Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

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Kerry Pierce
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p.1 #1 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

None of my Sigma lenses will work in Live View on my d7000. I didn't think much of it and haven't contacted Sigma. But now I'm reading that a few others are seeing the same thing with the d4 and d800 and one person claims that Sigma can't fix the problem by rechipping the lens.

So, I'm interested to know if any of you have seen the problem on the new bodies and if you've contacted Sigma for a fix.

I don't use Live View that often, but for landscapes and macro, it's a nice thing to have and if none of the new Nikons will work with my Sigmas, that could be a real hassle.

thanks,
Kerry

Dec 23, 2012 at 05:57 PM

Bruce Sawle
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p.1 #2 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

All my Sigma glass works on d800. 50 and 85 f1.4 glass.

Dec 23, 2012 at 06:06 PM

BenV
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p.1 #3 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

Clean your contacts on the lens and camera. All my sigma glass works perfect.

Dec 23, 2012 at 08:27 PM

fsiagian
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p.1 #4 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

Mine works fine. Newer smooth finish sigma 50mm.

Dec 23, 2012 at 08:37 PM

davenfl
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p.1 #5 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

Sigma 50 f1.4, 85mm, 24-70, 150mm, 50-500mm all work on my D4, D800, D600, D700, D2h, and D2Hs. You have a problem not Sigma, more internet nonsense.

Dave

Dec 23, 2012 at 08:55 PM

Kerry Pierce
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p.1 #6 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

Thanks for the feedback! :-)

I figured that it wasn't nearly as bad as the one poster was trying to claim, but I was curious to see if others had seen what I'm seeing. The vast majority of my Sigma glass is 8 years old, so it wasn't a huge surprise to me, when the issue with the d7k Live View came up on the lenses that I tested. I don't have any "new" Sigmas. My newest Sigma lens is either a 20mm or a 150, but both are well over a year old and I haven't tested them yet.

I didn't even know about the Live View issue. I was getting OOF images from my d7k & 100-300 f/4, when the lens was used at/near Infinity. So, I was going to test it, with several of my Nikkors, using Live View. That's when I discovered that LV wouldn't work with my Sigma long lenses.

All of my Sigmas work fine with the d3s, d700 and d300, including LV. They also worked fine on my d200's and d70's, but I haven't used those bodies in a while.

None of my Nikkors have an issue with LV on the d7k.

Eventually, I will test the suspect lenses on the d5100. At this point, I don't know if I have a wonky d7k or if it's just an issue with my old Siggys.

thanks
Kerry

Dec 23, 2012 at 09:22 PM

DTOB
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p.1 #7 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

What do you meant by "they don't work"? I've seen people say that AF won't work, but not that live view doesn't work at all. I would think that if you are using live view, manually focussing would be the way to go anyways, so I see this as a non-issue.

Dec 23, 2012 at 09:49 PM

J Newkirk
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p.1 #8 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

I had a tamron 18-270 that would rarely achieve a focus lock using a d5100 + live view, sent it in to tamron and they returned it quickly and working great. I have an older sigma 120-400 OS that works just fine with D5100+D800 + live view.

jn

Dec 23, 2012 at 09:55 PM

zippy_monster
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p.1 #9 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

Yes, there are compatibility issues with Sigma lenses. When the D7000 came out I believe most of the contemporary Sigma lenses needed firmware updates to get live view working. My Sigma 30 when paired with my D200, in addition to having schizophrenic autofocus, would render the rangefinder dot useless and would not let you override the focus in AF-S mode.

If your lens + body combo aren't working, contact Sigma support (and be prepared for some sphincter puckering amounts of ignorance at Sigma New York). On the plus side, Nikon's live view implementation is pretty bad so you're not missing out on a whole lot :P

Dec 23, 2012 at 09:56 PM

Kerry Pierce
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p.1 #10 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

DTOB wrote:
What do you meant by "they don't work"? I've seen people say that AF won't work, but not that live view doesn't work at all. I would think that if you are using live view, manually focussing would be the way to go anyways, so I see this as a non-issue.

Well, I don't believe that you have enough information or understanding of the issue, to make the statement that's it's a non-issue.

Live View is supposed to work with CDAF. It's part of the price of the camera. Whether or not you use it, isn't material to the issue. When I pay for something, I expect it to work as advertised.

Kerry

Dec 23, 2012 at 10:02 PM

DTOB
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p.1 #11 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

Yikes. That's a bit harsh. I did say that I see this as a non-issue, as in me, personally. I never said that should also be your position.

Dec 23, 2012 at 10:44 PM

Kerry Pierce
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p.1 #12 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

zippy_monster wrote:
Yes, there are compatibility issues with Sigma lenses. When the D7000 came out I believe most of the contemporary Sigma lenses needed firmware updates to get live view working. My Sigma 30 when paired with my D200, in addition to having schizophrenic autofocus, would render the rangefinder dot useless and would not let you override the focus in AF-S mode.

If your lens + body combo aren't working, contact Sigma support (and be prepared for some sphincter puckering amounts of ignorance at Sigma New York). On the plus side, Nikon's live view implementation is pretty bad so you're not missing out on a whole lot :P

Cool, thanks for the additional info. The point about ignorant customer support is one of the reasons I've not contacted them. The other is that I have 7 or 8 Sigma lenses. I need to test them all and then look at the costs involved with shipping them all to Sigma.

But, the main thing is that I have 3 other bodies that I use more than the d7k. So, until I replace those bodies, it isn't a big deal. It's an annoyance at the moment, but could be more of a significant problem if several of my bodies wouldn't work.

thanks
Kerry

Dec 23, 2012 at 10:48 PM

jtra
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p.1 #13 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

My Sigma 30/1.4 did not AF in live view on friend's D7000. It works on D90 ok.

I have seen a claim that older sigmas have this problem and Sigma service centers can fix it (firmware change), at least on recent lenses.

Newer Sigmas (about spring 2011 and later) already contain the fix.

Dec 23, 2012 at 11:05 PM

Gregstx
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p.1 #14 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

Kerry, I have had 2 different Sigma lenses on my D7000. The first was an older lens. The second was a new generation lens. Both worked in live view flawlessly. As a result, I can't offer you any advice. No problem here. Good luck.

Dec 23, 2012 at 11:42 PM

Arka
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p.1 #15 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

DTOB wrote:
Yikes. That's a bit harsh. I did say that I see this as a non-issue, as in me, personally. I never said that should also be your position.

Whether it's a non-issue to you is fairly unhelpful information for the OP or me, for whom it is an issue.

My Sigma 50mm f/1.4 also does not AF in live view; more accurately, the AF is way off the mark, usually driving the lens to infinity no matter what the subject. I haven't resolved the issue yet; I'm hoping it's something that can be resolved through re-chipping. I'll let you know what I discover as I run the problem to ground.

Dec 24, 2012 at 04:59 AM

JimFox
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p.1 #16 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

Kerry Pierce wrote:
Thanks for the feedback! :-)

I figured that it wasn't nearly as bad as the one poster was trying to claim, but I was curious to see if others had seen what I'm seeing. The vast majority of my Sigma glass is 8 years old, so it wasn't a huge surprise to me, when the issue with the d7k Live View came up on the lenses that I tested. I don't have any "new" Sigmas. My newest Sigma lens is either a 20mm or a 150, but both are well over a year old and I haven't tested them yet.

I didn't even know about the Live View issue. I was getting OOF images from my d7k & 100-300 f/4, when the lens was used at/near Infinity. So, I was going to test it, with several of my Nikkors, using Live View. That's when I discovered that LV wouldn't work with my Sigma long lenses.

All of my Sigmas work fine with the d3s, d700 and d300, including LV. They also worked fine on my d200's and d70's, but I haven't used those bodies in a while.

None of my Nikkors have an issue with LV on the d7k.

Eventually, I will test the suspect lenses on the d5100. At this point, I don't know if I have a wonky d7k or if it's just an issue with my old Siggys.

thanks
Kerry

Kerry,

What do you mean that "LV wouldn't work"? What part of LV doesn't work? I have seen a few people mention autofocus, but you never said specifically what you mean by LV not working.

Thanks,

Jim

Dec 24, 2012 at 09:37 AM

davidnholtjr
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p.1 #17 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

I have the sigma 150 older version and it would not af in lv on the d3200 i had, but af fine when not in lv. Have not tried the lens on my d7000 yet.

Dec 24, 2012 at 01:34 PM

DTOB
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p.1 #18 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

Arka wrote:
DTOB wrote:
Yikes. That's a bit harsh. I did say that I see this as a non-issue, as in me, personally. I never said that should also be your position.

Whether it's a non-issue to you is fairly unhelpful information for the OP or me, for whom it is an issue.

My Sigma 50mm f/1.4 also does not AF in live view; more accurately, the AF is way off the mark, usually driving the lens to infinity no matter what the subject. I haven't resolved the issue yet; I'm hoping it's something that can be resolved through re-chipping. I'll let you know what I discover as I run the problem to ground.

Well, I am sorry that I failed to help you. But IMO, this is much ado about nothing.

The OP stated that it would be nice to have (presumably working AF in LV, although he never did spell out his exact problem, and then accused me of not understanding the issue, even though I clearly demonstrated that I do understand it to be an AF problem, despite his completely vague post) for macro and landscape photography, 2 types of photography traditionally accomplished via Manual Focus.

How many pro landscapers or macro'ers actually AF? I'd bet not many...

Dec 24, 2012 at 04:22 PM

Kerry Pierce
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p.1 #19 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

JimFox wrote:
Kerry,

What do you mean that "LV wouldn't work"? What part of LV doesn't work? I have seen a few people mention autofocus, but you never said specifically what you mean by LV not working.

Thanks,

Jim

CDAF doesn't work with these lenses in LV. Sorry, I didn't mention it specifically, because I couldn't envision the lens causing some other kind of failure in LV. I should probably also say that the lenses are HSM.

Kerry

Dec 24, 2012 at 05:27 PM

Kerry Pierce
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p.1 #20 · Sigma and Live View on new bodies, big problem?

Gregstx wrote:
Kerry, I have had 2 different Sigma lenses on my D7000. The first was an older lens. The second was a new generation lens. Both worked in live view flawlessly. As a result, I can't offer you any advice. No problem here. Good luck.

Thanks, Greg. Although the scattered nature of the problem is annoying to try to figure out, it's good to know that the vast majority of combos seem to be okay. That was one of the things that I was trying to figure out. It might be just my d7k that is a little wonky and maybe a future body that I purchase would be fine. Obviously, that would be best for me.

But, the way my luck usually goes, the lenses will all eventually have to be sent back to Sigma.

thanks
Kerry

Dec 24, 2012 at 05:33 PM

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