Originally posted by xanis Wow Michael. These are stunning shots.[COLOR="Silver"]
Thank you for the kind words. I was practicing shooting at lower ISOs.
The weather here in Michigan has been awful lately and certainly not Bigma shooting weather. So I thought I would share something different. When I first got my Bigma I had a ton a learning ahead. Here are some of my first shots from my Bigma. These are major failures and frustrated me to no end. All are on the K3.
500mm 1/125 f8 in very low light, major failure. I came to the conclusion that I just can not handhold the Bigma at low shutter speeds. I now use a monopod.
500mm f8 1/80 on a tripod using mirror lock up. Colossal failure, at 500mm even the wind blowing on the lens can ruin a shot.
Is it all doom and gloom? No not by a long shot. These big Sigma lenses are heavy, slow and need a ton of light. However with patience, practice, and willingness to learn you can get there. No two lenses are the same and the same lens can be different on different camera bodies. Growing up my parents had a friend who was a professional photographer. Mr Bush once told me something that has stuck with me forever. A good photographer blames himself, a bad photographer blames his equipment. I sucked up my pride, read some forum articles, and experimented with different techniques. I am still learning, still practicing, and still experimenting but I am enjoying it all the way. One must keep this in mind when thinking about these lenses. The Sigma 500mm 4.5 is $5000 and the DA 560 f5.6 is over $5000. Now Bigmas don't seem so bad.
I can say now I am having much better results with the Bigma and my hand holding skills have improved some.
This is handheld at 500mm f8 1/640. It is not exceptional but I am pleased with it. I know I can do better with more pratice.
Shooting at 300mm is hard enough. At 500mm you enter a whole new world.
Michael