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Some Non-Macro Sigma 70-300 APO Photos

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I have not figured out how to shoot macro stuff well at this point, so here are some regular shots. The cloud cover today did not make for the greatest backdrop to shoot against, but you do what you can with what you have. All of the images were shot as NEFs and were post camera corrected for white balance and exposure. Please let me know what you think.

















 
Very nice! and who needs macros when you have large flying objects! Thank you for sharing these!
Best regards,
Thomas
Jeff Sawyer said:
I have not figured out how to shoot macro stuff well at this point,
so here are some regular shots. The cloud cover today did not make
for the greatest backdrop to shoot against, but you do what you can
with what you have. All of the images were shot as NEFs and were
post camera corrected for white balance and exposure. Please let me
know what you think.

















Click to expand...
--
http://www.280dgamingclan.com/ThomasAdams/gallery/
 
Hi Jeff,

I really enjoyed your shots, they make me feel beeing part of the show. Nevertheless the pictures appear blurry to some extent and I am not sure if this is due to camera shake, due to the light situation or due to the lens. I have heard many good things about the Sigma, and I was just before of buying this lens. I am now in doubt again.

Any comments? Did you use a tripoid?

Best Regards

Uli
Jeff Sawyer said:
I have not figured out how to shoot macro stuff well at this point,
so here are some regular shots. The cloud cover today did not make
for the greatest backdrop to shoot against, but you do what you can
with what you have. All of the images were shot as NEFs and were
post camera corrected for white balance and exposure. Please let me
know what you think.
Click to expand...
 
All of these shots were off hand. I think that the blur is probably a combination of camrea shake and conditions. I have not quite mastered the art of keeping the lense completely stable while tracking moving objects at 300mm. I have shot with the Nikon 80-400VR lens and do not have the same issues. If you think that you are oging to have a similar problem, VR is the only way to go. As there is about a $1000 price difference in the two lenses, I had to go with the Sigma for now.
UliU said:
I really enjoyed your shots, they make me feel beeing part of the
show. Nevertheless the pictures appear blurry to some extent and I
am not sure if this is due to camera shake, due to the light
situation or due to the lens. I have heard many good things about
the Sigma, and I was just before of buying this lens. I am now in
doubt again.

Any comments? Did you use a tripoid?

Best Regards

Uli
Jeff Sawyer said:
I have not figured out how to shoot macro stuff well at this point,
so here are some regular shots. The cloud cover today did not make
for the greatest backdrop to shoot against, but you do what you can
with what you have. All of the images were shot as NEFs and were
post camera corrected for white balance and exposure. Please let me
know what you think.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
The shutter speeds you were using should have been fine, to hind the camera shake.

Which focus mode were you using? Is it possible that they are just out of focus?
Jeff Sawyer said:
UliU said:
I really enjoyed your shots, they make me feel beeing part of the
show. Nevertheless the pictures appear blurry to some extent and I
am not sure if this is due to camera shake, due to the light
situation or due to the lens. I have heard many good things about
the Sigma, and I was just before of buying this lens. I am now in
doubt again.

Any comments? Did you use a tripoid?

Best Regards

Uli
Jeff Sawyer said:
I have not figured out how to shoot macro stuff well at this point,
so here are some regular shots. The cloud cover today did not make
for the greatest backdrop to shoot against, but you do what you can
with what you have. All of the images were shot as NEFs and were
post camera corrected for white balance and exposure. Please let me
know what you think.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Same situation for me. I am looking for a 300mm lens which is not so expensive like the VR. Have you tried to reach the limits of this lens concerning sharpness in 300mm position? (Good weather, non-moving objects, tripoid?) What is your experience?
Jeff Sawyer said:
UliU said:
I really enjoyed your shots, they make me feel beeing part of the
show. Nevertheless the pictures appear blurry to some extent and I
am not sure if this is due to camera shake, due to the light
situation or due to the lens. I have heard many good things about
the Sigma, and I was just before of buying this lens. I am now in
doubt again.

Any comments? Did you use a tripoid?

Best Regards

Uli
Jeff Sawyer said:
I have not figured out how to shoot macro stuff well at this point,
so here are some regular shots. The cloud cover today did not make
for the greatest backdrop to shoot against, but you do what you can
with what you have. All of the images were shot as NEFs and were
post camera corrected for white balance and exposure. Please let me
know what you think.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I just recieved the lens last Wednesday. This was my first real chance to test the lens in a real world environment. All of my test shots with it to that point had been fine, but there is only so much I can tell by shooting stuff around my house. I hope to get some clear weather herein the next few days to try some more outdoor shots. I wiant to shoot some from a tripod, etc. to see what the lens can do under more ideal circumstrances.
UliU said:
Jeff Sawyer said:
UliU said:
I really enjoyed your shots, they make me feel beeing part of the
show. Nevertheless the pictures appear blurry to some extent and I
am not sure if this is due to camera shake, due to the light
situation or due to the lens. I have heard many good things about
the Sigma, and I was just before of buying this lens. I am now in
doubt again.

Any comments? Did you use a tripoid?

Best Regards

Uli
Jeff Sawyer said:
I have not figured out how to shoot macro stuff well at this point,
so here are some regular shots. The cloud cover today did not make
for the greatest backdrop to shoot against, but you do what you can
with what you have. All of the images were shot as NEFs and were
post camera corrected for white balance and exposure. Please let me
know what you think.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Would be interesting! Please share your experiance.
Hope you have better weather as we have in Germany this year...
Uli
Jeff Sawyer said:
UliU said:
Jeff Sawyer said:
UliU said:
I really enjoyed your shots, they make me feel beeing part of the
show. Nevertheless the pictures appear blurry to some extent and I
am not sure if this is due to camera shake, due to the light
situation or due to the lens. I have heard many good things about
the Sigma, and I was just before of buying this lens. I am now in
doubt again.

Any comments? Did you use a tripoid?

Best Regards

Uli
Jeff Sawyer said:
I have not figured out how to shoot macro stuff well at this point,
so here are some regular shots. The cloud cover today did not make
for the greatest backdrop to shoot against, but you do what you can
with what you have. All of the images were shot as NEFs and were
post camera corrected for white balance and exposure. Please let me
know what you think.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Jeff is right, the conditions sucked for getting good shots. Although the clouds provided relatively even light, there wasn’t very much of it at times. The dark clouds rolling through kinda put a damper on the afternoon, both for the pilots, and for the photographers.

I was at this air show with Jeff. I was shooting my D1X w/ the 80-400vr. We swapped lenses for a bit I can tell you the Sigma is a NICE lens! I was very impressed – especially when you consider the macro capability and the $1000.00 price difference!

On another note – Jeff’s D-70 is a VERY nice camera. Better then my D1x in some ways!

Here are a few shots taken at the same (or very close too) time / conditions with the D1X / 80-400VR. Just a few slight post processing tweaks in Nikon cap 4.x before I shrunk them down for posting.





 
I picked up a Sigma 70 – 300 APO on Fri & haven’t had much of a chance to play with it.
I am more than happy with the image quality from the photos I have taken.
This shot is at full zoom with no post processing just resized for the web.
Shot at F7.1, 1/400th, 200 ISO, 300mm.
Highly recommended, very happy



Cheers
Ray
 
Jeff Sawyer said:
All of these shots were off hand. I think that the blur is probably
a combination of camrea shake and conditions. I have not quite
mastered the art of keeping the lense completely stable while
tracking moving objects at 300mm. I have shot with the Nikon
80-400VR lens and do not have the same issues. If you think that
you are oging to have a similar problem, VR is the only way to go.
Click to expand...
=snip=

A big part of the formula is the quality of the glass. There's really no way of getting great shots with less than great glass... as you discovered when you used the 80-400 Nikkor.

Here's a couple of handheld shots using a Nikon D100 and a Nikkor 80-200 f2.8 ED (non-VR) lens:







I also have an inexpensive ($300) Nikkor 70-300 ED lens, and it is able to produce very acceptable images if used properly (f8-f11, 1/1000 sec or better, monopod or tripod, etc.)

But compared to the 80-200 ED in similar conditions, well..., there is really no comparison... :> )

= Dan =
 
David Beardsley said:
Dan -

I 100% agree! A buddy of mine has that same lens - arguably the
best lens in the Nikkor line.

Very nice shots!

is that the VR lens.... or just the AFS?

--
Thanks,
Dave
Click to expand...
Those shots were handheld with the 80-200 AF/s ED (a no VR lens).

However, the newer 70-200 ED AF/s VR Nikkor is my next "upgrade lens" ... it just doesn't get any better than that ...

= Dan =
 
Where did you get your Sigma from ?
Please keep us up to date with photos.

Cheers
Christian
 
i say the same. very pleased w/ mine 70-300 APO II
regards
---
http://www.pbase.com/kitgard/d70_sigma70_300
Raydar said:
I picked up a Sigma 70 – 300 APO on Fri & haven’t had much of a
chance to play with it.
I am more than happy with the image quality from the photos I have
taken.
This shot is at full zoom with no post processing just resized for
the web.
Shot at F7.1, 1/400th, 200 ISO, 300mm.
Highly recommended, very happy



Cheers
Ray
Click to expand...
 
Some of these are really good, but very badly in need of a quick Levels/Curves adjustment and some sharpening. It makes a dramatic difference!
Jeff Sawyer said:
I have not figured out how to shoot macro stuff well at this point,
so here are some regular shots. The cloud cover today did not make
for the greatest backdrop to shoot against, but you do what you can
with what you have. All of the images were shot as NEFs and were
post camera corrected for white balance and exposure. Please let me
know what you think.

















Click to expand...
 
Hi,

two comments..

You cann't expect miracles from EUR 200 lens (even from EUR 2000 lens) in such a light conditions...

Second, your pictures can be significantly improved by postprocessing...

I've played with one of your pictures in simple editor and it helped the picture a lot.
Things what I've done...
  • increased levels in shadows to restore some detail
  • increased contrast
  • increased sharpness
Marian

--------------------------------------------------
Marian Harustak
nature photography galleries on
http://www.harustak.sk

only when the last tree has died
and the last fish been caught
and the last river been poisoned
will we realize
that we cannot eat money
Jeff Sawyer said:
I have not figured out how to shoot macro stuff well at this point,
so here are some regular shots. The cloud cover today did not make
for the greatest backdrop to shoot against, but you do what you can
with what you have. All of the images were shot as NEFs and were
post camera corrected for white balance and exposure. Please let me
know what you think.

















Click to expand...
 
I too have only had it for a week, but check these out. I do think it softens slightly at 300mm but I got plenty of sharp shots just below that. I am still testing that out.

http://www.StinsonsTerra.SFGiants.photoshare.co.nz
Raydar said:
I picked up a Sigma 70 – 300 APO on Fri & haven’t had much of a
chance to play with it.
I am more than happy with the image quality from the photos I have
taken.
This shot is at full zoom with no post processing just resized for
the web.
Shot at F7.1, 1/400th, 200 ISO, 300mm.
Highly recommended, very happy



Cheers
Ray
Click to expand...
--
Stinson
D-70, 18-70 kit, Sigma 70-300 II APO, C-750, D-40, B-300, Nikon 4T macro, PS CS
http://www.StinsonsTerra.NikonD70Gallery.photoshare.co.nz
http://www.StinsonsTerra.StinsonsC750Gallery.PhotoShare.co.nz
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/view?id=64739
ViewExif at http://ak.no-ip.com/EXIF/

 
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