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Archive 2013 · Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 sport for hockey

  
 
RandyR
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p.3 #1 · p.3 #1 · Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 sport for hockey


My USB Dock is still in the box. My 120-300 Sport focuses as fast as my Nikon 300vr1 and the image quality is very good. I owned the previous 2 versions of the 120-300 and both had intermittent AF issues, the new Sport version is a fine lens


Mar 21, 2014 at 04:16 PM
scottiet
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p.3 #2 · p.3 #2 · Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 sport for hockey


Got mine a few months ago and had the opportunity to really test at the local Mosseheads game. I was very pleased with the IQ and AF was very good. Keep in mind I just got the dock and haven't tweaked the AF (looking forward to this!) These were from the top catwalk of the lower bowl middle of the ice.

Critique more than welcome on the shots. Processing via lightroom for nr and sharpening.

















Mar 25, 2014 at 02:18 PM
mikepmcs
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p.3 #3 · p.3 #3 · Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 sport for hockey


I put the 120-300 on my D4S and went above the glass for the 3rd frame yesterday just to see what it would do compared with the D4. I wanted to see if there was an IQ, ISO, etc....difference between the 2 cameras. I strictly shoot Basketball and Hockey(I prefer hockey but haven't done it regularly until the last few months.
OT: The D4s and the 70-200 V2 is deadly BTW! I'm shooting 8000ISO TTG with that combo and the IQ is pretty sweet.
Anyway, this is an example.... heavy crop at 300MM. 6400 1/800 3.2. Shot in JPG(i used to shoot raw but that was so 8 days ago Still RAW for Basketball though because of those stupid lights!). Manual White Balance off the ice(but I forgot to redo the white balance again went I went up,so this is what I had from down below through the glass I think) I dialed in +4 Tint in LR and actually lowered the exposure.
I really need to find a paying gig soon so I can get more D4s's and stuff.
I resized it in CS6, adjustments were done in LR, but nothing too fancy.





Tim Kennedy(13) of the Portland Pirates and Andrew Campbell(2) of the Manchester Monarchs battle for the puck during the 3rd period of regulation at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston, Maine on 29 March 2014.




Mar 31, 2014 at 12:55 AM
Trevorma
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p.3 #4 · p.3 #4 · Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 sport for hockey


My local Camera store has told me that they have a couple of customers who are not pleased with the focus speed of the new 120-300 on a Nikon Body (D4) when used with a Sigma Teleconverter..... do any of the Nikon guys with the new 120-300 use it with TC's? is it slow to the point where it is not useable?




Apr 01, 2014 at 07:38 AM
mikepmcs
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p.3 #5 · p.3 #5 · Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 sport for hockey


If you don't mind me trying it, I will attempt to answer your question tomorrow night. I have the 1.4TC for the Sigma. I will do my best to make an accurate assumption. I'll hook it up to the dock today and limit the focus.
Maybe they aren't tweaking the focus settings via the dock and just using the limiter on the side of the lens.



Apr 01, 2014 at 08:19 AM
Trevorma
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p.3 #6 · p.3 #6 · Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 sport for hockey


Thanks Mike, that would be awesome!!!

No need to go crazy testing it, just whether or not you feel it is "useable" for sports photography. I understand that any TC is going to affect the speed of a lens, but this guy (reported to the camera shop that he was so unhappy with the lens and TC combo he was sending it in) made it sound like I was going to miss most of my shots.....

That was my initial thought too..... maybe set the lens to speed priority..... The guy who reported this is a wildlife guy.

My other thought was a bad TC, or maybe he does need to send the 2 items in and have sigma get them to play better together.......




Apr 01, 2014 at 09:08 AM
mikepmcs
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p.3 #7 · p.3 #7 · Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 sport for hockey


I'll be honest, I'm definitely looking for something wrong with this Sigma every time I hook it up. I'm particularly paying attention to the AF. It was on one of my D4's for a game and the AF would work intermittently. I had to unhook the lens and rehook it and then it worked. It did this twice to me in 2 different games. I switched to my other D4 and it didn't do it last game. Maybe it's my other D4. Bought it used on here but it only had 1000 clicks. They will go in to Nikon this summer for test and checks but can't give them up right now. I know the Sigma AF system has always been a little suspect so believe me I'll have no problem sending it in. Electronics are hit and miss no matter the manufacturer and there is always a possibility of getting something that doesn't quite work right. I figured better to find everything I don't like about it and send it in to Sigma for the warranty repair rather than sending it back and getting a new one, etc.... Anyway. So far the only glitch is that AF scenario. Nothing major yet.
I'll report back in a couple days.



Apr 01, 2014 at 03:30 PM
mikepmcs
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p.3 #8 · p.3 #8 · Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 sport for hockey


Absolutely no way with a 1.4TC shooting through the glass. I can answer that definitively right now. The IQ was horrible to say the least and it wouldn't even grab a decent pic of our netminder while he was standing still. I almost thought I was doing something wrong. It disintegrated and I was darn near filling the frame. Enough so that it should have been a clear photo.
I'll have more information in detail tomorrow night or Friday. Trevor, this is not an option IMO for you because you are TTG exclusively from what I remember.



Apr 02, 2014 at 10:40 PM
Trevorma
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p.3 #9 · p.3 #9 · Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 sport for hockey


Mike,

I am an almost 100% TTG shooter..... but I want the TC for more outdoor football and baseball stuff, not the hockey. That said your thoughts to this point are not very promising for the TC in general.......



Apr 03, 2014 at 07:10 AM
mikepmcs
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p.3 #10 · p.3 #10 · Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 sport for hockey


I did above the glass as well for this experiment(i'm trying to migrate away from the above the glass) That might be a different story. Give me a while. I shot the entire 3rd above the glass with the 120-300 exclusively. I shot til the 10 minute mark with the TC because it appeared to be handling it ok. I was chimping hard and probably missed some great action. !
.... and then the final half without the TC.
Details will be coming eventually.
That through the glass thing is really baffing me and it almost looks like it was just at the 420 mark it couldn't react and focus consistently.
I have a few pictures closer in with the TC on TTG that seem to be just fine. I'm looking at Photo Mechanic right now and it will be a while.
The ISO was 12800 F4 640th. That in itself is about out of my comfort zone at this rink. D4 or no D4.



Apr 03, 2014 at 09:55 AM
mikepmcs
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p.3 #11 · p.3 #11 · Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 sport for hockey


I'd use it with the TC above the glass again to be honest if I needed too. Any shots I really may have missed were consistant with my hopefully improving technique. My cull rate with the TC on is consistent to the amount of shots I took and close to what I normally cull with most of my other setups. I had the focus limiter at about 70 feet which was just about right from my postion to the opposing bench below. What's funny is I took a shot of Chris Brown(now Washington Capital/Hershey, used to be Coyotes/Pirates prior to the trade a month ago) from above the glass but through the bench glass at 380mm and it came out fine. I was at 10000ISO on that shot. But technically it was through the glass, right?
I'm gonna try it above the glass and through the glass again on Wednesday with the TC again but this time on my D4S. The D4S is noticeably better then the D4 IMO when it comes to focusing, in my world. I'll feel better about going into the stratosphere ISO range(through the glass) with the D4S as well.

Edited on Apr 04, 2014 at 02:42 PM · View previous versions



Apr 04, 2014 at 02:29 PM
Trevorma
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p.3 #12 · p.3 #12 · Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 sport for hockey


Was the AF speed a lot slower or just noticeably slower?

The guy who reported the issue to my local camera shop said it was un-useably slow!

Thanks for the help Mike!



Apr 04, 2014 at 02:42 PM
mikepmcs
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p.3 #13 · p.3 #13 · Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 sport for hockey


oh yeah. We are trying to establish speed of focus. My bad. It's "just noticeably slower"
It's not unusable in the clear.
I wish you lived closer I'd hand you the thing for a while. .



Apr 04, 2014 at 02:51 PM
mikepmcs
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p.3 #14 · p.3 #14 · Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 sport for hockey


My contention is the IQ at high ISO through the glass at this point to be honest. It just looked like it fell apart at that distance. I didn't screw around too long but I was freaked out looking at it. Like I said, I'm gonna do it again on Wednesday.
The issue with hockey is, it's so fast compared to other sports. So snapping to focus immediately would be of benefit to newer photographers and ones that can't quite anticipate what's coming.
Old salts like you that anticipate the action would probably have a different take. Does that make sense.



Apr 04, 2014 at 02:54 PM
Trevorma
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p.3 #15 · p.3 #15 · Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 sport for hockey


Makes sense to me anyway.

Thanks for the help.......it is very appreciated.

Trevor



Apr 04, 2014 at 03:12 PM
mikepmcs
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p.3 #16 · p.3 #16 · Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 sport for hockey


Do you think the lower contrast scenario of shooting with a TC and through TTG is screwing with the ability to focus correctly on my intended subject, maybe?
I'm tempted to put my Nikon 1.7tc on the 70-200 and see what it does TTG.
Might as well compare apples to almost apples.



Apr 04, 2014 at 06:01 PM
PockettPhoto
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p.3 #17 · p.3 #17 · Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 sport for hockey


Well, after my first proper hitout, I can say that I am really happy with the lens so far. Shot a suburban football (Aussie Rules) game over the weekend, played at night. Paired with the 5D3 it was flawless, and equally as good as the 300 f2.8L mk I which I rented previously to shoot at night.

Here are some pics - apologies, but I have only uploaded to my facebook page

I will be taking it to some field hockey in a couple of days also. Looking forward to trying it in action with my Canon 1.4x tc



Apr 06, 2014 at 11:09 PM
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