gunmetal wrote:
15 pages deep and not a single Sports shot
Figured this might be a good outdoor sports performer.
It would probably be a good performer for that. My impression after spending a lot of time on this forum is that you don't see very much sports photography around here in general, so it's less about the lens and more about the communities taste I would guess.
Excellent work Daniel.
Yep, I carried the 500/5.6 4 miles this morning. Walked with my brother who carried
the 600/4 I sold him not long ago. Can't say I miss it at all. Twice I heard him reply when
I ask if he got it 'no didn't get on it fast enough'. Speed of getting on target is the second best
thing (well actually sharpness is #1 so speed to target #3) about this lens, AND old me is getting
some good shots at 1/160 so Sigma did up their game in image stabilization I believe....never a bad
thing.
gunmetal wrote:
15 pages deep and not a single Sports shot
Figured this might be a good outdoor sports performer.
I took mine out today to shoot my wife playing pickleball. I am not a sports photographer so I can't speak to how it compares but I found the autofocus worked very well and I got some great shots at 1/500s F5.6 ISO 100. Background blur is nice and I have a neat shot of her serving where she is in perfect focus but the outreached paddle on follow through is nicely burred. I will say 500mm is too long for a pickleball court but maybe it would be OK on a football or lacrosse field. Can't share the pics as I don't have upload rights and she would not want me to anyway.
Got the lens and can't believe how small and light it is compared to the 200-600 that I traded in. The hummingbird was taken with A7RV, but heavily cropped and shot into the sun, so not ideal.
A few more hummingbird pics at the feeder. These were taken with the A7RV at f/5.6, 1/2000, ISO 10000 (fairly dark and cloudy) and very heavily cropped with some denoise in LR. The lens is definately a lightweight in a good way and very easy to hand hold on the camera.
I'm curious about people's experience backpacking with this out in the field.
Last year I backpacked about 40 miles over 4 days in Hornstrandir, Iceland tracking arctic foxes carrying the Sony 200-600. While it was doable, I definitely missed some shots because I wasn't willing to keep the 200-600 out and mounted 24/7. Where I could, I kept the lens slung over my shoulder when it wasn't mounted for faster access, but this was unwieldy in a lot of terrain. My thought with the Sigma 500 5.6 is I could more reasonably keep it out and as a side benefit more reasonably shoot handheld. Do people have similar experience with the Sigma?
My main concern is the lack of zoom. In at least some scenarios 500mm would be too long. Maybe less of an issue for people shooting BIF, but a bit tougher for ground wildlife that you can come across suddenly.
Similar thoughts have made me hesitate. f5.6 is OK for landscapes, etc, but f4.5-6.3 in a broader zoom range is a much more flexible instrument at a comparable weight, if not quite as long a reach perhaps.
No doubt, the 200-600 will be a bit more versatile, but I usually used it at 600mm. Trouble is, I rarely took it out because of the weight. With the Sigma, it is like carrying a 70-200 lens around. I can even use one hand to hold camera and lens, so very big difference. I use the A7RV, so allows some extra room for cropping when needed. I always have the 70-200 GM II if I need something shorter.
A few of a deer behind my house last night. It was getting dark, so ISO 12800, 1/400 at f/5.6 with the A7RV in APS-C mode and a bit of additional cropping-
Picked up a like new copy of the Sigma 500/5.6 on the b&s board and am really enjoying it so far. Today was a field trip to the Cinci zoo. Lens photos and specs did not prepare me for how amazingly small and light it is in hand. The balance feels nicer to me than the Nikon 500PF. Sharpness looks fantastic.
ILCE-7RM5500mm F5.6 DG DN OS | Sports 024 lens500mmf/5.61/500s2000 ISO-1.7 EV
