Pros and Cons of the Bigma

[Marc-Etienne]

I need the opinion of the Sigma 50-500mm (Bigma) users and knowledgeable photographs on this forum. I'm an amateur in photography, so I don't get money out of my shots (hence excluding the Nikkor prime long focal). I'd love to get shots like this one:
Bald eagle

I have a D90 and use a DX 18-200mm VRII that doesn't offer to much range. I also have a Skywatcher 500mm (750mm on my crop sensor) and a 2X teleconverter giving me an awesome range of 1500mm, but all this manual which slows things down considerably !

The best I ever brought back with my telescope was this one, and I was soooo lucky to get those guys!

Chito got the shot in the link with a Bigma. I would like to know what you guys think about that lens, any bad experience with the lens.

Pros and Cons of the Bigma please!
Thanks for all your help

 

[KmH]

I have the BOSma, 150-500 mm and it has worked beautifully.

In fact it's for sale because I upgraded to the Nikon 200-400 f/4.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/buy-sell/222898-fs-sigma-150-500-mm-hi-power-zoom.html

 

[tirediron]

Pro: Exceptional price for that focal range

Con: BQ and IQ not as good as Nikkor 200-400 or 400/500 primes.

Is it going to make a difference to anyone other than someone who makes their living with long lenses? I doubt it. Sure, if I could afford a slew of fast, long primes, I'd for them, but since I can't, if I did need really long glass, I'd go for the Bigma.

 

[Marc-Etienne]

So what you are saying is that for an amateur the Bigma (or bosma) would be satisfying enough? It would fulfill my needs. Does it AF fast? The sigma lens I have (105 macro) focus pretty slow. If I'm going that way is to be able to get fast focus to solve the MF telescope issue.

KmH you are messing with me aren't you?!? I was planning to get this lens in a further future (within 1 year), you are messing with my will! It is very tempting! Would ready to negotiate price?

 

[Overread20]

The sigma 105mm is a macro and as such their AF performance is generally quite poor by modern standards. Rest assured the AF in the bigma/bigmos will be superior in performance.

 

[Marc-Etienne]

The sigma 105mm is a macro and as such their AF performance is generally quite poor by modern standards. Rest assured the AF in the bigma/bigmos will be superior in performance.

Thanks Overread

 

[KmH]

KmH .... Would ready to negotiate price?

It's not a distressed sale. But I won't negotiate with myself.

 

[mar1u5]

I had the sigma 150-500 OS on a D300. For the price, there's really no competition. But at 500mm the IQ isn't brilliant - but it's not horrible either, by any measure. And the AF is faster than your macro lens, but it's no 24-70 f2.8 either I did a quick test of it when I got it, and I still have the pictures. These are largely unprocessed JPEG's:

D300 + 16-85 VR @ 16mm - showing the house I'm going to zoom in on.

D300 + 16-85 VR @ 85mm

D300 + 150-500 @ 150mm

D300 + 150-500 @ 250mm

D300 + 150-500 @ 500mm

D300 + 150-500 @ 500mm + sigma x2 teleconverter

If you need good reach, and you're on a budget, the sigma is what you want. The OS works pretty good (but is noisy) and the lens feels solid. It suffers from zoom creep very easily, but that's not such a big of an issue as long as you're aware of it.

Some processed shots:

500mm

500mm

500mm + x2 teleconverter

 

[timethief]

Well that shot of the moon is definitely inspiring.