Will be interesting to see the results from this lens but it certainly is a good looking hunk of metal thats for sure.
If the 35mm f1.4 is anything to go by and they can retain the optical quality throughout their new range of lenses I think Nikon and Canon should be concerned.
In a short period of time the Siggy 35mm f1.4 has gained phenominal reviews and a loyal following already and sooooo many people are opting to buy it over the Canon and Nikon versions or are selling their OEM versions to fund the Sigma lens.
This is great for the consumer of course and I'm really hoping that Sigma's new releases will continue to be superb lenses. My guess is they will be, and the bigger players will either need to start dragging prices back or be prepared to start losing business in the glass department.
ct8282 wrote:
If the 35mm f1.4 is anything to go by and they can retain the optical quality throughout their new range of lenses I think Nikon and Canon should be concerned.
Apparently its optically identical to the old version, so I wouldn't expect anything radical. The old one was pretty decent though!
The price is up there, but there really is no other lens like it. I'm going to keep my eye on it. Maybe sometime later this year I can justify the cost.
Timothy OConn wrote:
Apparently its optically identical to the old version, so I wouldn't expect anything radical. The old one was pretty decent though!
Oh really. That's surprising. Where did you see that?
ct8282 wrote:
If the 35mm f1.4 is anything to go by and they can retain the optical quality throughout their new range of lenses I think Nikon and Canon should be concerned.
Timothy OConn wrote:
Apparently its optically identical to the old version, so I wouldn't expect anything radical. The old one was pretty decent though!
Key addition is the much needed focus limiter The casing is new as well as redesigned hood, the
prior one being a plastic POS. There was never anything wrong with the optics, so they remain
unchanged. Electrical issues have been addressed and hopefully now (when zooming) the AF will stay
locked. I'm in for one and might even consider giving the dock a try on my 35. Should be an OMG zoom.
I will be curious how this lens IQ holds up with the Sigma TC's. I am mostly interested in the 420 f4 range. The older version was okay with a TC but you needed to stop down.
I will be very interested to see some reviews of this lens. If this ends up being very sharp, with very good AF, and plays nice withTC's, it might be a way to combine my Nikon 300mm f/4 and Nikon 70-200mm VR 1 into one lens.
Bruce Sawle wrote:
I will be curious how this lens IQ holds up with the Sigma TC's. I am mostly interested in the 420 f4 range. The older version was okay with a TC but you needed to stop down.
AF hit rate suffers a lot with the 2x and the images lose some of their "pop". AF is just fine with the 1.4x and images retain their "pop" of the bare lens, at least once stopped down slightly (F/4.5 is plenty, it's usable at F/4 though).
It's useful to have the 2x, it's just not going to give a huge hit rate with things in flight and such. But it does the job. Really the sharpness is surprisingly good. It's the best way to get stabilized 600mm for under 5 grand or so lol. Unless you got some really good hookups. But, I mostly use the 1.4x. Sigma needs to release a 500mm or 600mm 5.6 OS! ;-) Believe me if I had the $$ for the Nikkor 500mm or something, I'd grab it in a heartbeat. Or if the Nikkor 80-400 was amazing and took the 1.4x amazingly well (who knows, maybe there will be one this year). But, alas, nopers. lol. One last 2x shot, heavy heavy crop. Edit, I should also point out that I am extremely shaky individual, all these shots posted were ALL completely hand held not even braced on anything, and that I really have no skill whatsoever lol. Yet these shots look pretty good. So, if i can do it, you can do it, it's a great lens! ;-) Hehe:
So, I am really contemplating getting the new lens... mostly for the USB dock compatibility (focus limiter will help greatly too). The contemplation is really between the new to-be-released version and the current version. At $3500 compared to $3000 for the current version, it's a big jump... but if the USB customization dock is as good/useful as we expect it to be, it may be worth it.
My question is how well it will shoot with Nikon TC's.
(I have a 14EII, a 20EII, and 20EIII... There really is a marked difference between the II and III version with the 2x.)
Chestnut wrote:
So, I am really contemplating getting the new lens... mostly for the USB dock compatibility (focus limiter will help greatly too). The contemplation is really between the new to-be-released version and the current version. At $3500 compared to $3000 for the current version, it's a big jump... but if the USB customization dock is as good/useful as we expect it to be, it may be worth it.
My question is how well it will shoot with Nikon TC's.
(I have a 14EII, a 20EII, and 20EIII... There really is a marked difference between the II and III version with the 2x.)
Yeah, I don't think it fits. Maybe you can mod them to fit.
Either way I wouldn't bother. Use the Sigma's TCs. The price on them is good and they perform extremely well. They seem to be made for each other, they have amazingly low CA when used with the 120-300.
The casing is new as well as redesigned hood, the
