Sigma 300mm f2.8 APO EX DG HSM For Canon Digital & Flim SLR Cameras

Product Information

The new 300mm F2.8 G Master OSS lens will take inspiration from the Sony’s other G Master telephotos, such as its 600mm F4 G Master OSS and 400mm F2.8 G Master OSS, both of which we’ve found to be incredibly fast and sharp, as is to be expected from Sony’s high-end G Master lineup. lens-db.com lists 4 versions of the sigma 300mm f2.8 apo starting in 1988 with the original MF version - rather similar to the tamron adaptall 60B 300mm f2.8. An AF version was introduced the same year, then a HSM EX version with 11 elements instead of 12 superceded the 1988 design in 1999. The last version was the more compact EX DG HSM introduced in 2005.

Sigma UK APO compatibility chart – Sigma UK

At 120mm, sharpness in the centre of the frame approaches excellent levels at maximum aperture. Clarity towards the edges of the frame lags behind somewhat at this setting, falling just short of good levels of sharpness. Stopping down the aperture to between f/5.6 and f/8 results in excellent sharpness across the frame for this focal length.I also wouldn't call a lens capable of 30fps irrelevant, show me one of another brand being able to do it with a 120-300. Sports shooters may object to this lens not having Optical Stabilization. Gear Used 300mm , f2.8, 1/320sec,ISO 200 Big, fast glass is a serious investment for any photographer and for those who specialize in nature photography, it's no different. Depending on the size of the subject, a 300-millimeter telephoto lens is considered by most knowledgeable wildlife photographers to be the absolute minimum practical focal length for fieldwork. Most prime (single focal length) telephoto lenses can accept and work well with teleconverters to extend their reach, but at the expense of shutter speed due to the smaller effective aperture when a teleconverter is employed. Just as 300 millimeters is considered the minimum focal length for serious wildlife photography, so is an aperture of 5.6. While a 300 f/4 lens with a matched 2X teleconverter will yield a 600mm focal length with acceptable image quality, the effective aperture of f/8 makes the viewfinder dark, shutter speeds long and autofocus in most camera systems slow or inoperative. Not all is bad though. The all-metal lens barrel is surely impressive, making it feel like you are shooting a pro lens. There are a number of useful switches on the side of the lens for additional tweaking. Aside from the typical autofocus / manual focus switch, there is a very useful focus limiter switch that allows going from full rotation to 10m-∞, and from close focus to 10m for macro shots, which is great (the 120-300mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM did not have one). There is a separate switch for setting two different optical stabilization modes like OS 1 and OS 2 (more on image stabilization below).

Sigma 2.0x Teleconverter Review - Photography Life Sigma 2.0x Teleconverter Review - Photography Life

Lenses aren't purely about sharpness of course, but the Sigma does extremely well in all respects. Chromatic aberration is visible at 120mm, but diminishes to nothing at 300mm. Vignetting is nothing to worry about, at a maximum of 1.4 stops wide open at 300mm. Distortion is well controlled too: it's essentially perfectly-correctedat 120mm, but there's a little pincushion distortion at 300mm. Basically, you can create a custom profile with different autofocus speed settings (speed vs accuracy priority), optical stabilization and focus limiter. For example, you could set the first Custom switch for fast autofocus, no optical stabilization and focus limiter set to 10m to infinity for photographing fast action at very fast shutter speeds, while the second switch can be programmed for more accurate autofocus, OS and a full range of focusing for other situations. This is great and something very unique to Sigma – neither Nikon, nor Canon allow this much customization on their lines of lenses.Another option would be a 70-200mm ƒ/2.8 IS (or VR, depending on brand) plus a 1.4 teleconverter. Taking the Canon EF 70-200mm ƒ/2.8 L IS II plus the Canon 1.4X Extender EF III gives you a similar zoom range (though not exactly the same), but you lose a stop of light (now down to ƒ/4), worse image quality and slower AF speed thanks to the teleconverter. Nikon users have the Nikon 70-200mm ƒ/2.8G ED VR II AF-S and either the Nikon 1.4X AF-S TC-14E II or Nikon 1.7X AF-S TC-17E II teleconverters. Thought i would share this with you. I have had the sigma 300mm f2.8 in the service center 3 times now. finally with a new chip that the dealer here can reprogram it is really giving me shaaaarp images. If you buy this lens i highly recommend you get it calibrated with your camera and the new chip installed. A world of difference for me. I am so amazed at the images at 2.8, wide open It is just incredible. Now i cannot tell the difference in wide open and stopped down. And i am a crop every image heavily. Also i had to quit using the sigma 1.4 and 2.0 t.c.. It degrades the images fo much for me. The drop-in 46mm filter holder in the rear part of the lens barrel can be rotated to facilitate the use of a polarizing filter. Solid construction and pretty good optics, too. IQ and sharpnes pretty good wide open, and very good from f3,5 onwards. Pixel peepers may be able to find some minor purple fringing in areas of extreme contrast. But this is really insignificant, and can easily be corrected in post processing, should it be noticeable. AF works well thanks to the speed of the lens. Also with Sigmas 1,4 x and 2 x teleconverters. As usual, there is some loss of image quality, especially with the 2 x TC. Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software.

Sigma 300mm f2.8 EX - The Phoblographer Sigma 300mm f2.8 EX - The Phoblographer

Weighing in at a whopping 3390g and measuring 29cm in length, the Sigma 120-300mm F2.8 DG OS HSM S is a very big and heavy lens indeed, esepcially as that weight doesn't include the supplied tripod collar. As seen in the photos below, it dwarves even a full-frame camera like the Canon EOS 5D Mark III. This is not a lens that you can hand-hold for very long, being much more at home mounted on a sturdy tripod or monopod.With 1.4x APO Tele Converter, AF can operate between infnity and 0.53m. If the subject is closer than 0.53m, only MF is available. As I sold my Nikon 70-200 also wanted a lens that would allow me to still use as a portrait lens, once I've worked out in the Gym to be able to lift it so again wanted a nice bokeh and f2.8 I personally did not like the Canon 300 IS for birding either. The Canon 300 II changed all that. It is the first lens I am happy with. For birding. A great all around-er that takes T.C.'s fairly good and AF excels with pro body's. What do you suppose is one of the most the unappreciated parts of photography world? To me its third party lenses. Sigma, one of the best in the group, has been doing a lot of work to prove third party lenses are comparable, if not better then lenses from Nikon and Canon. Sigma has made a heavy lens remarkable. This lens is for the photographer that can’t get to their subject, but still need their frame to be filled.