500 mm Telephoto?

[KeithB]

I have been informed, that when my wife graduates in a few months with her BA, I need to have a longer lens to get a good shot of the action.

Currently, I have a 70-300 mm IS, which might not be long enough.

What would be some good choices and does anyone have any experiences renting one of these things?

[Bob Atkins]

If you're shooting from the audience you'd need something handholdable. While a Canon 500/4L IS is a great lens, you won't likely be handholding it and it will certainly draw a lot of attention (especially with a tripod).

I'm just writing up a review of the Sigma 50-500 OS lens. Pretty decent performance, small enough to handhold and very effectively stabilized. $1600 to buy but I don't know if you can rent one from somewhere. The Canon 100-400L is another obvious choice. The least likely lens to attract attention would be a 500/8 mirror lens, but since it won't be stabilized you'd need good light and/or a high ISO to get a shutter speed fast enough to ensure sharp shots (assuming you get the manual focus right). I'd say aiming for 1/1000s would be a good idea.

Depending on how large a print you want to make, a 70-300IS might actually be enough lens if you crop the image a bit. If you can figure out how far away from her you will be, you can try some test shots and test prints to see what the quality is like.

[KeithB]

I see a Sigma 600mm f/8 on ebay.  Have you heard anything about this one, Bob?  It is even for EF mount.

[KeithB]

If it is the right lens, I see the Sigma 50-550 going for $1060 on Amazon.

[Bob Atkins]

A Sigma 50-500 for $1000 is likely to be the earlier non-stabilized version. The newer Optical Stabilized (OS) version sells for $1600.

Sigma did make an OK 600mm f8 mirror lens in an EF mount, though of course it's not autofocus and like just about all mirror lenses it's fixed aperture. I don't know when it was dropped from the Sigma line, but I'd guess at least 10 years ago, maybe longer. Of cours eit suffers from the usual mirror lens problems (fixed aperture , slow and out-of-focus highlights appearing as "donuts")

[emanresu]

First, congratulations to Mrs. B.

Second, Keith, see if you want to rent from them.
http://www.lensrentals.com/rent/sigma-50-500-f4.5-6.3-hsm-os/for-canon

Third, is this your first Sigma lens review, Bob?  From your review page, I don't see any Sigmas. If you are starting to review Sigmas, this is great, because I am looking forward to seeing what you think about the 8-16mm

Fourth, I am just curious about the Sigma 50-500mm lenses.  The non-OS version is slightly faster than the OS version, yet it is $600 cheaper.

Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3 EX DG HSM APO RF

Sigma 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM SLD

Even though Keith is going to hand-held it, but I still think in most uses, it will be mounted on a tripod. So would it be wise to go for the non-OS version?

[Bob Atkins]

I may review more Sigma lenses, it all depends on what becomes available to me.

Personally I would not buy a telephoto zoom without optical stabilization these days. I might buy an unstabilized long telephoto prime which would be used on a tripod 99% of the time. However if I bought a (relatively) small and light telephoto zoom it would be with the intention of being able to use it handheld when I needed to and so I'd regard some type of stabilization almost essential to get the maximum anount of use from the lens.

The Sigma 50-500 review should be published here within a day or two. Overall it's a very good lens. I have some concern that the AF may not always be as good as it could be when zoomed out fully, but that doesn't change my overall opinion that Sigma have done a decent job with it.

[KeithB]

I got a Sigma 600 f/8 mirror from Adorama, but it was FD mount (the website said "for Canon" and I crossed my fingers).  I tried it on a friends old FD mount and it looked OK through the viewfinder, but was difficult to handhold - as you might expect.  Since I have the 70-300, I think I will save my pennies for the Sigma 150-500 OS, which, if I am reading the MTF right, should be a bit better at 500 mm than the 50 - 150.

Bob, I know I am on the opposite side of the US, but would you be interested in reviewing my sample if we could work out the logistics?

[Bob Atkins]

Sounds interesting. There is a chance I may get a 150-500 from Sigma for review at some point. Probably not in the very near future, but maybe sometime over the summer. I think the next lens I'll be looking at will be the Zeiss 85/1.4 (though it's not been sent yet!).

There's a chance you could use the FD mount Sigma mirror lens on an EOS body. A lot of telephotos focus "past" infinity, and if it does a simple "macro" adapter (i.e. one without optics) might give you a pretty decent focus distance. Maybe not to infinity, but certainly out to at least 50ft. If you can find a cheap macro adapter (ebay) it may be worth a try if you haven't returned or sold the lens.

[KeithB]

I returned it.  If I had read your Sigma 50-500 review before I had ordered it, I probably would not have bothered.  A 500 mm lens with OS for $1000 seems as good a deal as the $150 dollar 600 f/8 mirror given all its faults.  Though if it had been EF mount...

[margaret]

Dear Bob,

Have you had a chance to review the Sigma 150-500.  There are good and slightly bad reviews on it.  Usually about the focus and AF at the 500mm end.  However, there does not seem to be an alternative with regard to cost and weight.  Does it depend on the camera?  I have a  Canon 500D.  Could one use a teleconverter with this lens.  Alternative to buy the 100-400 Canon and same question, could use a teleconverter?

Which would be the better option.  It seems there is a lot of confusion comparing these two lenses.  As it is the only cheaper option  and weight option a review would be extremely useful.

[Bob Atkins]

Sorry but I haven't had a 150-500 from Sigma to look at yet (I'm currently looking at their 30/1.4 and their 18-55/2.8-4 lenses).

You're really not going to be able to easily use a teleconverter with either the EF 100-400/4.5-5.6L IS USM  or the Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 AF APO DG OS HSM since they are both f5.6 lor slower (at the long end) and so you will loose autofocus. You can use them with manual focus OK, though they both get a bit optically slow.

Considering the price and your desire for the longest possible lens my temptation would be to go for the Sigma, but to buy it from somewhere with a good return policy so that if you were not happy with it, you could return it. Amazon always have a 30 day return policy (as long as the item is sold by Amazon themselves, not by another company through Amazon), but according to their website "Items shipped by Amazon.com between November 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010, may be returned until January 31, 2011, for a full refund" (subject to their normal policy that the item should be undamaged and returned in the original packing etc.). Their ciurrent price on the Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 AF APO DG OS HSM is $999 with free shipping, which is as good as any of the other reliable photo stores.

I'd say the Canon EF 100-400/4.5-5.6L IS USM is probably overall a better lens, with better construction and I suspect slightly better optics, however it's shorter (400mm vs 500mm) and $500 more expensive.

As for AF, the 500D is OK but is certainly not the best focusing camera in Canon's lineup, especially if you use anything but the center AF zone (the only one with a cross sensor). The Canon EOS 60D may be better if you're using the outer zones (all cross sensors), but you'd need to move up to the improved AF system of the Canon EOS 7D for the best AF in a crop sensor camera.

[KeithB]

I just got the 150 - 500 and I am really pleased.  Focus hasn't been an issue on my XS, but I guess it depends what you are focussing *on*.

My only complaint is that it is not a good "walking around" lens.  Using it at the zoo, it was great for taking pictures of animals far away, but at 150 mm, it was too long for good shots of the kids or small animals in close cages.  For that the 50-150 might be better.