Sigma 80-400mm recommended for 21MP dslr?

Manfr3d

Hi, I was browsing the reviews of the 80-400 on fm
and seen mostly positive comments about the optical
quality. I have been offered such a lens used for only
450€ which is tempting enough for me to set back my
other lens wishes. But I was wondering how this lens
performs (stopped down) on a 1Ds III or 5D II at 21MP.
I plan to use the lens for landscape photography 90% of
the time. The rest for zoo and fireworks. Any comments?

Tee Why

Only review online that I can think of is from photozone here.
http://photozone.de/canon-eos/327-sigma-af-80-400mm-f45-56-ex-apo-os-test-report--review

They tested this on an XT though.

Manfr3d

Tee Why wrote:

Only review online that I can think of is from photozone here.
http://photozone.de/canon-eos/327-sigma-af-80-400mm-f45-56-ex-apo-os-test-report--review

They tested this on an XT though.

Yea thanks, I've seen that review already but I don't
trust it very much. Photozone also tested the Canon
400mm/5.6 L as "not so good". I've seen sharp
pics of the Sigma on the 50D at 15MP but that is
also an apsc camera.

davev

Manfr3d wrote:

Hi, I was browsing the reviews of the 80-400 on fm
and seen mostly positive comments about the optical
quality. I have been offered such a lens used for only
450€ which is tempting enough for me to set back my
other lens wishes. But I was wondering how this lens
performs (stopped down) on a 1Ds III or 5D II at 21MP.
I plan to use the lens for landscape photography 90% of
the time. The rest for zoo and fireworks. Any comments?

I bought this lens when it first came out, so mine is a non DG version.
Wide open, at f5.6 it's a bit softer than at f8.0.
It doesn't have the colors or the contrast that a Canon "L" lens has. That's not to say that it's bad, just different.

I have some older shots here with this lens on a Canon 300D. LINK
Remember, I was new to DSLR's, and I was using PS elements 2 when I processed these shots.

The focusing isn't real fast either. Not real bad, but you could maybe lose a shot or two chasing birds in flight.
This was my first 400mm lens. I was very new to DSLR's when I bought it.
At some point I replaced it with a Canon 400 f5.6 "L"
I don't think I used the sigma after I bought that lens.
It's an OK lens, but after shooting with "L" lenses, it's tough to get excited over this Sigma.

mrcoons

I own this lens. I've used it on the various Rebels I've owned and now on my 30D and 40D cameras. I originally got this lens for for my Rebel to photograph marching band competitions but found that on a lighted field at night it was too slow to focus and I missed a lot of shots. So I only used it for daytime competitions, for which it was great. In daylight this has been a marvelous lens for me. Color reproduction is not 'L' quality but it's not bad either.

When I got my 40D I gave this lens another low light chance and found that the low light focusing speed was much better. So this lens has gotten a little more use on the 40D and was taken off of my for sale list.

The optical stablization on this lens is very good in my opinion. I have always shot this lens hand held, even at 400mm and never had a problem.

That's my opinion anyway.

Here is a link to some of the shots I have taken with this lens.

Manfr3d

Thanks for your comments. I tired the lens and bought it. OS works very nice and sharpness is very good (!) from 80 at f5 to 400mm at f8 on my 5D II. Wide open is usable but not that impressive. The tripod ring gets an A+, quite hight and well build, an RSS lensplate lives on it now. Again, many thanks, this was the best buy since my 50/1.8.

ziggy53

Manfr3d wrote:

Thanks for your comments. I tired the lens and bought it. OS works very nice and sharpness is very good (!) from 80 at f5 to 400mm at f8 on my 5D II. Wide open is usable but not that impressive. The tripod ring gets an A+, quite hight and well build, an RSS lensplate lives on it now. Again, many thanks, this was the best buy since my 50/1.8.

Congratulations.

I would love to see some samples.

Manfr3d

I am afraid I can only offer some boring test shots at this point, the
weather has been is very dull here in Germany and I didn't have the
chance to photograph something interesting with the lens yet.

Here are some untouched images (RAW->96% JPEG) at 400mm,
ISO800, Tripod + MLU + selftimer, focused on image center:

Full scene (resized):



100% crop from center at f5.6:



100% crop from center at f8.0:



100% crop from center at f11:



Links to the 18MB full res images are here: f5.6 f8.0 f11 . All images have exif.
I always have to remind myself that those are 21MP files .. not so bad for such a cheap lens.
By the way this is the non-DG version of the lens.

There is another series of test shots from 80,135,200,300 and 400mm that I can offer,
but I will only upload them if someone really wants to see them.

mrcoons

Very nice! I'm glad you got it and that you like it!

Tee Why

Seems to sharpen up quiet a bit by f8. Going to f11, I really don't see much difference.

If that's unprocessed RAW, then a processed image should look much nicer. Cool.