50-500mm "bigma" focus

[adies_artwork ok!!]

Hi All the bigma users out there just got myself one of ebay for a bargain price of £520 brand new few ? does it manual focus or only auto focus, what is the second adjuster ring the one nearest to the handle its got AF next to it, and has anybody out there tried a tele converter on it other than sigmas own brand, and any tips on best appeture etc or is it just practice makes perfect. rgds adie

[glsammy]

It's either manual of Auto Focus. There's a switch on the side to select which you want. That's what the ring does, manual focus!
As for the best setting. there isn't one, conditions dictate what to try, and what you wish to achieve in the shot. If you want the background blurred, then you would select something near the F5.6 of F6.3 end, if you want as much background in focus as possible, and if there's enough light, you'd go to F16 or greater.
As for teleconverters, I wouldn't recommend them. I tried both 1.4X and 2X, and both were very disappointing. I ended up selling them both. It's a great lens, but it can take some time and practise to get the best out of it.

[adies_artwork ok!!]

Hi Graham glad its you as you seem to be well up on this subject by the discussions you have had in the past i have read, the only swtch on the side of the lense is the lock - unlock to stop the lense there is no other switch i can see and when i switch he camera from AF to MF the ring does not feel as if ( like all my other lenses do) it does any thing like get more stiffer to rotate. rgds adie.

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by adies_artwork ok!!

Hi Graham glad its you as you seem to be well up on this subject by the discussions you have had in the past i have read, the only swtch on the side of the lense is the lock - unlock to stop the lense there is no other switch i can see and when i switch he camera from AF to MF the ring does not feel as if ( like all my other lenses do) it does any thing like get more stiffer to rotate. rgds adie.

The AF/Manual switch is right at the end where the lens fits to the camera, on the same side as the lock/unlock switch.

[Miller]

As the other posters have said the lens is AF or MF, but to the best of my knowledge because it has quite a narrow aperture at it's widest setting anyway if you attach a teleconverter the lens is unable to AF at all.

So without a TC - AF/MF
With a TC - MF only

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by Miller

As the other posters have said the lens is AF or MF, but to the best of my knowledge because it has quite a narrow aperture at it's widest setting anyway if you attach a teleconverter the lens is unable to AF at all.

So without a TC - AF/MF
With a TC - MF only

Yes, it's manual focus only with a TC. With a 2X you've got virtually an F13.0 1000mm.. Sounds good, but it's not. With F13.0, you need a very fast shutter and a very bright day to stand a chance of a half decent image. Even in those conditions I still didn't get a good shot. Even with a 1.4x, the images were no better than a cropped one without.
I recommend the 50-500mm, but NOT with TC's.

[Miller]

Originally Posted by glsammy

Yes, it's manual focus only with a TC. With a 2X you've got virtually an F13.0 1000mm.. Sounds good, but it's not. With F13.0, you need a very fast shutter and a very bright day to stand a chance of a half decent image. Even in those conditions I still didn't get a good shot. Even with a 1.4x, the images were no better than a cropped one without.
I recommend the 50-500mm, but NOT with TC's.

Aye exactly - possibly useful if you're wanting to take a picture of the moon though

Out of interest (sorry to hijack the thread Adies) do you have any samples of wildlife pictures with the 1.4x attached? Realistically, 800mm EFL is plenty for the most part but I'm helping a friend with her bird-nesting related university project so getting a bit of extra reach of something stationary (and south facing, so plenty of light) could be useful...

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Miller

Out of interest (sorry to hijack the thread Adies) do you have any samples of wildlife pictures with the 1.4x attached? ...

this was taken with the little bigma (170-500) at 500 with a 2xTC attached - manual focus and the lens supported on a bean bag resting on the car windowsill with the body ofthe camera on a monopod tucked between my legs

goes to show you can get good shots with that kind of set up but you need a lot of paitience , solid support , and good technique

[true nature]

adie ive had the bigma for nearly 2 years and ive found out that if you stick the camera in
av mode and then set the apature to f8 it will be ther all the time all you have to do is
change the shutter speed to what you require either a bird on the ground or in the sky . im only now getting to grips with changing the sh/speed with out looking and its a way that you dont miss a shot. any thing els you need to now let me now.
many thanks

[Roy C]

Originally Posted by true nature

adie ive had the bigma for nearly 2 years and ive found out that if you stick the camera in
av mode and then set the apature to f8 it will be ther all the time all you have to do is
change the shutter speed to what you require either a bird on the ground or in the sky . im only now getting to grips with changing the sh/speed with out looking and its a way that you dont miss a shot. any thing els you need to now let me now.
many thanks

Surely if you are in av mode, you dial in the required apature and the camera will automatically select the shutter speed I cannot see how you can change this Unless you dial in some ev compensation.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Roy C

Surely if you are in av mode, you dial in the required apature and the camera will automatically select the shutter speed I cannot see how you can change this Unless you dial in some ev compensation.

you are completely correct roy - to do as true nature suggests you need to be in full manual (M) mode - but putting it in AV and selecting f8 (or in fact i would sugest f5.6) and leaving the camera to pick the speed is much more likely to get good results as the exposure will vary considerably depending on where you are poiinting the camera (and if you are tracking a moving subject you wont have time to keep altering the speed manually)

[true nature]

av mode f8 and use the av -/+ button and dial in -1/3 or + 2/3 depending on the b/g its the sharpest method ive found that works for me . beside if id have known that the bigma is not sharp wide open iwould'nt let the camera set it for me 5.6/6.3. no thanks.
if im walking about 90% of my subject are going to be in folage differant shaids of green and browns so ill set the camera to -1/3 or 2/3 and if im trying to get flights shots ill quickly dial in +2/3 simple.
thanks

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by true nature

av mode f8 and use the av -/+ button and dial in -1/3 or + 2/3 depending on the b/g its the sharpest method ive found that works for me . beside if id have known that the bigma is not sharp wide open iwould'nt let the camera set it for me 5.6/6.3. no thanks.
if im walking about 90% of my subject are going to be in folage differant shaids of green and browns so ill set the camera to -1/3 or 2/3 and if im trying to get flights shots ill quickly dial in +2/3 simple.
thanks

simple but franky inaccurate - the bigma isnt sharp at the edges wide open but the cropped sensor in 90% of our dslrs doesnt see the edges anyway so this is irrelevant, unless of course you are one of the lucky few who can afford a 5d or a 1DS (or their other brand equivalents) but if you have that degree on dosh i'd reccomend teaming it with some better glass anyway such as a 400mm f2.8 IS.

as regards using the exposure compensation to manipulate the speed

a) it doesnt give true control over the speed anyway - it simply slightly alters whatever setting the camera picks , but the speed selected will still vary depending on the ammount of light coming into the camera

and

b) if you set +ve compensation for shots against the sky there is a good chance of burning out any white on your subject - such as the pale wing bars on a red kite , similarly if you set -ve compensation for shots against folliage you stand a good chance of under exposing (particularly as mid green equates to 18% grey anyway)

a better approach is to only set the compensation if you know that the meter will read high or low (such as with snow scenes) or if you know that your meter consistently reads slightly out (for instance my 20D always reads high so it is permanently set to 1/2 -ve)

the way to get your subjects well exposed is to take the metering off the evaluative setting and instead set it to partial or spot so that it is actually taking exposure readings from your subject

putting my pictures where my mouth is these two were taken wide open on the little bigma at 500mm with the exposure set 1/2 -ve as above, and the metering set to spot ( by the way the softness on the wings on the first image is not due to the lens being unsharp - it is due to the shallow depth of field which was deliberate to focus attn on the head - also the slight jaggies under the right hand wing are a product of the rapid resizing for wab - they arent there on the original)

[glsammy]

There's no hard and fast rule you can apply to any type of shot, exposure compensation has to take the light levels and the subject matter into consideration.
Take this shot:



Bright sky, so set compensation to +2EV? No, quite the opposite. It's at -1EV. As Pete said, you've got to allow for any white in the subject, as here.

Here's another one:


That's at -1.33EV.

[geordie1970]

I think someones up to no good or desperate eBay.co.uk: Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3 EX APO DG HSM - *Mint Con* (item 260129091127 end time 20-Jun-07 12:02:39 BST)

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by geordie1970

I think someones up to no good or desperate eBay.co.uk: Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3 EX APO DG HSM - *Mint Con* (item 260129091127 end time 20-Jun-07 12:02:39 BST)

Just look at the feedback ratings for the top two bidders, one at £750 and one at £760.. One of them is zero, and the other less than zero! This sellers needs to learn to block these types of bids, no one in their right minds would pay that for a second hand Bigma.