So I was busy delving into the menus trying to figure out what was going on for several minutes by which time some quite good photo opportunities had been missed. I have since successfully re-instated my previous settings (worked through them all manually again) - but I need to know why the settings were lost so I have raised a support call with Nikon. It could be a firmware bug, perhaps Nikon will have an answer. I'm hoping it's a bizarre one off!

Frank

ANAYV · Feb 24, 2022

FrankG said:
ANAYV said:

FrankG said:

Some more photos, all taken at ISO3200, all tight crops. ISO3200 is a fairly typical setting for the often dull light of winter conditions in the UK although I often have to go higher!

Plus also a few screenshots of NX Studio edits for context.

Here's an image of Blue Tit being edited in NX Studio, showing the FX image sized to fit the screen, NX Studio showing the recorded AF "point", the red box which relates to "Wide-area AF (large)" AF mode that was used for this shot:

Here is the same edit with the image sized at 100% in NX Studio:

Here is the cropped result after further processing in Topaz:

Another example, a Reed Bunting in a bush nearby, NX Studio screen with the FX size image fitted to the screen:

The same edit at 100%:

The result (next image in the sequence actually):

OK - so you want to see proof that there isn't any sign of focus shifting?

Here's a tiled consecutive sequence of tight (1200 pixel wide) crops of 25 of those Reed Bunting shots, these were taken in 3D Tracking mode (and AF also set to "release" mode):

All "tack" sharp on the eye IMO!

I'll open a new post for the Short-eared Owl flight shots.

Frank

Click to expand...

Your getting excellent results Frank!!

Z 9 does good in your hands

Click to expand...

Thanks.

FrankG said:

Thats a lot of cropping ability!

Plenty of details, too.

Z 9 is too big/heavy for me...and more $$ than I'd want to spend for a hobby...but this Sigma 500 F4 seems very interesting, and now will find out about it.

My biggest reaching lens is the Sigma 100-400 C.

Hoping the 300F4 isn't way heavier

Click to expand...

If you mean the 300mm F4 PF lens then no - that's very small and light.

Oops...I meant the 500 f4 Sport.

FrankG said:
If you mean the Sigma 500mm F Sport, well that weighs in at 3.3Kg. That's lightweight by older 500mm F4 standards but still could be considered quite heavy!

Yeah...a bit too heavy for me. I'd rather handhold...and thats more than I could...at over 7 lbs

FrankG said:
It is well balanced (not front heavy) and so can be hand-held for short periods but I mainly use it supported on a monopod. With a 2x converter attached it's better to use it with a tripod.

Frank

Thanks Frank. A question...the Sigma TC 1401 TC-would it work well with the Sigma 100-400 C and Z 50?

Any thoughts?

Thanks

ANAYV

FrankG · Feb 24, 2022

ANAYV said:
FrankG said:

ANAYV said:

FrankG said:

Some more photos, all taken at ISO3200, all tight crops. ISO3200 is a fairly typical setting for the often dull light of winter conditions in the UK although I often have to go higher!

Plus also a few screenshots of NX Studio edits for context.

Here's an image of Blue Tit being edited in NX Studio, showing the FX image sized to fit the screen, NX Studio showing the recorded AF "point", the red box which relates to "Wide-area AF (large)" AF mode that was used for this shot:

Here is the same edit with the image sized at 100% in NX Studio:

Here is the cropped result after further processing in Topaz:

Another example, a Reed Bunting in a bush nearby, NX Studio screen with the FX size image fitted to the screen:

The same edit at 100%:

The result (next image in the sequence actually):

OK - so you want to see proof that there isn't any sign of focus shifting?

Here's a tiled consecutive sequence of tight (1200 pixel wide) crops of 25 of those Reed Bunting shots, these were taken in 3D Tracking mode (and AF also set to "release" mode):

All "tack" sharp on the eye IMO!

I'll open a new post for the Short-eared Owl flight shots.

Frank

Click to expand...

Your getting excellent results Frank!!

Z 9 does good in your hands

Click to expand...

Thanks.

ANAYV said:

Thats a lot of cropping ability!

Plenty of details, too.

Z 9 is too big/heavy for me...and more $$ than I'd want to spend for a hobby...but this Sigma 500 F4 seems very interesting, and now will find out about it.

My biggest reaching lens is the Sigma 100-400 C.

Hoping the 300F4 isn't way heavier

Click to expand...

If you mean the 300mm F4 PF lens then no - that's very small and light.

Click to expand...

Oops...I meant the 500 f4 Sport.

I thought you might!

ANAYV said:
ANAYV said:

If you mean the Sigma 500mm F Sport, well that weighs in at 3.3Kg. That's lightweight by older 500mm F4 standards but still could be considered quite heavy!

Click to expand...

Yeah...a bit too heavy for me. I'd rather handhold...and thats more than I could...at over 7 lbs

It's more than most people will handhold, same applies to any of the big so-called "exotics" , 400 f2.8, 500 f4, 600 f4 etc. You could consider tryiing a lightweight monopod though. I use a small carbon fibre Gitzo monopod with a Sirui tilt head (total weight of the monopod + tilt head is just 800 grams).

ANAYV said:
ANAYV said:

It is well balanced (not front heavy) and so can be hand-held for short periods but I mainly use it supported on a monopod. With a 2x converter attached it's better to use it with a tripod.

Frank

Click to expand...

Thanks Frank. A question...the Sigma TC 1401 TC-would it work well with the Sigma 100-400 C and Z 50?

I haven't seen a copy of that Sigma 100-400 but its sounds like it could be a good option. I have tried using my Sigma 150-600mm Sport fitted with the TC-1401 on my Z50 and the Z50 has no trouble accurately focussing that combo although the TC slows the AF system down. It actually even works with the TC-2001 (very slowly!). So, if the 100-400 takes that converter then I would certainly expect the Z50 to be able to AF with it.. No idea what the image quality of that combo is like though!

Frank

Rexgig0 · Feb 25, 2022

FrankG said:
Lasse p said:

Anyone been out shooting lately?
The weather has been dreadful here for the entire week. I am looking forward to the weekend which hopefully will allow me to get out and shoot some more

Click to expand...

Not so much - it's been the same here, bad weather with unusual amounts of very high winds most of the time with occasional rather brief interludes of better conditions. Birding wise there is not much about just yet - early spring is starting to break but the birds haven't started arrving back yet (well it's still only February!).

I briefly got out late to a nearby wildlife reserve a couple of days ago to attempt to photograph some raptors and got a bit let down by the Z9: I was surprised to find that all my programmed AF FN button control settings had been reset to defaults ... and I had no idea why. So all I was getting was "auto" mode and none of my preset button functions worked, so no 3D Tracking, no Wide Area modes etc. So I was busy delving into the menus trying to figure out what was going on for several minutes by which time some quite good photo opportunities had been missed. I have since successfully re-instated my previous settings (worked through them all manually again) - but I need to know why the settings were lost so I have raised a support call with Nikon. It could be a firmware bug, perhaps Nikon will have an answer. I'm hoping it's a bizarre one off!

Frank

Interesting. I hope that you can get this sorted-out.

FrankG · Feb 25, 2022

Rexgig0 said:
FrankG said:

Lasse p said:

Anyone been out shooting lately?
The weather has been dreadful here for the entire week. I am looking forward to the weekend which hopefully will allow me to get out and shoot some more

Click to expand...

Not so much - it's been the same here, bad weather with unusual amounts of very high winds most of the time with occasional rather brief interludes of better conditions. Birding wise there is not much about just yet - early spring is starting to break but the birds haven't started arrving back yet (well it's still only February!).

I briefly got out late to a nearby wildlife reserve a couple of days ago to attempt to photograph some raptors and got a bit let down by the Z9: I was surprised to find that all my programmed AF FN button control settings had been reset to defaults ... and I had no idea why. So all I was getting was "auto" mode and none of my preset button functions worked, so no 3D Tracking, no Wide Area modes etc. So I was busy delving into the menus trying to figure out what was going on for several minutes by which time some quite good photo opportunities had been missed. I have since successfully re-instated my previous settings (worked through them all manually again) - but I need to know why the settings were lost so I have raised a support call with Nikon. It could be a firmware bug, perhaps Nikon will have an answer. I'm hoping it's a bizarre one off!

Frank

Click to expand...

Interesting. I hope that you can get this sorted-out.

Thanks. I had a reply by email from Nikon Europe today: they say that they have no previous reports of this problem occurring iin the circumstances i described although they did admit that they have had a small number or reports of loss of customised settings on performing a firmware update!

They advised that I could save the custom settings to one of the cards so that they could be re-loaded if this ever happens again (although saved settings would be lost of course if the card is re-formatted). Better than nothing I suppose but it's a concern that this happened at all and suggests an underlying firmware bug somewhere. Hopefully Nikon will track it down and fix it .. I suppose it's just possible that it might turn out to be a very rare event but even so it ought to be fixed.

Frank

FrankG · Feb 25, 2022

FrankG said:
ManosSKG said:

Hi to all! Does anyone know if IBIS works with Sigma's OS? I know that in F mount OEM native VR lenses, IBIS is offering +1 axis of stabilization. Does this +1 extra axis works with the Sigma's OS system or not? If you do not know, have you seen increased OS performance with IBIS on or not?

Click to expand...

I have no definitive information on that one way or the other. It's probable that it works as well as any other adapted 500mm lens (eg the Nikon 500mm FL E) - and that is probably almost no effect.

Nikon seem to regard IBIS as effective for lenses upto a focal length of about 120mm but not much beyond that. I don't really expect IBIS to do much for a 500mm lens - the lens VR does probably 99% of the work. It occurs to me that I could try my old 500mm F4 P lens (manual focus, no VR) and see if IBIS can be activated and if it does anything useful for that focal length - but I would not expect much. I'll probably give that a try just for fun!

Frank

I just did a brief test of the Z9 IBIS using my good old manual focus 500mm F4 P lens. With IBIS switched off as I expected I was getting very blurry hand-held shots at lowish shutter speeds and

With IBIS Switched on - image stabilisation was immediately evident in the viewfinder and i was easily able to get sharp images, hand-held, at at least down to 1/60th sec shutter speed!

This is way better than I was expecting for IBIS with a 500mm lens. and is quite exciting. In fact I'm amazed!

I expect therefore that the IBIS system will be working alongside the VR with the Sigma - although this is more difficult to test because I think in this situation the camera may rely on the lens VR to do the image stabilisation "heavy lifting" - but I don't know. I'll be interested to try some more tests on this when I have nothing better to do!

Frank

ManosSKG · Feb 25, 2022

FrankG said:
FrankG said:

ManosSKG said:

Hi to all! Does anyone know if IBIS works with Sigma's OS? I know that in F mount OEM native VR lenses, IBIS is offering +1 axis of stabilization. Does this +1 extra axis works with the Sigma's OS system or not? If you do not know, have you seen increased OS performance with IBIS on or not?

Click to expand...

I have no definitive information on that one way or the other. It's probable that it works as well as any other adapted 500mm lens (eg the Nikon 500mm FL E) - and that is probably almost no effect.

Nikon seem to regard IBIS as effective for lenses upto a focal length of about 120mm but not much beyond that. I don't really expect IBIS to do much for a 500mm lens - the lens VR does probably 99% of the work. It occurs to me that I could try my old 500mm F4 P lens (manual focus, no VR) and see if IBIS can be activated and if it does anything useful for that focal length - but I would not expect much. I'll probably give that a try just for fun!

Frank

Click to expand...

I just did a brief test of the Z9 IBIS using my good old manual focus 500mm F4 P lens. With IBIS switched off as I expected I was getting very blurry hand-held shots at lowish shutter speeds and

With IBIS Switched on - image stabilisation was immediately evident in the viewfinder and i was easily able to get sharp images, hand-held, at at least down to 1/60th sec shutter speed!

This is way better than I was expecting for IBIS with a 500mm lens. and is quite exciting. In fact I'm amazed!

I expect therefore that the IBIS system will be working alongside the VR with the Sigma - although this is more difficult to test because I think in this situation the camera may rely on the lens VR to do the image stabilisation "heavy lifting" - but I don't know. I'll be interested to try some more tests on this when I have nothing better to do!

Frank

Is your old lens a non VR one? Couldn't you test the Sigma with OS off / IBIS on? Wouldn't that show you if IBIS is adding +1 axis of stabilization?

ManosSKG · Feb 25, 2022

UPDATE: Ok I sold my 500 PF and now have something less than €3K sitting in my account, that secure some financing for the Z9. Now all I have to do is wait for the bloody thing to arrive. Interesting why I am so delayed. Greece is a small country with no much demand, so I usually get scarce equipment pretty fast. I got my PF in no time, when the rest of Europe and US were begging for it.

Everyone's telling me I did the wrong thing selling the PF and keeping the Sigma F4. I say that they have no clue of how good the Sigma F4 is as a glass. I also have a Sigma 150-600 C in my cabinet, so I am gonna use that one if I need a lightweight setup. I am mainly a 'drive through' birder so I am not frequently in the need for a light setup anyways. I have also seen samples of the 150-600 C with the Z9 and I found them pretty decent IMO.

FrankG · Feb 26, 2022

ManosSKG said:
FrankG said:

FrankG said:

ManosSKG said:

Hi to all! Does anyone know if IBIS works with Sigma's OS? I know that in F mount OEM native VR lenses, IBIS is offering +1 axis of stabilization. Does this +1 extra axis works with the Sigma's OS system or not? If you do not know, have you seen increased OS performance with IBIS on or not?

Click to expand...

I have no definitive information on that one way or the other. It's probable that it works as well as any other adapted 500mm lens (eg the Nikon 500mm FL E) - and that is probably almost no effect.

Nikon seem to regard IBIS as effective for lenses upto a focal length of about 120mm but not much beyond that. I don't really expect IBIS to do much for a 500mm lens - the lens VR does probably 99% of the work. It occurs to me that I could try my old 500mm F4 P lens (manual focus, no VR) and see if IBIS can be activated and if it does anything useful for that focal length - but I would not expect much. I'll probably give that a try just for fun!

Frank

Click to expand...

I just did a brief test of the Z9 IBIS using my good old manual focus 500mm F4 P lens. With IBIS switched off as I expected I was getting very blurry hand-held shots at lowish shutter speeds and

With IBIS Switched on - image stabilisation was immediately evident in the viewfinder and i was easily able to get sharp images, hand-held, at at least down to 1/60th sec shutter speed!

This is way better than I was expecting for IBIS with a 500mm lens. and is quite exciting. In fact I'm amazed!

I expect therefore that the IBIS system will be working alongside the VR with the Sigma - although this is more difficult to test because I think in this situation the camera may rely on the lens VR to do the image stabilisation "heavy lifting" - but I don't know. I'll be interested to try some more tests on this when I have nothing better to do!

Frank

Click to expand...

Is your old lens a non VR one? Couldn't you test the Sigma with OS off / IBIS on? Wouldn't that show you if IBIS is adding +1 axis of stabilization?

Yes the old Nikon 500mm F4 P lens is non-VR (it's quite an old lens, dates back to the 1990's). I wouldn't ever normally attempt to use that lens hand-held, in fact I always only ever used it mounted on a solid tripod.

As for testing the Sigma: it is not possible with any of the current Z cameras, including the Z9, to independently control IBIS on or off when a VR lens is attached. As with all lenses that have VR built in to to the lens the only way that you can control VR on or off is via the lens VR switch. This both enables/disables lens VR and also controls the camera IBIS on or off and the IBIS option in the Z menu is greyed out and not accessible.

So unfortunately the test you propose isn't feasible - that's why it's difficult to tell how much effect IBIS is contributing overall.

Frank

Lasse p · Feb 27, 2022

Finally a couple of hours out in today's nice weather. Unfortunately i was not able to get any thrilling subjects in the time i had, as it was getting rather late before i could go out. But these swans were cooperative.

I am quite impressed with the sharpness of the lens. This is a fairly large crop. Edited to my taste, no additional sharpening.

Take a look at the resolving power. I am very impressed.

No added sharpening. Color temp change, but nothing else.

So far i am very impressed with the optical quality of the lens. Autofocus seems quick with the Z9. Though it is apparent that i will need much more practice. I hope to get some in the coming weeks!

ManosSKG · Mar 5, 2022

Oh cmon guys! Post something

!

Weather was great in the UK last weekend. I was there. Show us some mercy.

Lasse p · Mar 5, 2022

ManosSKG said:
Oh cmon guys! Post something !

Weather was great in the UK last weekend. I was there. Show us some mercy.

Sorry i have been pretty occupied with work and focusing on ordering the portrait lenses and lighting i need.

Speaking off. I took this portrait of my daughter using the Sigma 500 F4 and the 1.4 TC. Hand held.

ISO 5000, F5.6, 700mm. No sharpness or noise reduction. Small image for web-use.

I am happy to report focus was absolutely instant, with eye af being spot on. No issues at all. The the lens performs flawlessly with the 1.4 teleconverter, both AF and image quality wise. I am still impressed with the sharpness of the lens every time i use it.

I am heading out for a small day trip tomorrow to hopefully get some images of the black woodpecker and whatever else is in range

I will post my any good shots here!

ManosSKG · Mar 5, 2022

Lasse p said:
ManosSKG said:

Oh cmon guys! Post something !

Weather was great in the UK last weekend. I was there. Show us some mercy.

Click to expand...

Sorry i have been pretty occupied with work and focusing on ordering the portrait lenses and lighting i need.

Speaking off. I took this portrait of my daughter using the Sigma 500 F4 and the 1.4 TC. Hand held.

ISO 5000, F5.6, 700mm. No sharpness or noise reduction. Small image for web-use.

I am happy to report focus was absolutely instant, with eye af being spot on. No issues at all. The the lens performs flawlessly with the 1.4 teleconverter, both AF and image quality wise. I am still impressed with the sharpness of the lens every time i use it.
I am heading out for a small day trip tomorrow to hopefully get some images of the black woodpecker and whatever else is in range I will post my any good shots here!

She is gorgeous and the shot amazing! I have also tried some portraits and indeed the aperture in combination with the long focal length, give an amazing result.

Can't wait to see more wildlife of course. I am happy you like the lens so far!

Lasse p · Mar 6, 2022

Here is a couple from this morning's walk in the woods.

No birds in flight today, but most shots were through several layers of branches and really strained the AF system of the Z9, as it would any other system.

Not much luck with the black woodpecker, but i did get some other interesting subjects.

500mm F4, ISO 360, 1/2000 sec. Cropped and exposure change.

A rarity in my location, these red squirrels are very shy.

Lasse p · Mar 13, 2022

I went to a nearby bird sanctuary today, a place with thousands of waterfowls near the shore. Being a place prohibiting access for anything not a bird, i stood in a nearby parking area about 50 meters from the action, taking pictures out over a lake filled with seagulls swooping in and out all over the place.
While i established earlier that the lens does take absolutely stunning images with the teleconverter on, i am finding that the teleconverter does inhibit the initial lock-on tracking somewhat, especially on more distant subjects. Sometimes it locks straight on, sometimes it hesitates and takes a while to recognize a subject. (Mind you they gotta be distant subjects for it to hesitate)

I recently changed the lens focus settings to speed priority in the Sigma Dock, this may also be affecting the lock-on, but i will need some further testing on that. Once the camera locks on the subject though, it does follow it fiercely.
I will do the same test without the TC just to make a comparison, and i will change one of the custom modes of the lens into the "normal" settings as well.
How are you guys faring, tracking wise both with and without the TC?

Edit/Update.
I did the test without the TC attached. Initial AF Lock-on is faster and more consistent without the teleconverter. In the lens setting i was using at the time (AF speed set to Fast)

That said overall, it is still performing pretty remarkably with the TC attached. Once focus tracking locks onto the target it follows it without hesitation, and it does almost regardless of the target size.

FrankG · Mar 13, 2022

Lasse p said:
I went to a nearby bird sanctuary today, a place with thousands of waterfowls near the shore. Being a place prohibiting access for anything not a bird, i stood in a nearby parking area about 50 meters from the action, taking pictures out over a lake filled with seagulls swooping in and out all over the place.
While i established earlier that the lens does take absolutely stunning images with the teleconverter on, i am finding that the teleconverter does inhibit the initial lock-on tracking somewhat, especially on more distant subjects. Sometimes it locks straight on, sometimes it hesitates and takes a while to recognize a subject. (Mind you they gotta be distant subjects for it to hesitate)

I recently changed the lens focus settings to speed priority in the Sigma Dock, this may also be affecting the lock-on, but i will need some further testing on that. Once the camera locks on the subject though, it does follow it fiercely.
I will do the same test without the TC just to make a comparison, and i will change one of the custom modes of the lens into the "normal" settings as well.
How are you guys faring, tracking wise both with and without the TC?

Edit/Update.
I did the test without the TC attached. Initial AF Lock-on is faster and more consistent without the teleconverter. In the lens setting i was using at the time (AF speed set to Fast)

That said overall, it is still performing pretty remarkably with the TC attached. Once focus tracking locks onto the target it follows it without hesitation, and it does almost regardless of the target size.

All I will say at the moment is that in general I'm doing well with AF tracking, the Z9 generally is better at this than any previous camera I have used, D500 included - but it's not perfect. It depends on the subject, distance and also whether there are other things on view that just might distract the AF system (which sometimes can get distracted).

The TC-1401 definitely slows the lens performance down, but that's from lightning fast to just merely fast (provided "fast" focus custom mode is enabled) so I still find it's still good. I can even get AF tracking to work OK with the TC-2001 attached except that really needs a tripod and I don't usually use one these days (I usually stick to a monopod).

Much depends on AF mode in use - the "Wide Area Large" mode works well for a lot of types of subjects. 3D tracking mode seems to be the most effective at tracking a bird's eye provided that it finds the eye in the first place which can sometimes be tricky. Performance of these various modes seems to vary depending on the species of bird - some birds have head plumage patterns or head shapes that seem to confuse the AI subject recognition system, others work very well. The AF system seems to like birds that have fairly simple head plumage patterns with well defiined eyes. Perhaps the various subject identification subtleties will improve with later firmware updates? Or perhaps that's expecting too much!

Frank

Daniel_Koszegi · Mar 22, 2022

ManosSKG said:
Hello there! Any Z9 owners using the Sigma 500mm F/4 out there yet? I'd love to hear your opinion on how the lens co-operates with the body, how it works with TCs, see any sample images etc. It would be VERY helpful!

Hi,

I received my Z9 at the end of January and I also own a Sigma 500mm f4 Sport. Before the purchase of the body I had concerns regarding the compatibility, but I can confirm that they work together perfectly. The only issue is that the Z9 cannot recognise it as a Sigma lens, but a Nikon 500mm VR. I can show you a few images taken with this combo.

ISO12800, 1/3200s, f/4, DeNoiseAI.

ISO2800, 1/1600s, f/4, DeNoiseAI.

ISO2800, 1/1250s, f/4, DeNoiseAI.

ISO640, 1/2500s, f/4, DeNoiseAI.

ManosSKG · Mar 23, 2022

Thanks for contributing Daniel!! Very nice shots!!! Please share more as you move on!!

On that first shot though, it does seem that the Z9 locked focus on the nearest branches and not on the bird. Is it frequent that the AF moves from subject to nearby branches? What AF mode / combination have you used for that firecrest shot??

Lasse p · Apr 9, 2022

After a couple of months I sold my Sigma 500 F4 and ordered the new Nikon 800mm PF.
If anyone is considering this lens to use with the Nikon Z9. I just wanted to stop by to give it my highest recommendation.
This lens works flawlessly with that camera system (Z9) and I must say it is an incredible lens for the price. Having tested it thoroughly the in past couple of months on many different subjects it just worked flawlessly both with and without the 1.4 TC.
Here are some samples taken in the last few weeks.

700MM 5.6 with 1.4 TC

500MM F4

Good shooting out there.

ManosSKG · Apr 16, 2022

Lesse P. that was fast! How much have you find it for, if I may ask?

Have you ever owned a PF lens before?? I was thinking of doing the same, due to the weight and the longer focal length, but in all honesty, I was so disappointed by the Nikkor 500 PF, that I am not sure that the 800 will perform much better. I will wait for more real life image examples before making such a transition.

I just love the micro contrast of the Sigma! The PF is a fast AF, super sharp lens. That's if you fill the frame. Start zooming in or cropping and it all goes flat. Having said that, the 800 PF will have a better reach, so less cropping will be needed. Also as it's longer, it will achieve better rendering then the shorter PFs.

Nice having you with us and let me know how the PF is performing once you get it! When do you expect to receive it?

Nikon Z9 with Sigma 500mm F/4 DG OS HSM Sports

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