Sigma 70-300 F/4.0-F/5.6 DG Macro [First impression / Images] ***Heavy Post***

elfving73

Howdy guys!

Got my Sigma 70-300 f4.0-f5.6 DG Macro a couple of days ago. Just wanted to share my first impression. First I was happily surprised by the "quality feel" of it, very sturdy and well built. (Quite the opposite to the rumours I've heard about it - perhaps I'm mixing it up with the previous version?). It didn't take long to realize that this lens isn't suitable for indoor photography unless you have PLEEENTY of light and/or use a tripod. For outdoor photography, in bright condition, or in slight overcast, is does pretty well, but to get fairly good overall sharpness at 300 mm, you need to stop down to atleast f8-f11 - and with that follows the need of ISO 400 to get proper shutter speeds. No big sacrifice if you ask me. But if the overcast goes from slight to gloomy, you need cram up the ISO to 800. The autofocus is slow, but not dead slow. I wouldn't use it for sport/action photography though. In high contrast situation, it does suffer from some purple fringing. But in relation to the price tag, the lens performs very well. It also has a switch for changeover to "macro" photography at focal lengths between 200mm and 300mm with a maximum close-up magnification from 1:2.9 to 1:2.

Here is a few samples. All images are shot handheld without any support. I've done some cropping, level and contrast tweak and some USM.

Regards / Matty
[Candids]

300 mm, 1/400s, f/5.6, ISO 800 (slightly cropped)



190 mm, 1/400s, f/5.0, ISO 800 (Slightly cropped)



300 mm, 1/500s, f/5.6, ISO 400 (Slightly cropped)



300 mm, 1/200s, f8.0, ISO 400 (Slightly cropped)



300 mm, 1/160s, f/5.6, ISO 400 (Slightly cropped)



300 mm, 1/200s, f/8.0, ISO 400 (Slightly cropped)



300 mm, 1/320s, f/14, ISO 400 (Slightly cropped)



300 mm, 1/60s, f5.6, ISO 1600, (Slightly cropped) [Indoor through a window]



[Some "Macros"]

300 mm, 1/1000s, f/8.0, ISO 400 (Slightly cropped)



300 mm, 1/160, f5.6, ISO 800 (Slightly cropped)



300 mm, 1/320s, f/14, ISO 400 (Slightly cropped)



300 mm, 1/200s, f/10, ISO 400 (Slightly cropped)



300 mm, 1/60s, f/5.6, ISO 400, Fill Flash (Slightly cropped)

auraflora

Hi Matty,


Thanks for sharing these great photos with us. They are wonderful. You seem to have purchased a very versatile/quality lens.

My favorites are: 2,5,6,8 and 12.

Looking forward to seeing more photos from this lens.

Michal

elfving73

Thanx Michal!
I was going for "cheap focal lenght" and I really didn't have high expectations - you can't really, for a lens that comes at
192,48 USD (In USA 139.95 USD) but so far, I'm very happy with it.

Matty

auraflora wrote:

Hi Matty,


Thanks for sharing these great photos with us. They are wonderful. You seem to have purchased a very versatile/quality lens.

My favorites are: 2,5,6,8 and 12.

Looking forward to seeing more photos from this lens.

Michal

Yuri Pautov

Mattias!
Spasibo for your wonderful serial!
Very impressive!
Interesting to have a look at you with these lens takin photos.. (can you ask someone to shot you?)
Yuri

ziggy53

Matty,


I found something to like in each and every one of these images.

Please share your post-processing technique.

Excellent work.

ziggy53

elfving73

Thanx Yuri!
Well! Sure! Life is tough and painfull time to time - but I've never reached the point where I would ask someone to shoot me!

How do ya mean? Are you curious about my "style" when shooting? : Or if I'm sneakin' around "in the bushes" with my cam? *Haha*

Matty

Yuri Pautov wrote:

Mattias!
Spasibo for your wonderful serial!
Very impressive!
Interesting to have a look at you with these lens takin photos.. (can you ask someone to shot you?)
Yuri

elfving73

Thanx Ziggy!
Glad you liked them! Well, there is no big secrets to reveal in my workflow. I crop, resize, tweak levels and contrast if needed, add some Unsharp Mask (Usually 500/0,2/0). I also boost the colors a little (I have the in camera parameters of sharpness, saturation and contrast set to -2)

Regards / Matty

ziggy53 wrote:

Matty,


I found something to like in each and every one of these images.

Please share your post-processing technique.

Excellent work.

ziggy53

rahmonster

I love all these shots Matty but #2...With the backlighting is a winner in my book

Nappalonia

Nice work!

This is the second post I found today with pics from the sigma 70-300, just when I was starting to second guess my purchase, I really need to get out

G K

Matty
I totally agree - I picked up one of these about 3 weeks ago and have been having fun with it ever since . Nice shots! I thought I would share some of mine with the D70 and the Sigma.























~gk

jbswear

I know that I'm TOTALLY resurrecting the dead by bringing up this post, but I've been jonesing for a macro lens for months now, and am ready to take the plunge.

My wallet, though, isn't.

I've had my XTi for about a year and half now, and have clocked just under 10k shots with it. My lenses are the kit lens, a nifty-50, and a 55-200 (all the basic, inexpensive Canon lenses).

After shooting the blossoms in DC the other day, I've finally come to realize the short comings of each of these lenses for really close-in work.

Did I mention that I love flowers? As in, aside from my daughter, if all I ever shot was flowers, I'd be happy?



I've been able to find this particular lens for under $170 at various places and was wondering if the consensus is that it's a decent lens for a shutter-happy amateur that hasn't yet figured out how to make this addiction pay for itself.

Richard

jbswear wrote:

I know that I'm TOTALLY resurrecting the dead by bringing up this post, but I've been jonesing for a macro lens for months now, and am ready to take the plunge.

My wallet, though, isn't.

I've had my XTi for about a year and half now, and have clocked just under 10k shots with it. My lenses are the kit lens, a nifty-50, and a 55-200 (all the basic, inexpensive Canon lenses).

After shooting the blossoms in DC the other day, I've finally come to realized the short comings of each of these lenses for really close-in work.

Did I mention that I love flowers? As in, aside from my daughter, if all I ever shot was flowers, I'd be happy?



I've been able to find this particular lens for under $170 at various places and was wondering if the consensus is that it's a decent lens for a shutter-happy amateur that hasn't yet figured out how to make this addiction pay for itself.

Brad,

One of the problems with very old posts is that the links are not always valid. But rather than delete this thread, I'm going to move it to the Macro forum, where I think you'll find the answers you're seeking.

jbswear

Richard wrote:

Brad,

One of the problems with very old posts is that the links are not always valid. But rather than delete this thread, I'm going to move it to the Macro forum, where I think you'll find the answers you're seeking.

Thanks, friend.

Lord Vetinari

jbswear wrote:

Thanks, friend.

I think for flowers I'd invest in a set of kenko ext tubes and use them with your nifty fifty. The macro quality of the 70-300 is not great and it's at the 300 end which makes it hard to handle.
Brian V.

jbswear

Lord Vetinari wrote:

I think for flowers I'd invest in a set of kenko ext tubes and use them with your nifty fifty. The macro quality of the 70-300 is not great and it's at the 300 end which makes it hard to handle.
Brian V.

I realy know nothing about extension tubes. I'll search around the forum to see what I can find on them.

I'm assuming they wouldn't do much good for insects and the like?

jbswear

Just did a search on extension tubes and I think that I'd be better off getting an actual macro lens. I love flowers, but would love to shoot the insects that are often found with them in gardens.

Lord Vetinari

jbswear wrote:

Just did a search on extension tubes and I think that I'd be better off getting an actual macro lens. I love flowers, but would love to shoot the insects that are often found with them in gardens.

Don't underestimate extension tube set- with a 50mm lens you will get greater than the 1:1 max magnification of a macro lens.
The following shots were all taken with an old pentax 50mm lens on about 75mm of ext tubes I cobbled onto my canon body

Brian V.

jbswear

Holy cow. Those are awesome.

How far away from your subjects were you? I'm just worried that by relying on extension tubes, I may spook skitish insects.

Lord Vetinari

jbswear wrote:

Holy cow. Those are awesome.

How far away from your subjects were you? I'm just worried that by relying on extension tubes, I may spook skitish insects.

The focus point is close- about 2" in front of the lens. A proper macro prime lens around 100mm would be easier to use for insects but you will get far better shots with a 50mm + tubes than you will with the 70-300. The ext tubes can also be used with the macro lens. Just suggested it as a fairly cheap way of getting good macro shots.

Brian V.

jbswear

I think I'll take your advice and start off with the extension tubes with my 50mm and get an actual macro later on.

Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it.

Now I want shots like yours!




What happens if you use these with a dedicated macro lens?

Lord Vetinari

jbswear wrote:

I think I'll take your advice and start off with the extension tubes with my 50mm and get an actual macro later on.

Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it.

Now I want shots like yours!




What happens if you use these with a dedicated macro lens?

If you use a set of extension tubes with a 1:1 macro lens around 100mm focal length it will give it a max magnification of 2:1.

Brian V.

Robinivich

I'll second Lord V's remarks about the tubes, it does take some doing to get the 50mm that close, but most of the subjects for it are so small they let you get pretty close anyways. Almost all of my bugs gallery is from this combo, whereas most of my macro's that AREN'T in there are from my 70-300 APO DG Macro which is just a little too soft for the results I hope for, 1:2 magnification being the other reason.

To be perfectly honest, the 50mm with tubes comes very close to the quality of my brand spanking new 150mm macro

My suggestion after these tubes might be to have a look at a flash if you're addicted, simply because unless the working distance of the 50 drives you crazy the quality leaves little or nothing to be desired.

Zayets

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Don't underestimate extension tube set- with a 50mm lens you will get greater than the 1:1 max magnification of a macro lens.
The following shots were all taken with an old pentax 50mm lens on about 75mm of ext tubes I cobbled onto my canon body

Brian V.

Thank you Brian. your replies answered everything I needed to know about the Sigma. I am another proud user of the extension tubes.

Lord Vetinari

Interestingly you get macro shots with the sigma if you use a set of ext tubes and set the lens to 70mm - also much easier to use.
Brian V.