A new birding lens for my Nikon.

[Cage]

My Tamron 70-200 f2.8 has gone to WA and the Nikon 300mm f4 goes on sale today.

They are both great lens and I hate to part with them, but when you are not flash with cash you have to rearrange your toy box.

Geez, I hope the Sigma Sport lives up to the hype.

Next step is to get onto CRK about a price match.

[Gazza]

...Geez, I hope the Sigma Sport lives up to the hype...

So do I...seriously thinking about one myself.
Mark & others have been getting impressive results, and that extra 200mm closer (for me) would havta be an advantage, right?

Maybe a Christmas pressie to myself

[Cage]

So do I...seriously thinking about one myself.
Mark & others have been getting impressive results, and that extra 200mm closer (for me) would havta be an advantage, right?

Maybe a Christmas pressie to myself

Mark's stuff has gone to a new level with the Sport.

And it should fit in to your lens line up too with the only gap being between 105mm and 150mm, assuming of course that you move the 100-400 on.

I think the ideal birding set-up is the Sport on a good crop sensor camera (which you have) and will give you 960mm FF equivalent with 24Mb.

Sounds like a winner to me.

[Gazza]

And it should fit in to your lens line up too with the only gap being between 105mm and 150mm, assuming of course that you move the 100-400 on.

Not keen on parting with the 100 - 400, but thought I'd try and swap it later for a 70 - 200...?
I'd be totally covered from 10 - 600 then. After that, NO MORE! (famous last words)
Reckon I've spent enough on this hobby


​Cheers -

[Cage]

Not keen on parting with the 100 - 400, but thought I'd try and swap it later for a 70 - 200...?
I'd be totally covered from 10 - 600 then. After that, NO MORE! (famous last words)
Reckon I've spent enough on this hobby


​Cheers -

I felt the same way about parting with my Nikon 300mm f4, sharp as a tack and a Pro quality lens. But it goes online today.

It's a bit of a dilemma to sell something you know is damn good and replace it with something you've heard is damn good.

From all reports the quality of the Sport is top shelf. I hope they are correct.

[basketballfreak6]

hey Kev, i can vouch for the sigma 150-600 sports, fantastic lens for the price and perfectly sharp wide open at 600mm

Eastern Yellow Robin by Tony, on Flickr

shot handheld wide open 600mm at 1/80 shutter ISO 12800 on my 5D3 lol, check out the feather detail

[Cage]

Tony, that's super impressive hand-held at 1/80 sec, and the feather detail is what I'm hoping for.

Your local EYR is much lighter than my locals.

How far away were you and what f stop?

And have you pointed it at the stars yet?

[Mark L]

Tony, that's super impressive hand-held at 1/80 sec, .....

This introduces the net thing in the equation. Do you have a monopod?
The lens is heavy and I just don't think it would work for me without a monopod and tilt head. Firstly it gives the camera stability when take the photos and secondly, instead of you having to hold it, it gives you something to rest the weight on while waiting for the birds.

[Cage]

This introduces the net thing in the equation. Do you have a monopod?
The lens is heavy and I just don't think it would work for me without a monopod and tilt head. Firstly it gives the camera stability when take the photos and secondly, instead of you having to hold it, it gives you something to rest the weight on while waiting for the birds.

Cheers Mark

I don't think I'll be doing much hand-holding. I have a monopod with a Kirk Tilt-head and a carbon fibre tripod with a Wimberley Sidekick so that should help with my less than steady grip. Just waiting for a buyer for my second lens and I'm good to go.

[basketballfreak6]

Tony, that's super impressive hand-held at 1/80 sec, and the feather detail is what I'm hoping for.

Your local EYR is much lighter than my locals.

How far away were you and what f stop?

And have you pointed it at the stars yet?

haha thanks Kev, not sure what you meant by EYR tho

it was shot wide open at f/6.3 (600mm)

haven't tried the stars, too big and heavy for my tracker, partly why i am thinking of possibly downgrading to the 'C' but hard to because my copy of S has been fantastic be it IQ or AF

hand holding wise i found it took a bit of getting used to at the start but non issue for me after a while, can walk around for few hours at a time with just a R strap (i do consider myself decently fit but i am by no means a big guy or anything pretty average built) and as you saw have gotten some good low shutter speed shots with it too

[Cage]

Hi Tony,

EYR = Eastern Yellow Robin

haven't tried the stars, too big and heavy for my tracker, partly why i am thinking of possibly downgrading to the 'C' but hard to because my copy of S has been fantastic be it IQ or AF

Wash your mouth out !!! Tony, mate, you don't downgrade a great lens to fit a lightweight tracker, you upgrade the tracker to suit the great lens. Now go get the
HEQ5 Pro, go on, you know you want to.

[basketballfreak6]

Hi Tony,

EYR = Eastern Yellow Robin



Wash your mouth out !!! Tony, mate, you don't downgrade a great lens to fit a lightweight tracker, you upgrade the tracker to suit the great lens. Now go get the
HEQ5 Pro, go on, you know you want to.

hahaha you're right, shame on me

fun fact i actually was just looking at a HEQ5 Pro the other day....

[Cage]

WOOHOO Just ordered the Sport

Hopefully have it by the weekend.

- - - Updated - - -

Cheers Tony.

Has your new monster arrived yet?

[Cage]

Thought I'd better have the you-beaut USB Dock and ordered it too. (I can see Uncle Arthur sagely nodding his head )

Now the wait although it's blowing a gale here so wouldn't be much joy till the wind drops off.

[Mark L]

Thought I'd better have the you-beaut USB Dock and ordered it too.

That's worth doing, just in case.
I brought my lens from Kel (Brian500au) and he offered his dock for me if the lens needed sorting.
I found the lens was front focusing by a fraction. The dock let me fix that. To fix this in the past meant paying money for someone else to fix it.

[Cage]

That's worth doing, just in case.
I brought my lens from Kel (Brian500au) and he offered his dock for me if the lens needed sorting.
I found the lens was front focusing by a fraction. The dock let me fix that. To fix this in the past meant paying money for someone else to fix it.

Doesn't your Canon have in-camera auto focus fine tuning ?

[Mark L]

Doesn't your Canon have in-camera auto focus fine tuning ?

Not sure, but don't think so.
But what has that got to do with the lens front focusing a faction if you can fix that in the lens??
Enjoy your new kit. It's wonderful I think.

[Tannin]

Nearly all semi-pro and pro Canon bodies made since the Stone Age provide micro-adjustment.

X0D Series: 50D, 70D, 80D. (Not the 60D for some reason.)
7 Series: 7D, 7D II.
6 Series: 6D, 6D II.
5 Series: 5D II, 5D III, 5DS, 5DS R, 5D IV.
1 Series: 1D III, 1Ds III, 1D IV, 1D X, 1D X II.

None of the various Canon bodies and lenses I have owned have ever needed it. Nor have the two Tokina lenses, though to be fair they were both quite short and at 12mm your depth of field is so enormous that precise focus becomes a bit academic.

One half of me thinks that the Sigma Dock is a bit of a scam designed to make you pay good money and waste useful time fixing things that should have been done properly in the factory in the first place. The other half of me thinks that Arthur is no fool, so there might be something in it.

[Cage]

Tony, in all fairness to Sigma I reckon it would be a challenge to design a lens to be compatible with the idiosyncrasies of three different camera operating systems, well two anyway, as the Sigma system should be OK.

And hopefully it gives you the ability to update it for new cameras.

[basketballfreak6]

WOOHOO Just ordered the Sport

Hopefully have it by the weekend.

- - - Updated - - -

Cheers Tony.

Has your new monster arrived yet?

hahaha no spending for me for a while...blew too much money on new lenses

also the dock is def while investment, personally i've been pretty unlucky with lenses and had a number of canon's and sigma's that need adjusting (tho my 150-600S was perfect out of box), the ability not only able to fine tune AF at different distances as well adjusting parameters like IS/OS/VR behavior and speed of focus etc not to mention firmware update is awesome, you can obviously still send it off to sigma or what not under warranty if you wish to but by having the option to do it at home yourself means no down time whatsoever, wish canon had something similar (and not just the simple MFA in body)