Question on wildlife lenses

CarlosFrazao

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hi guys first post here.. Not sure if this is the correct place to post this or not...

My name is Carlos and I'm from South Africa, I recently started photography about 4 months ago and taught myself a little here and there. Started off with a Nikon d7000 and a sigma 150-500 and just last month upgraded to the d7200, yes I knw k should have gotten a canon 7d m ii :-( ....

Now the thing is I feel that the sigma 150-500 does not give me the same quality on the 7200 as it did on the 7000. I'm looking to upgrade to one of the the 150-600 lenses unfortunately the sigma sport and the new Nikon are out of my price range at the moment and it will have to be a toss up between the tamron and the sigma contemporary.. Question is which one will work best with my camera will mostly be doing birds and other wildlife with the lens... Also here in South Africa the tamron is R13500 and the sigma is about R15500...

Thanks guys also how do I add photos to the thread would love to hear what you guys think.

Thanks Carlos
 
Welcome to the site Carlos. While I am not the go to person to help answer your questions (I shoot a 7D mk II, lol) maybe I can ask a few questions to get you started.

You say that the quality isn't as good on the sigma lens from the 7000 to the 7200. Can you post an example of each and if possible what you are seeing?

My first thought on this would be that the lens was calibrated to the 7000 and just needs to be done with the 7200 as well. I am not familiar with the fine tune functions in the 7200.
 
Thanks for the reply @ronlane mmmm I'm not sure if I'm just being very newbish but I think new camera pics are a bit on the soft side, let me try add some pics

image.jpeg
Here is one with the 7000 and the 150-500

image.jpeg
Here is one with 7200 and the sigma 150-500

It just feels softer to me I knw its not exactly the same senario but just haven't been happy much...
 
Very hard to tell from that image if there is a focus issue, however Ron is right, it's very likely that your AF needs to be adjusted slightly to get optimal focus from the lens.
 
Ok wow thanks well I have no idea how to adjust a lens at all only been in the hobby for like 4 months now and still learning a lot... I was thinking Aswell because the lens did work so well with the d7000 that I could give it to my wife and she can use it because I gave her the 7000 Aswell and then I'm allowed to get a new lens lol...

If I where to adjust the camera and then change lenses will you then have to adjust again accordingly to what lens is on the body at the time?

Thanks
 
Google "calibrating a sigma 150-500 to a nikon D7200" and look through the information.

Fine tunes in focus and AF can make some big differences.
 
Ok wow thanks well I have no idea how to adjust a lens at all only been in the hobby for like 4 months now and still learning a lot... I was thinking Aswell because the lens did work so well with the d7000 that I could give it to my wife and she can use it because I gave her the 7000 Aswell and then I'm allowed to get a new lens lol...

If I where to adjust the camera and then change lenses will you then have to adjust again accordingly to what lens is on the body at the time?

Thanks
Hi Carlos, I'm also a South African living in Germany at the moment. Normally fine tuning the lens will not affect the lens, it should work like before on your wife's D7000. The adjustments are made to the camera in question, and will be saved by the camera, so the next time you put that lens on the corrections will be applied. I'm planning on buying a D7200 next month myself.
 
Hi Carlos, I'm also a South African living in Germany at the moment. Normally fine tuning the lens will not affect the lens, it should work like before on your wife's D7000. The adjustments are made to the camera in question, and will be saved by the camera, so the next time you put that lens on the corrections will be applied. I'm planning on buying a D7200 next month myself.

Hi goooner. Well you lucky to have gotten out when you could lol we heading for a economical downfall soon the dollar hit 17.99 to the rand this morning and prices are flying up the Nikon 500 f4 price has literally gone up twice in 2 weeks by 30k everytime it's nearly sitting on 200k now crazy...

I hope you enjoy the d7200 I'm still on fence about it first one I got was faulty, second one Aswell and still can't decide if it was worth the upgrade from the d7000 actually.. Still think I should have gone the canon route but oh well
 
For the Sigma 150-500 aperture setting of f/8 provides the sharpest image.

I owned a Sigma 150-500 & Tamron 150-600 and Nikon d7000 & d600 all at the same time.

you really have to pixel peep detailed focus at f/8, and try to shoot at f/8 all the time.
I really didn't have an issue though for some of the really distant things I photograph the d600 actually cropped better than my d7000. But your d7200 should crop better than the d7000.

I've since sold the Sigma and d7000 .. I couldn't keep both.
 
For the Sigma 150-500 aperture setting of f/8 provides the sharpest image.

I owned a Sigma 150-500 & Tamron 150-600 and Nikon d7000 & d600 all at the same time.

you really have to pixel peep detailed focus at f/8, and try to shoot at f/8 all the time.
I really didn't have an issue though for some of the really distant things I photograph the d600 actually cropped better than my d7000. But your d7200 should crop better than the d7000.

I've since sold the Sigma and d7000 .. I couldn't keep both.

Hi astroNikon

Thanks for the reply you knw what that might be my problem where I'm screwing up I have been trying to keep my ISO as low as possible so my shutter has been slowish and aperture around 5.6-7.1 so that might be the reason for the softer pics. I have so much to learn still
 
Yes...do NOT sacrifice image quality by always thinking that, "Keeping the ISO as low as possible," is the most important factor is setting the exposure! Overly emphasizing keeping the ISO as low as possible at all costs is a classic mistake made by many,many,many people who are using current state-of-the-art cameras, and worrying about ISO levels ruining their images!
 
For the Sigma 150-500 aperture setting of f/8 provides the sharpest image.

I owned a Sigma 150-500 & Tamron 150-600 and Nikon d7000 & d600 all at the same time.

you really have to pixel peep detailed focus at f/8, and try to shoot at f/8 all the time.
I really didn't have an issue though for some of the really distant things I photograph the d600 actually cropped better than my d7000. But your d7200 should crop better than the d7000.

I've since sold the Sigma and d7000 .. I couldn't keep both.

Hi astroNikon

Thanks for the reply you knw what that might be my problem where I'm screwing up I have been trying to keep my ISO as low as possible so my shutter has been slowish and aperture around 5.6-7.1 so that might be the reason for the softer pics. I have so much to learn still
Yes try the f/8 for overall detail.

Then you have to realize different Shutter speeds for different situations. A bird just walking around or sitting on a branch can be slower than a small bird darting away, versus a large bird gliding. I don't do much birding but you really have to think about the Shutter that you want and if you want any wing flutter (like on Hummingbirds) or get it totally stopped including the wing tip edges.

Then don't worry so much about ISO. I normally have my ISO set to AUTO with a MAX on it. On my d7000 I had a MAX of 1600. I think the d7200 is better. My d600 my max is much higher.
I normally shoot in manual with auto iSO. So with that lens I would be f/8, and then the appropriate shutter for what I'm doing. Then Auto ISO. If something is out of normal then I would adjust and compensate something, such as a larger aperture to keep shutter speed higher if ISO his the max.

The Sigma was a nice lens for the price. I had a good deal on a Tamron so I switched. The Tamron was smoother and nicer all around with 100mm more reach.
 
Carlos, i don't think there's a nickel's worth of difference between the Tamron and Sigma offerings as far as image quality. i have the Tamron, and have been very happy with it on my Canon 7DII. some people say the Sigma is better built, but Tamron offers a 6-year warranty which Sigma can't match, so Tamron is obviously satisfied with the build quality of their lenses. i get excellent results at any aperture, though it seems marginally better at f/7.1 or smaller, and it is just a tiny bit sharper if i back off the zoom just a bit, to around 550mm... but that's typical of almost every zoom lens i've ever used, so it's not an issue with the Tammy. given decent light (which is necessary with any lens at 500-600mm), the Tammy is tack sharp and the contrast and color rendition are excellent.

as far as adjusting your camera to the lens, if the Nikons work at all like the Canon "micro-adjust" feature, you can specify at the time whether you want the adjustments to affect all lenses you use, or only one. if you optimize for the 150-600, and specify that lens only, then the adjustments will not affect your other lenses.
 
Yes...do NOT sacrifice image quality by always thinking that, "Keeping the ISO as low as possible," is the most important factor is setting the exposure! Overly emphasizing keeping the ISO as low as possible at all costs is a classic mistake made by many,many,many people who are using current state-of-the-art cameras, and worrying about ISO levels ruining their images!

Hi Derrel, ok so is it better to give up image quality in the way of a higher ISO to have a sharper image then? Wouldn't I loose to much detail having to try and remove the noise in post... Also I'm still really struggling with the whole exposure thing, one guy says under expose all your shots and the other tells me over expose all your shots I'm still not even really sure what exposure meter to use either

Sorry if it's a stupid question
 
For the Sigma 150-500 aperture setting of f/8 provides the sharpest image.

I owned a Sigma 150-500 & Tamron 150-600 and Nikon d7000 & d600 all at the same time.

you really have to pixel peep detailed focus at f/8, and try to shoot at f/8 all the time.
I really didn't have an issue though for some of the really distant things I photograph the d600 actually cropped better than my d7000. But your d7200 should crop better than the d7000.

I've since sold the Sigma and d7000 .. I couldn't keep both.

Hi astroNikon

Thanks for the reply you knw what that might be my problem where I'm screwing up I have been trying to keep my ISO as low as possible so my shutter has been slowish and aperture around 5.6-7.1 so that might be the reason for the softer pics. I have so much to learn still
Yes try the f/8 for overall detail.

Then you have to realize different Shutter speeds for different situations. A bird just walking around or sitting on a branch can be slower than a small bird darting away, versus a large bird gliding. I don't do much birding but you really have to think about the Shutter that you want and if you want any wing flutter (like on Hummingbirds) or get it totally stopped including the wing tip edges.

Then don't worry so much about ISO. I normally have my ISO set to AUTO with a MAX on it. On my d7000 I had a MAX of 1600. I think the d7200 is better. My d600 my max is much higher.
I normally shoot in manual with auto iSO. So with that lens I would be f/8, and then the appropriate shutter for what I'm doing. Then Auto ISO. If something is out of normal then I would adjust and compensate something, such as a larger aperture to keep shutter speed higher if ISO his the max.

The Sigma was a nice lens for the price. I had a good deal on a Tamron so I switched. The Tamron was smoother and nicer all around with 100mm more reach.

Hi astro I have been keeping my camera in shutter priority and that's been adjusting my aperture I will try the manual mode with f8 and auto ISO maybe up unto let's say 2500 max
 

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