mrsparky opened this issue on Jan 22, 2009 · 17 posts
mrsparky posted Thu, 22 January 2009 at 7:03 PM
First up is that horrible word money. List price is currently 750 quid [around 1500 US bucks] which is tough enough to save up for. However. many stores are saying Sigma UK is going to increase prices between 30-60% next month, seems Sigma can't bear the costs of the poor exchange rates anymore, hence some dealers are buying stock and sitting on it. So finding one like is like trying to find powdered unicorn in Sainsburys.
If you can find a dealer that hasn't sold them all to the cops - who love the sigma lens so much they fit them to their mobile speed-camera vans! - the dealers will quote you around £690-£700. Which is where making friends with a local suppiler really helps:)
In return for making your family starve for the next 6 months, you get ...one very big and heavy large piece of glass and metal, grab handle, a strong strap, hood, end/lens caps and a quality carry bag. Filter isn't included. The offical sigma one is £170 - cheapest one is by Hoya at £70, thats because of the non-standard thread.
Nor do they include a slave :) which you'll need because this is one heavy piece of kit. Even with the solid and effective 'anti-droop' lock combined with the lens strap, and the camera body strap, you are very conscious of the weight. When the camera and lens moves as you walk, it can feel like it's dropping. But turning the grab handle upside down and using that helps. Though overall this isn't something you'd want to carry around all day.
But as this is a very long item the weight does seem to help when using it.
On a sony a200 body - with the lens hood on - it measures around 48cm.
The zoom ring isn't as loose as on the sigma 300 it does require a little bit of grip. Which can be be tricky to do if you are braced against something like a tree, and at times I did find myself leaning more forward than usual.
Bracing and support is important. Just over 1/2 way zoomed it does pick up the shakes clearly. If you suffer from any form of tremor [as I do] this isn't good, throw in a freezing day and you do risk lots of bad pictures. But that's not a fault of the lens, stick it on a tripod, wait a second and all is fine.
Not tried a monpod yet. Plus there was some disagreement about wether or not a BushHawk shoulder mount would give enough support due to the length. But until I can try those I can't say for sure.
My big fear though was the speed of the AF. But unlike the old version, theres no problems here at all. It's miles faster than both the 18-70 kit lens, and the sigma 300. In fact I'd say this thing is faster than a cheetah riding a jet powered skateboard while out of his nut on the finest Coloumbian nasal powder:)
Anyway - enough words here's two comparision images (resampled for forum). Post two is the standard kit lens at 18. Post 3 is the 500.