[Big Dawg]

holy moly its here!!!!! i just ordered my sigma bigmos from japan thru amazon ($998 new) on july 23. it was scheduled for between august 19 and september. botta bing. its here ( a few minutes ago) on a saturday by usps. first impression: its HUGE!!!!!!much bigger than i thought. im going to take a few pics this coming week and post a few ( remember im a rookie) very heavy. what ive done for a strap which i think is different than most folks is to use a serious wrist strap attached to the CAMERA base and carrying it by the lens handle. much more comfy and evens out the stress. im very excited and overwhelmed by this huge ass lens.im going to force myself to use this as my "walk around"

I use mine as a walk around lens and accompany it now with a 17-35 Sigma lens. You just have to try it for yourself. It may turn out to be too much for you to carry. I carry it on the OEM Pentax neck strap myself but your way may be the best for you. Remember at the long end(400-500mm) this lens needs lots of light or a great increase in ISO because of slow shutter speed lens shake and blur can show it's ugly head. Even with IS working you will need good light. Have fun and have patience.

[Rupert]

just ordered a sigma 50 -500 (from japan) for my fantastic k1.

I've been shooting the Bigma 50-500 for over 10 years...first the original and now the HSM OS model. It may take you a while to get accustomed to it....there is a definite learning curve to shooting the Bigma! I don't do much walkabout with it but I do 100% handheld shooting with it, and with the K1 it is so easy to use! Fast AF and wonderful SR!

Here are my shots with the Bigma since I got the K1.....by the 2nd page I had finally got the hang of it on the K1 pretty well.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129469263@N03/albums/72157668217340465

Enjoy! & Congratulations! ...look forward to seeing you in the K1 Photo Thread!
Regards!
Rupert

[mrfredsporty]

i wonder what kind of camera backpack could be used to carry camera (with lens attached) and a couple of shorts and tee shirts to fly to daytona soon.

[MikePlunkett]

i wonder what kind of camera backpack could be used to carry camera (with lens attached) and a couple of shorts and tee shirts to fly to daytona soon.

I have a Tamrac Expedition 7X that comfortably takes my Sigma 150-500mm and a K-1 body (either separately or attached) and would have plenty of space for small amounts of clothing and other items. Don't know if you can still get this particular model, but I'm sure they at least do something equivalent. I also have a Tamrac should bag of equivalent size that might suit you even better (I've used it to transport camera gear and act as carry on luggage for a long distance flight in the past).