Camera or Lens

[scamps180]

I dont know if anyone has posted about this before but here goes, I have a canon 350d, and was given a sigma 170-500mm lens, i have tried it in the garden but am a little peeved with the results, would i benefit from a better camera or is it all to do with the lens,

[Alan Hewitt]

Is there anything specific in terms of why it is not what you expect?

[scamps180]

the pictures are not as sharp as i thought they would be. when i look on the net at pictures others have taken with this spec lens i dont get the sharpness

[nightshade]

I presume your shots are mainly at the 500mm end, so would need a good tripod and remote shutter cord or similar to avoid any movement.
Being old fashioned I try my lenses in manual at different apertures and focal lengths, usually on a neighbouring house wall that is evenly well lit at around 200 ISO and on a tripod etc.
Do you know anyone else that could try the lense?

[Tringa]

Can you give a few more details? What settings were you using? Did you use a tripod?

I'm guessing you were probably using the lens at close to the top end (ie 500mm). If so, the usual guidance is that the shutter speed should be a minimum of the reciprocal of the focal length of the lens, so about 1/500sec. Have also heard that the crop factor of the camera should be factored in too. As the CF on a Canon 350D is 1.6 that makes the minimum shutter speed of 1/800th.

This is only a guide and you may be able to hold the camera still at a lower shutter speed, but it is very easy to get camera shake with a hand held long lens.

Even at a small aperture I'd guess the depth of field at 500m will be fairly small which could contribute to the photos not looking as sharp as you'd like.

Can you post the photos and the settings?

Dave

[Alan Hewitt]

Long lens technique takes a little bit of practice. As said above it would be very useful to see the photograph and all of the EXIF data. Is the lens a vibration reduction lens (I can't remember the sigma name!)?

[cosmicma]

if my 170 - 500 sigma lens is anything to go by they soften off above 420mm ( focus isn't as sharp ) but upto 420mm it wasn't that bad
they tend to give sharper results around f7/f8 rather than having the lens wide open although the results wide open are acceptable

as others have allready mentioned using a tripod and remote cord helps a lot or at least have the lens rested on a beanbag

[Bobby D]

I am also using this lens and like all long zoom lenses when used at around 500 mm then the picture will always be a little on the soft side, although I do have a decent tripod to date I have only used the lens hand held. I know from past experience that any lens of this size will give soft images the only answer is a good editing program. Another point to remember is that resizing a photo to be published on the net can also cause image to appear soft

[scott tilley]

Another thing you may want to try! My first digital camera was a canon 10d. I bought a Sigma 170-500 but was very disappointed with the results. I sent the lens back to sigma who had to re-chip it for use with a digital camera. If your lens is a second hand one its possible it may need rechipping for digital use.
I don't think theres any way to tell unless its sent to sigma for service.

Scott