Hiring a 50-500mm sigma lens on D7100 for birding. Any tips please?

[wezza13]

Hey all,

As the title says.

Am getting the Sigma/N 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM for this coming weekend to use in conjunction with my D7100.

My only experience at birding/BiF is with a 55-200mm Nikon and a 70-300mm Nikon VR, both used with my D3200.

As I now have a D7100, I treated myself to this lens for the weekend as it got great reviews and is relatively inexpensive to hire.

Any tips on using it?

The weekend will probably be quite dreary over here in the South-East of England as the forecast isn't that great. Is this any good in low-light?

Many thanks
Wez

 

[sm4him]

I don't have that lens; I've got the Sigma 150-500, which I use extensively for birding.

With that variable aperture of 4.5-6.3, just be aware that, since you'll like be zoomed out to 500mm much of the time, you'll also be at a min. aperture of 6.3 much of the time. You CAN get sharp pictures that way--at least with the 150-500 lens, but if you aren't experienced, you'll likely have better luck with sharp images at f/8 or so.

If it's a dreary day, f/8 at 500mm can be pretty tough to get a good exposure on for birds, because you want a really fast shutter speed. Again, it can be done, but you'll either have to go with lower shutter speeds, or high ISOs.

My advice: Make sure you have some time to experiment in the backyard (or whatever) before you go out. Play around with the settings and then actually LOOK at the results on a computer, not just the camera display. Photos sometimes look better on these teeny displays!

You've got the D7100, which should help you out, because from what I've seen, it's better at low light, AND better at higher ISOs than my D7000.

Make sure you try some shots either on a similarly dreary day, or maybe close to sunset to simulate the lighting conditions you're expecting.

Do NOT be afraid to bump up that ISO.

Here's what I'd do for just the initial, basic settings:

Shutter speed 1/1000, aperture f/7.1 or 8, auto ISO. I've shot as high as ISO 6400 on the D7000 with decent results, and I've seen some nice shots even higher than that on the 7100.

Adjust your aperture as needed for sharpness and DOF, etc.

If your subject is perched, you can drop the shutter speed a good bit to help with the light.
If your subject is flying, you may have to go up to 1/1600 or 1/2000.

PS: Oh, and make sure you also test how well, and how quickly, it focuses. If you have a dog, or a small child, or a willing adult, let them be your test subject--try to lock focus on them as they are moving pretty quickly, to see if you can grab decent focus. Some lenses are just slower about locking focus on a moving target, especially in low light.

I use single point AF; lots of people use other AF settings, but that just works well for me. I aim right at the eye and try to lock on as I track a bird across the sky.

 

[robbins.photo]

Any tips on using it?

Yes.. start hitting the gym. The big zooms require some upper body strength. Also as sm4him mentioned, when you can stop down the lens, from what I've read they get a bit soft at 500 mm.

 

[dennybeall]

Yes, heavy! and fairly slow speeds and high ISO's so I'd try to get a monopod with a ball head or at least a conventional adjustable head. You can take the 70-300, put a beanbag on it for weight and practice in the woods. You'll be shooting upward much of the time so a tall mono or tripod will save your back.

 

[wezza13]

Thank you for your great tips, especially sm4him, can't wait until it arrives.

I'm a strong lad, I fit carpets so should be okay. Then again I don't hold the carpets out in front of me for an hour, unless they're paying by the hour!

I've got a sturdy Manfrotto tripod with a ball head.

I assumed that I'll be mostly handholding, but not so sure now!

I'll try not to take it above 400-450mm to preserve the sharpness, fingers crossed that the weather is good.

 

[KmH]

It usually takes a couple of days to get used to a lens you haven't used before.
You may want to hire the lens for an extra day.

The lens can be hand held and for birding a gimbal head works lots better than a ball head.
I also had a Sigma 150-500 and here are a couple hand held shots I made with it set to 500 mm and f/6.3.

From about 300 feet and shooting from the ground.

From about 75 feet.

 

[wezza13]

Nice sharp pic of the Canadian Goose(?).

Does anyone use the d7100 and can recommend a good custom setting for autofocus on the a3 part of the menu?

 

[sm4him]

Thank you for your great tips, especially sm4him, can't wait until it arrives.

I'm a strong lad, I fit carpets so should be okay. Then again I don't hold the carpets out in front of me for an hour, unless they're paying by the hour!

I've got a sturdy Manfrotto tripod with a ball head.

I assumed that I'll be mostly handholding, but not so sure now!

I'll try not to take it above 400-450mm to preserve the sharpness, fingers crossed that the weather is good.

Yeah, you can hand hold, no problem. I'm "just a girl," and I'd say 98% of my bird photos with the Sigma 150-500 are handheld. I've been known to carry it around pretty much all day, 6-8 hours, plus, of shooting time and still be able to get off a decent handheld shot. Again, just take some practice getting used to.

Oh, and if you want examples, you can check my flickr page (link in my signature); pretty much all of the bird photos there are taken with the 150-500 and as I said, most if not all are handheld.

 

[KmH]

Nice sharp pic of the Canadian Goose(?).

Does anyone use the d7100 and can recommend a good custom setting for autofocus on the a3 part of the menu?

The photo was 'sharpened'.
I would recommend using option 3 in menu a3.
Most of Nikon's regular size DSLR cameras use the same Advanced Multi-CAM 3500 AF Module.

 

[wezza13]

The photo was 'sharpened'.

That's one part I really struggle with in PP - "Sharpening".

I've watched lots of videos on it but it just hasn't clicked.

Any ideas to make my pics "pop", so to speak?

 

[bc_steve]

Thank you for your great tips, especially sm4him, can't wait until it arrives.

I'm a strong lad, I fit carpets so should be okay. Then again I don't hold the carpets out in front of me for an hour, unless they're paying by the hour!

I've got a sturdy Manfrotto tripod with a ball head.

I assumed that I'll be mostly handholding, but not so sure now!

I'll try not to take it above 400-450mm to preserve the sharpness, fingers crossed that the weather is good.

I haven't used this particular lens but if you need 500mm I'd use it rather than 400mm and wanting to crop later

 

[bc_steve]

The photo was 'sharpened'.

That's one part I really struggle with in PP - "Sharpening".

I've watched lots of videos on it but it just hasn't clicked.

Any ideas to make my pics "pop", so to speak?

Best way to make your photos pop is to shoot in good light.

As far as sharpening goes, I like to use high pass so that I can have it as a separate layer. This allows you to add a layer mask that applies only to your subject. This way the subject is nice and sharp and the background is unaffected. If you just sharpen the entire photo you are adding noise to the background and making distracting details stand out more.

 

[wezza13]

Best way to make your photos pop is to shoot in good light.

As far as sharpening goes, I like to use high pass so that I can have it as a separate layer. This allows you to add a layer mask that applies only to your subject. This way the subject is nice and sharp and the background is unaffected. If you just sharpen the entire photo you are adding noise to the background and making distracting details stand out more.

Thank you for the suggestion.

I googled High Pass for photoshop and it was very easy to do. I used this tutorial : Sharpen Images In Photoshop With The High Pass Filter

I'll try that method from now on.

Regarding the lens, had about half an hour with it today in bad light, using my dogs as subjects but unfortunately all the ISO's were above 4000, so were quite grainy.

Hoping to get a good few hours with it tomorrow, as don't want to waste the hire!

 

[bc_steve]

Happy to help!

 

[wezza13]

Just been practising with the high pass method on various photos for the past hour and a half and I think I've sussed it.

Such a big difference!

It really does pop!