Sigma 120-400 OS is the Canon 100-400 killer??

[ricktas]

Seems the Sigma APO 120-400mm f4.5-5.6 DG OS HSM Lens is comparing very well against the Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS USM

A well known Japanese company that does lens comparisons has summarised their comparison with "The difference is 'order of magnitude'.Sigma gives the more successful images in terms of the image stabilisation and sharpness."

The full report is available here if you can read Japanese

EDIT: The Sigma can be had for under $1K, where the Canon is usually just over $2K.

[Scotty72]

hmm.. tempting - once my funds are replenished

[twofruitz]

Here is a big discussion on the issue

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...d.php?t=445834




Pricewise, $1150 looks to be the cheapest I've seen so far.

[David]

Well that settles it for me.


The Sigma APO 120-400mm f4.5-5.6 DG OS HSM is definitely going to be my wildlife/birding lens at 100MM + end when I can convince myself how badly I need if after I get my hands on the Siggy 10-20MM for the other end.

Thanks for the information Rick

[NGP]

I always love reviews/tests comparisons with badly exposed and light images/subject.. it makes me so much want to believe that they know what they're doing.. looking at their 100-400L images (at 100%) I can tell you I will get better images out of a 75-300 kit lens .. sorry that is actually not funny at all

that said I'm not saying the new Sigma might not do a good job.. I haven't done a benchmark on that lens so I'm not gonna make something up here..

[David]

Thanks NGP, now to challenge to you now youve stuck your foot in the door is to get your hands on the lens and do a benchmark for us all and tell us what you think.

Im not interested so much in cf to the Canon L series lens because 2000.00 + is too much for a lens in my amateur world.. for that money Id go buy a better body.

What I would be interested in knowing is that this lens IS going to give me better longer focal length images than said kit 75-300MM lens and that it compares favourably with its predecessors around the same focal length range in the Sigma stable particularly.

That kind of information would be very helpful. and I know you will have an infomed opinion on that.

[ricktas]

I always love reviews/tests comparisons with badly exposed and light images/subject.. it makes me so much want to believe that they know what they're doing.. looking at their 100-400L images (at 100%) I can tell you I will get better images out of a 75-300 kit lens .. sorry that is actually not funny at all

that said I'm not saying the new Sigma might not do a good job.. I haven't done a benchmark on that lens so I'm not gonna make something up here..

Agree, but will be interesting if this review makes some other more respected folk do their great work and give these two lenses a comparison

[ving]

from what i understand from various reviews is that the siggy is soft wide open in comparision.... sharp at f8 but not at f5.6 at all... where as the canon (who'd but that brand of camera anyhow ) is alot sharper and prolly very close to usable at f5.6.

[Tannin]

You know, sometimes I get really tired of the way Nikon users constantly slag off all the other brands. You practically never see Pentax users do it, nor Canon users, not Sony users, nor Olympus users. What is about the Nikon users that makes for so many obnoxious sneers? You have excellent camera systems, with lenses as good as any made, so why this constant urge to denigrate?

Fair dinkum, I'm jack of it.

[ving]

its a joke tony

[MarkChap]

Never had the luxury of using the Canon 100-400, but do own the 120-400 Sigma, I would doubt that it would out perform the Canon

There are reports out there that suggest the 150-500 is a better lens than the 120-400 so that must be an absolute ripper

[ricktas]

You know, sometimes I get really tired of the way Nikon users constantly slag off all the other brands. You practically never see Pentax users do it, nor Canon users, not Sony users, nor Olympus users. What is about the Nikon users that makes for so many obnoxious sneers? You have excellent camera systems, with lenses as good as any made, so why this constant urge to denigrate?

Fair dinkum, I'm jack of it.

Where is anyone slagging off Canon in this thread? We are discussing two lenses, based on a review done. No one has said the Canon lens sucks, just discussing a review about it and a Sigma Lens. Surely open discussion about the quality of gear (no matter what brand) is worthwhile? Look on the net you will find heaps of reviews saying that a particular Canon lens is much better than the equivalent Nikon/Sony/Pentax one. Sorry, but all you post above has done (for me) is made it seem that Canon is to precious to you for anyone to be even questioning the quality of ONE lens against another. I am jack of that!

[Kym]

You know, sometimes I get really tired of the way Nikon users constantly slag off all the other brands. You practically never see Pentax users do it, nor Canon users, not Sony users, nor Olympus users. What is about the Nikon users that makes for so many obnoxious sneers? You have excellent camera systems, with lenses as good as any made, so why this constant urge to denigrate?

Fair dinkum, I'm jack of it.

Hey mate! I slag off BOTH N & C

Seriously: I think this is just another new product that challenges an established and respected equivalent on price/performance. (1/2 the price)
Ving already indicated it may have softness issues wide open.
It will be marketed against the 100-400 L so is totally fair game.
Further it will be available on other mounts so opens up that capability to 4 major brands.
http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/len...47&navigator=3

[MarkChap]

Where is anyone slagging off Canon in this thread?

(who'd but that brand of camera anyhow )

I thnk Davids post was what Tony was replying to

[mongo]

Mongo can not read Japanese on that site to read the review.

Its predecessor, 135-400mm was a poor performer overall. This new 120-400mm may be an improvement but all the 100-400L canon shots Mongo has seen are hard to beat. So Mongo is not yet convinced. Mongo would like to see the MTF figure comparison and the conditions of testing first. If it is even as good as the canon it will be unbeatable value.

[ricktas]

I thnk Davids post was what Tony was replying to

Ah. I missed that one line in David's post. Apologies Tony for my rant, I see now that there was a post that influenced your comments.

[NeilC]

Ok, back on topic sort a

I put on of these sigmas on my D300 at PMA and even though the conditions were far from perfect, i was very pleased with it. As i cant use canon 100-400 and nikons 80-400 requires written invitations to auto focus, the sigma is very high on my list.

[ving]

I posted this link:
http://www.juzaphoto.com/eng/article...500_50-500.htm

in this thread if anyone is interested:
http://www.ausphotography.net.au/for...ad.php?t=34803

[David]

This is where it gets kinda confusing for newbies to the trade.

I suppose you could trade off as many poor reveiws of the Sigma APO 120-400mm f4.5-5.6 DG OS HSM as you could good ones, stand alone and it gets even more confusing if you compare it to the benchmark Canon L series or maybe a Tamron rough equivalent.

Would seem a pipe dream that something costing around 1100.00 (Sigma) could producs equivalent or "more successful image stablisation and sharpness" as something costing twice that much (Canon).

Ricks point, getting right back on subject here, was that it was interesting that at least one well known Japanese company that does lens comparisons found the Sigma's sharpness


Searching around the net for other comparisons between the 2 was fruitless but perhaps it is 'early days' yet...although there are a couple around (see the links already posted about them in this thread below mine).. maybe others can track down other comparisons ?

For me, being a sharpness dodo having a Sigma lens that compares favourably with the twice as much $$$ lens in sharpness would be happy days .

An amateur entry level photographer could afford to buy a Sigma 120-400MM lens ( or at least convince themselves they can afford it ) and get something close to the top of the range in sharpness quality without the accompanying price tag.

Now that would be just peachy to me and I dont care what company name is on the lens or the body it it attached to.

PS: Gotta love Tannin-Tony: you have passionate veiws about just about anything photography and dont mind people knowing what they are...must be the Ballarat Bertie in the water still flowing... classic.

[pgbphotographytas]

I had this lens when I had my Canon set up, I was very happy and impressed with it for the price.

Paul