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This lens was purchased as a replacement for a Tamron 500mm Mirror and a Tamron 70-300 zoom. I mainly use this lens for a combination of motor-sport photography (F1, BTCC etc) and wildlife and was looking for an autofocus 500mm lens that would also allow me to add a 1.4 or 2x teleconverter at a later date and retain autofocus. Although I am an experienced manual focus photographer and had used the 500mm mirror to great effect, the manual focus and lack of light (f8) meant that I was unable to capture many of the 'excursions off track' due to the inability to focus quickly enough. It was very much a situation of picking a focus point on the track and blasting away at that point (hardly ideal and meant that a weekend at an event produced some very 'samey' images). The first outing was to the final rounds of the BTCC at Brands Hatch where it produced some stunning images. Focus is fast, silent and accurate and allowed the capture of many more 'incidents' than the previous combination. I was also able to move around the track with more ease and pick varying angles quickly. Images are sharp and snappy at all but the maximum apature, which I would say is is a touch soft, but this is a common issue with such lenses. Other reviews have indicated that this model is on the heavy side but having used it to capture over 5000 images at the Brands Hatch weekend, I could not concur with this opinion. It is well balanced and the tripod mount/handle combination is well thought out and well positioned. I would say that anyone finding it 'heavy' is probably hand-holding which is a bit optimistic with a lens of this length even with shake reduction enabled. It should be used with a monopod at a bare minimum. Overall I am extremely pleased with this lens and am looking forward to the BTCC season starting again next year.Read full review
I bought this lens after doing a lot of research on the web as there is a lot of reviews out there,some good,some not so good(as the saying goes"You can't please ALL the people ALL the time").My personal opinion of this lens is it's very good but not perfect. My main reason for going for this lens was for sports and wildlife photography,I have used it at a couple of rugby and football matches and also managed to get a fair number of decent shots of deer which I was finding impossible with my 70-300mm lens as I just could not get close enough to them. The optical quality is,in my opinion,very good (see Ken Rockwells review,although a lot of people who read his reviews do not like what he says about anything)but in my opinion if he rates it then it cannot be all that bad. Now the bad bits.It is a very large AND heavy lens so after the first time out with it I was back onto Ebay and a monopod was puchased(I will be using it on a tripod as well for athletics and motorsport photography in the summer).The O S does work very well handheld but some kind of support makes life so much easier. Finally,dont go out and buy this lens if your sure you dont need the extra maximum 200mm focal length over,say,a 70-300mm lens. All in all I am very pleased with this lens and would not hesitate to recommend it.Read full review
This lens has to be judged in relation to its price. High quality ultra zooms cost many times the price of the Sigma but good images can be obtained, especially at 300mm or below, provided the lens is stopped down to f11 or below, preferably f16. I tested the lens extensively and have concluded that unless one is wanting to print images with the 500mm angle of view at A3+ one is better shooting at 400mm or preferably 300mm and cropping the image. At 300mm I could print an area corresponding to the 500mm view at between A4 and A3 at 180 dpi which is acceptable with my Epson 1400 printer although possibly not for competition. I was surprised to be able to shoot hand held at 500mm with the image stabilisation switched on and produce passable results but that is academic as a lens of this size will invariably be tripod-mounted. I have yet to test it with a monopod. I cannot comment on durability but the lens looks and feels reassuringly solid which is reflected in the avoirdupois department.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
It is an asset to any shutter bug who likes wildlife. The OS system works very well, and you CAN hand hold at 500mm without any sign of camera shake provided the light is fairly good,(very impressed). The focusing system is vertualy silent (another plus) The only down side is the weight.
I have read reviews from some people compering Sigma to Nikon lenses.......in my opinion you can't . If you can afford a Nikon lens then go for it,if you can't (like me) then this is the next best thing. Yes it's heavy and a bit clumbersome and a bit slow if you want rapid shots,but focus is quite fast and picture quality is sharp once you get used to the auto focus,I'm only an ameture but it's a bit different to a Nikon . All in all it's good value for the price if you can't afford the real thing.
