| Latest Review Posted | Sigma APO DG HSM 120-400mm F4.5-5.6
I borrowed this lens for 90 minutes today while we took pictures from a tall bridge. My previous experience was with a Pentax SMC 400mm lens and my current DA 300mm lens.
The first thing that struck me was the weight, at 61 ounces, its almost twice as heavy as my DA 300 at 34 ounces. DA-300 is generally a faster lens at F4, but i occasionally use it with a 1.5X TC that changes the f4 to a f5.6, where this lens is a f4.5 to f5.6.
The second thing that struck me was how flexible this lens is. The 120-400 FL range gave me flexiblity at this bridge construction site that made me very envious. I wanted "men at work" pictures and this lens excelled in allowing me to pick out scenes at the worksite that were promising. I started out shooting at 120mm and 1/500 sec shutter speed. As i started using longer FL, i switched the shutter speed to 1/1600 sec. At the 120 end, i used f5.6 and at the 400mm end, i used f5.6 to f8. Not having any monopod or tripod, but a railing for occasional support, i was pleasantly surprised by the consistent 1:1 sharpness at the lower FL range. At the upper FL, there were more instances of soft images at 1:1 crops vice the lower FL range, but i did find examples of seemingly sharp crops at f5.6, f6.3 and f8, but f8 seemed to have the edge.
I'm used to SDM on the DA-300, and its never given me a problem. I don't have any objective data, but the HSM on this lens seemed to be faster, but i can't prove it.
A very impressive len... |
