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Bigma - I wish it had IS - should I upgrade to 100-400L?

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jon oringer

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oops - i should have posted this here! instead of the 10D forum....
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Just got back from a trip to the FL everglades.... got some amazing pictures... But i realized that with wildlife photography - you always want to be handheld.. Birds just dont wait around for you to get the tripod right.

I also feel that a tripod takes the fun out of it.

So - I'm in the position of maybe selling my bigma on ebay - and buying a 100-400L.. I will miss the extra 100mm that the bigma gave me on the long end... But with the IS, lots of my softer pictures would have been sharper, right?

Or will I just have the same problems? Has anybody done this upgrade and either regretted it, or seen an improvement in pictures? Is it worth the extra cost? I tried to keep the ISO on 200-400 and make sure I was always > 1/2000 on the shutter.. but some pictures were still soft!

Is this my error, or a lack of IS (to replace tripod). I have taken about 2000 pictures on the bigma -- and I have definnitely goten better at taking handheld 500mm pictures.. Would the hit ratio on the 100-400 IS be better?

Just curious before i pull the trigger.
Jon
 
Shooting at 1/2000 SHOULD give you sharp images even at 500mm. Can you post an example or two? I love my Bigma but I also admit it won't see real testing until I go to Honduras in the near future. I hope I can get a lot of good shots without a tripod but I won't know until I get there.

Post a good image and a bad one and it will be easier to give you feedback.

Greg
 
Are you using any filter at all? As Greg said, 1/2000 should be very sufficient. I've handheld the Bigma at 1/250 with success and can regularly get good shots at 1/500.
 
I found I was shooting at 1/125th at 400mm at ISO800 quite often and at that speed IS really does help me out.

At 1/2000th you shouldnt have any issues at all with camera shake. Perhaps you are not getting correct focus.

IS wouldnt be of any help at all during that type of shutter speed.
--
http://www.pbase.com/bigbad
 
Yes - I must not be getting good focus...

when taking pictures of birds - i was using only the center focus point.. should i have used all the focus points?

i was just sure that it wouldn't have figured out what i was trying to focus on - still, it was hard to get the bird on the small dot in the middle!
i will post some pix very soon - i have to get them onto this computer first
thanks
Jon
The Big Bad said:
I found I was shooting at 1/125th at 400mm at ISO800 quite often
and at that speed IS really does help me out.

At 1/2000th you shouldnt have any issues at all with camera shake.
Perhaps you are not getting correct focus.

IS wouldnt be of any help at all during that type of shutter speed.
--
http://www.pbase.com/bigbad
Click to expand...
 
Jon,

Trying to shoot a flying bird with only the center focus point is impossible, so I hear. Switch to AI Servo and let the AF track the bird for you. If the bird is taking up enough of the frame, you should get great results. I have not had the chance to try this myself however.

Let us know.

Greg
 
Same reply as in the 10d forum:

Never owned a bigma so can't speak for it, but all of my 100-400 wildlife shots are handheld. Take a look at my galleries for samples. I haven't missed many due to camera shake! Then again a number of people can shoot the bigma hand held, a lot can't.

There is a panning IS mode on the lens you can use for motion shots, but I turn IS off for flight shots myself. Also, for flight shots, I have had good luck using all 7 points on a uniform background like all sky, but you can get a misfocus with the 7 points if the AF also latches onto something in the background, like trees.

I hear the bigma is really only 465mm fully extended and the 100-400 more like 385? Maybe those are urban myths though.

--
Gene (the hawkman) - Walk softly and carry a big lens

Please visit my galleries at: http://www.pbase.com/gaocus/

 
Jon Oringer said:
Or will I just have the same problems? Has anybody done this
upgrade and either regretted it, or seen an improvement in
pictures? Is it worth the extra cost? I tried to keep the ISO on
200-400 and make sure I was always > 1/2000 on the shutter.. but
some pictures were still soft!
Click to expand...
This really sounds as if you imposed one limit (shutter speed at 1/2000 well beyond whatever you need to stop action and hand shake) and ran into the next. I'd be willing to bet that all those soft pictures are at wide open apertures of the Bigma. Had you gone to 1/500-1/1000 shutter speed instead - which still is enough to get rid of both hand shake if your technic is ok and stop motion - you could have shot the Bigma at 1-2 stops down from fully open and got better results.

--
regards
Karl Günter Wünsch
 
I agree, but haven't found unacceptable softness wide open. I'm wondering if enough of your subject is in the viewfinder to achieve adequate focus. AI Servo is good when tracking a single beastie.

Fremiet
Karl Günter Wünsch said:
Jon Oringer said:
Or will I just have the same problems? Has anybody done this
upgrade and either regretted it, or seen an improvement in
pictures? Is it worth the extra cost? I tried to keep the ISO on
200-400 and make sure I was always > 1/2000 on the shutter.. but
some pictures were still soft!
Click to expand...
This really sounds as if you imposed one limit (shutter speed at
1/2000 well beyond whatever you need to stop action and hand shake)
and ran into the next. I'd be willing to bet that all those soft
pictures are at wide open apertures of the Bigma. Had you gone to
1/500-1/1000 shutter speed instead - which still is enough to get
rid of both hand shake if your technic is ok and stop motion - you
could have shot the Bigma at 1-2 stops down from fully open and got
better results.

--
regards
Karl Günter Wünsch
Click to expand...
--
Looking is a gift, but seeing is a power. Jeff Berner

Canon Elan IIe, Sony DSC F717, Canon 1D, Mamiya RB67
Canon 50mm 1.4, 100mm macro, 70-200L, 17-40mmL, Sigma 50-500 and an instamatic
 
Fremiet said:
I agree, but haven't found unacceptable softness wide open. I'm
wondering if enough of your subject is in the viewfinder to achieve
adequate focus.
Click to expand...
Remember that the Bigma is a bit on the dim side and does lie to the camera to preserve AF on the long end. This means quite a big DOF and if the camera focuses it might choose a focus just within the limits, keep the finger half pressed on the shutter release for too long and your subject will have moved sufficiently to be out of focus. Thst's why AI Servo works better. But even then stopping down the lens would help because of the deeper DOF. A lot of perceived sharpness has to do withthe contrast and a little lens flare can do a lot to literally destroy that too.

--
regards
Karl Günter Wünsch
 
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