[-spam-]

Just wondering if anyone here is using the sigma 50-500.

If so, what is it like on the pentax, how well does the SR work when hand holding and what do you shoot with it?

[rfortson]

Yeah, I've got the Bigma, and lots of folks have one (it's about the only readily available long option for Pentax). Check out "the_hotel" over at dpreview. His shots of birds and other wildlife are outstanding.

I use mine to shoot wildlife as well, though I also used it for some wildflowers one day and for some shots of an alligator fished out of our local stream (made the front page of the community newspaper). I shoot it handheld more often than not, and it's not that bad. I don't lug it around for a long time, though. I've also used it with the 1.4x teleconverter, but the images were a little soft. That time, I was shooting surfing from the shore and I don't think I had good focus technique, so I'm not convinced it was a lens/TC problem.

All in all, I'm very happy with the Bigma. It's not the fastest lens (obviously) but it's pretty sharp, has very little CA, and the range is very convenient. Also, on my K100D, I'm not afraid to bump up the ISO to 400-800, so I can get decent shutter speed. Finally, I like the bokeh.

Check out the fora and search for "Bigma". You'll find lots of people using it. Also, check out Flickr. I have a set with shots taken with the Bigma, and there's also a Flickr group for the Sigma 50-500 with shots taken with all different cameras.

[button]

From what I can gather, the HSM motor does not work with Pentax cameras, and I assume that it is operated via the "screwdriver" mechanism. Is this true, and if so, would you expect the k10d firmware update (which will enable the Pentax supersonic motors) to enable the Bigma's HSM?

John

[palmor]

The pentax version of this lens doesn't come with any HSM built in. Sigma has to reverse engineer Pentax's version of HSM then apply it to their lenses.. if they even want to. There have been a couple of other threads about Sigma and Pentax HSM support with more detail/theories.


John

From what I can gather, the HSM motor does not work with Pentax cameras, and I assume that it is operated via the "screwdriver" mechanism. Is this true, and if so, would you expect the k10d firmware update (which will enable the Pentax supersonic motors) to enable the Bigma's HSM?

John

[Zubati Kit]

how does K100D AF motor cope with Bigma... or how does it compare to let's say 50-200 (or some other AF lens) in good light for speed?

[rfortson]

how does K100D AF motor cope with Bigma... or how does it compare to let's say 50-200 (or some other AF lens) in good light for speed?

AF speed isn't bad. It depends entirely on the amount of light available, the more the better obviously.

Over on DPreview's PentaxSLR forum, there are lots of amazing shots by "The Hotel" taken with his Bigma set up, including lots of birds in flight, so AF speed isn't a problem for him.