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Baseball with Sigma 120-300

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drip

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As promised, here are the pictures I took from today's Rangers vs Angels game. Today is far from a perfect day for shooting, no sun at all and with light shower. You can actually see rain drops being frozen in time in some pictures (3967, 3968 etc). But the 120-300 showed its power on its reach and brightness, and still managed to produced many keepers. So many that I had to remove a lot of old stuff from my pbase. No A-Rod in the Rangers team, no mega-stars, but quite a few good players in each team. Enjoy:
http://www.pbase.com/drip/120_300_01
--
Brian
Dallas, TX
Still love the Spurs (the Mavs suck)
10D owner and love sharp images.
http://www.pbase.com/drip
 
Drip,

Wow, some awesome shots ! Difficult to choose a fav. #3875 is probably my favorite, since you can see the ball right before contact. Great Shots again : )
TY 4 Sharing ~

3875
drip said:
As promised, here are the pictures I took from today's Rangers vs
Angels game. Today is far from a perfect day for shooting, no sun
at all and with light shower. You can actually see rain drops being
frozen in time in some pictures (3967, 3968 etc). But the 120-300
showed its power on its reach and brightness, and still managed to
produced many keepers. So many that I had to remove a lot of old
stuff from my pbase. No A-Rod in the Rangers team, no mega-stars,
but quite a few good players in each team. Enjoy:
http://www.pbase.com/drip/120_300_01
--
Brian
Dallas, TX
Still love the Spurs (the Mavs suck)
10D owner and love sharp images.
http://www.pbase.com/drip
Click to expand...
--
Thanks
ALASKA 43
http://www.pbase.com/alaskadigitalphoto
 
drip said:
As promised, here are the pictures I took from today's Rangers vs
Angels game. Today is far from a perfect day for shooting, no sun
at all and with light shower. You can actually see rain drops being
frozen in time in some pictures (3967, 3968 etc). But the 120-300
showed its power on its reach and brightness, and still managed to
produced many keepers. So many that I had to remove a lot of old
stuff from my pbase. No A-Rod in the Rangers team, no mega-stars,
but quite a few good players in each team. Enjoy:
http://www.pbase.com/drip/120_300_01
--
Brian
Dallas, TX
Still love the Spurs (the Mavs suck)
10D owner and love sharp images.
http://www.pbase.com/drip
Click to expand...
--
Regards,
Wilbert Chan
 
You have some good pics Brian.

I am just suprized they let you in with that monster lens, being it is pro ball.

Last year I e-Mailed a local minor league team. They replied and said it was ok as long as my gear did not obstruct the view of other fans. With the 70-200 EX, I do not think that would be a problem, but if I had a 120-300, that would be another story LOL

KevinM
 
Nice shots Brian,

The rain spots confused me for a bit there :).

How did you find the focus speed & handling of the 120-300 ?.

Nigel
drip said:
As promised, here are the pictures I took from today's Rangers vs
Angels game. Today is far from a perfect day for shooting, no sun
at all and with light shower. You can actually see rain drops being
frozen in time in some pictures (3967, 3968 etc). But the 120-300
showed its power on its reach and brightness, and still managed to
produced many keepers. So many that I had to remove a lot of old
stuff from my pbase. No A-Rod in the Rangers team, no mega-stars,
but quite a few good players in each team. Enjoy:
http://www.pbase.com/drip/120_300_01
--
Brian
Dallas, TX
Still love the Spurs (the Mavs suck)
10D owner and love sharp images.
http://www.pbase.com/drip
Click to expand...
--
Pbase supporter
http://www.pbase.com/sgidude
 
Looks like the range worked really well for covering home plate and then zooming out for 3rd base action. That is assuming the composition was frame filling, which i guess it would be. After all, little point zooming out to 120mm just to crop it heavily.

Definatly looks to be a great sports lens, as ive said all along. Does away with the hassle of having to use 2 different bodies as well, which is really tough. I tried it with the 300 2.8 on a monopod and a friends camera with a 70-200 2.8 IS. he shoots sports often and encouraged me to try his method of keeping a leg and elbow around the monopod so that I dont need to lay it down to raise the other camera. I had poor luck and had the 300 swing around on the monopod and almost hit another photog next to me LOL.

being able to cover that range with a single lens is definatly a good thing. Not to mention faster to respond to the action.

The extra 100mm really gives your shots a nicer bokeh as well, assuming you were sitting in the same section as your old photos. They were with the 200 2.8 I believe and really it just wasnt enough focal length to get as good of bokeh. These new ones at 300 are a bit less distracting in that regard.

I still want to try another 120-300 just so i can use one that focuses better than the one I had, but unless im doing sports, I see it as a somewhat limited value lens due to the fact it doestn take to well to a 2x TC.

Ill be intrested to see if you have any future experiences shooting wildlife with it and a 2x TC or stacked TC. I really like the idea of a 240-600mm f5.6 zoom lens but just didnt find the quality to be there.
--
http://www.pbase.com/bigbad
 
KevinM said:
You have some good pics Brian.

I am just suprized they let you in with that monster lens, being it
is pro ball.

Last year I e-Mailed a local minor league team. They replied and
said it was ok as long as my gear did not obstruct the view of
other fans. With the 70-200 EX, I do not think that would be a
problem, but if I had a 120-300, that would be another story LOL
Click to expand...
Baseball is the most liberal pro sports for allowing photography as far as I know. Pro hockey and NBA are the worst.

I just opened up my bag and was told "okay" right away. That's why I like shooting baseball. Also like the game too if not for the steroid thing. Getting OT now...
--
Brian
Dallas, TX
Still love the Spurs (the Mavs suck)
10D owner and love sharp images.
http://www.pbase.com/drip
 
takitimu said:
Nice shots Brian,

The rain spots confused me for a bit there :).

How did you find the focus speed & handling of the 120-300 ?.
Click to expand...
The 120-300 is a nice piece of glass for sports as I expected. Not a bit disappointed and actually quite surprised about its performance under non-ideal weather. It AF'd real fast as advertised. But AF speed is not an issue in shooting baseball because you need to pre-focus quite a bit, and the players/action are usually off-center. For example, IMG_3860 was actually mis-focused on the middle ground. That's poor technique of me but I still posted it up because it's a rare first base action in the whole game. It's a boring game BTW, not a single base stealing attempt, no play at home plate, not a single bunt ... damn American League!

--
Brian
Dallas, TX
Still love the Spurs (the Mavs suck)
10D owner and love sharp images.
http://www.pbase.com/drip
 
The Big Bad said:
Looks like the range worked really well for covering home plate and
then zooming out for 3rd base action. That is assuming the
composition was frame filling, which i guess it would be. After
all, little point zooming out to 120mm just to crop it heavily.
Click to expand...
Yup, the extra 100mm reach is real nice. No need to crop like my 200. The image quality is on par with the 200, as expected from my previous tests. Some for the larger images (3842, 3928 etc) are cropped somewhat, BTW.
The Big Bad said:
Definatly looks to be a great sports lens, as ive said all along.
Does away with the hassle of having to use 2 different bodies as
well, which is really tough. I tried it with the 300 2.8 on a
monopod and a friends camera with a 70-200 2.8 IS. he shoots
sports often and encouraged me to try his method of keeping a leg
and elbow around the monopod so that I dont need to lay it down to
raise the other camera. I had poor luck and had the 300 swing
around on the monopod and almost hit another photog next to me LOL.

being able to cover that range with a single lens is definatly a
good thing. Not to mention faster to respond to the action.
Click to expand...
Absolutely! I was able to shoot a few frames at home, and then zoom back to look for action at first base. Unfortunately, nothing interesting had happened in the game. It's way faster than using two systems.
The Big Bad said:
The extra 100mm really gives your shots a nicer bokeh as well,
assuming you were sitting in the same section as your old photos.
They were with the 200 2.8 I believe and really it just wasnt
enough focal length to get as good of bokeh. These new ones at
300 are a bit less distracting in that regard.

I still want to try another 120-300 just so i can use one that
focuses better than the one I had, but unless im doing sports, I
see it as a somewhat limited value lens due to the fact it doestn
take to well to a 2x TC.

Ill be intrested to see if you have any future experiences shooting
wildlife with it and a 2x TC or stacked TC. I really like the
idea of a 240-600mm f5.6 zoom lens but just didnt find the quality
to be there.
Click to expand...
Most likely I'll try that on my future 1DII (need to find a way to byway my wife). The 1DII will nail focus better and may help improve the 120-300's sharpness.
--
Brian
Dallas, TX
Still love the Spurs (the Mavs suck)
10D owner and love sharp images.
http://www.pbase.com/drip
 
drip said:
drip said:
Definatly looks to be a great sports lens, as ive said all along.
Does away with the hassle of having to use 2 different bodies as
well, which is really tough. I tried it with the 300 2.8 on a
monopod and a friends camera with a 70-200 2.8 IS. he shoots
sports often and encouraged me to try his method of keeping a leg
and elbow around the monopod so that I dont need to lay it down to
raise the other camera. I had poor luck and had the 300 swing
around on the monopod and almost hit another photog next to me LOL.

being able to cover that range with a single lens is definatly a
good thing. Not to mention faster to respond to the action.
Click to expand...
Absolutely! I was able to shoot a few frames at home, and then zoom
back to look for action at first base. Unfortunately, nothing
interesting had happened in the game. It's way faster than using
two systems.
Click to expand...
Actually, 3908, 3913 and 3920 are the results of zooming back quickly to first base.
drip said:
drip said:
Ill be intrested to see if you have any future experiences shooting
wildlife with it and a 2x TC or stacked TC. I really like the
idea of a 240-600mm f5.6 zoom lens but just didnt find the quality
to be there.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Most likely I'll try that on my future 1DII (need to find a way to
BYPASS my wife). The 1DII will nail focus better and may help
improve the 120-300's sharpness.

--
Brian
Dallas, TX
Still love the Spurs (the Mavs suck)
10D owner and love sharp images.
http://www.pbase.com/drip
 
... as long as it doesn't interfere with the enjoyment of the game by others! My 100-400L/1D has been there!
Ken
KevinM said:
You have some good pics Brian.

I am just suprized they let you in with that monster lens, being it
is pro ball.

Last year I e-Mailed a local minor league team. They replied and
said it was ok as long as my gear did not obstruct the view of
other fans. With the 70-200 EX, I do not think that would be a
problem, but if I had a 120-300, that would be another story LOL

KevinM
Click to expand...
--



http://www.ahomls.com/gallery.htm

I don't believe in fate, but I do believe in f/8!
 
Very nice pics.

I am new to pbase, and have joined, but seem to be doing something wrong. How long does it take you to upload a zip file?

When I try one image, I'm OK, but it takes awhile. If I try a zip file with a bunch of pics, it doesn't ever seem to stop (over an hour??)

Thanks for any info.

Ken
 
Canons supertele's really earn their keep in baseball shooting since you can lock in a few focus points ahead of time. Then its just a twist of a ring and your prefocused on third base, first base etc.

Another thing Im suprised sigma left out, given how the lens seems tailored for the sport shooter market. Same goes for the AF limiter switch. That can definatly be useful when shooting action at fixed distanced and to help increase AF speed.

Both would of been a pretty cheap thing to add as far as i could tell

I guess sigma's are designed by engineers and not photographers, would explain some of the odd choices they make, such as no HSM on the 80-400, or the 28/24-70' s which would make good use of it, but then they put HSM on some really poor quality wide angles like the 17-35 ? Or no focus presets or af limiter on a clearly sports shooter lens and yet they put it on other lens. Just odd reasoning and clearly most photographers seem to agree it doesnt make sense. If they were designed by photogrpahers I think they may of done things differently
--
http://www.pbase.com/bigbad
 
jawsk2 said:
Very nice pics.

I am new to pbase, and have joined, but seem to be doing something
wrong. How long does it take you to upload a zip file?

When I try one image, I'm OK, but it takes awhile. If I try a zip
file with a bunch of pics, it doesn't ever seem to stop (over an
hour??)
Click to expand...
I have DSL which makes my life easier since I got it. The 50 something pics are about 13Mb and took about 3-5 min to upload.

--
Brian
Dallas, TX
Still love the Spurs (the Mavs suck)
10D owner and love sharp images.
http://www.pbase.com/drip
 
The Big Bad said:
Canons supertele's really earn their keep in baseball shooting
since you can lock in a few focus points ahead of time. Then its
just a twist of a ring and your prefocused on third base, first
base etc.
Click to expand...
from where I shot (close to first base), a 300 prime would be just right for home base but too long for first base. I zoomed back to 120mm and just got all the action covered. So a zoom is still a better tool in that sense.
--
Brian
Dallas, TX
Still love the Spurs (the Mavs suck)
10D owner and love sharp images.
http://www.pbase.com/drip
 
drip said:
jawsk2 said:
Very nice pics.

I am new to pbase, and have joined, but seem to be doing something
wrong. How long does it take you to upload a zip file?

When I try one image, I'm OK, but it takes awhile. If I try a zip
file with a bunch of pics, it doesn't ever seem to stop (over an
hour??)
Click to expand...
I have DSL which makes my life easier since I got it. The 50
something pics are about 13Mb and took about 3-5 min to upload.

--
Brian
Dallas, TX
Still love the Spurs (the Mavs suck)
10D owner and love sharp images.
http://www.pbase.com/drip
Click to expand...
--
rkhndjr
Fine pics, Brian. Made me wish I had been that close to the action.
Russell
 
Nope, not dial up, DSL for me too.
It finally loaded, but it took a freakin long time.
drip said:
jawsk2 said:
Very nice pics.

I am new to pbase, and have joined, but seem to be doing something
wrong. How long does it take you to upload a zip file?

When I try one image, I'm OK, but it takes awhile. If I try a zip
file with a bunch of pics, it doesn't ever seem to stop (over an
hour??)
Click to expand...
I have DSL which makes my life easier since I got it. The 50
something pics are about 13Mb and took about 3-5 min to upload.

--
Brian
Dallas, TX
Still love the Spurs (the Mavs suck)
10D owner and love sharp images.
http://www.pbase.com/drip
Click to expand...
 
Now this lens was used and isnt a newer serial number right ? So there are a few 120-300's that can focus with a 10D im assuming. Also does yours have the stiff zoom ring ? perhaps thats goes hand in hand with the focus trouble. I know the zoom rings were defective for a while.

Those look like pretty sharp and more importantly IN FOCUS shots though. Before i purchase the 300 2.8 IS I think I will have to give one more try to the sigma. After all, it would be a nice $2500 savings if i get a good one.

alas, it wouldnt have IS, but really I think the IS is only useful for if your using it past 300mm with a TC, and I really wouldnt make use of the sigma for that purpose, it would serve the 120-300 2.8 role and nothing else really. The cost savings I could then apply towards a 500mm someday.

BTW, Brian, did you notice that sigma now offers an aftermarket tripod collar thats more like the bigma grip ? Not sure how much or how to order but would be nice to have I think. That tiny little collar it comes with sure doesnt work for carrying it.
--
http://www.pbase.com/bigbad
 
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