Getting away from the warranty talk and into what I am most interested in, the pictures it takes. Up to this point, my 2 long lenses have been a Nikon 70-300mm f4-6.3G. It is pretty much a starter lens that I just kept using. Soft images, some nasty chroma aberrations, bad autofocus. I also have a 500mm reflex Nikkor from the 1970's, and of course all the disadvantages of that style lens.
So the last 2 weekends I took a trip to the dam at Prairie du Sac on the Wisconsin River. It is a spot locally where bald eagles congregate when the lakes and rivers freeze-over as the hydro-electric plant keeps the river water open downstream of it. Two weekends ago I did not have the Sigma lens yet, so I photographed mostly with my Nikon D7000 + Nikon 70-300. I had my backup D80 + Nikkor 500mm reflex along and used it for some shots. It was frigid out and there were plenty of birds to photograph. This past weekend I had just the D7000 + Sigma 150-600mm C along. It was 45 degrees warmer that day, and very few birds to find, and they were mostly across the river on a slightly hazy day. But I still got better shots this past weekend. What they say about this lens being sharp is spot on. See the 2 photos below.
First image is the full image, the second one is a crop. A crop from near the lower-left corner. This would be a potentially unsharp section of the frame in many telephotos, but it looks plenty sharp to me. Even the ducks in the foreground are clear. Compared to what I shot the weekend before, it is leaps and bounds better. And this was with some haziness in the air, fully zoomed to 600mm. I was in Shutter priority mode, ISO200, 1/800s, image stabilization mode 2, and using a monopod. I found the 3D tracking autofocus mode in the D7000 worked best for birds in motion and flying. Focus stayed on point fairly well, would sometimes get lost if tracking past some tree branches or if I lost the subject moving across the sky. Still much better than the Nikon 70-300, as it should be for 3.5x the cost.
Some other shots. Most are cropped, some cropped a lot.
Now just to give a comparison, here are some from the previous weekend using the Nikon lenses, all handheld. ISO 400 or more, 1/1000s or faster.
The last one was using the D80 + Nikkor 500mm reflex lens, handheld at 1/400s. I steadied my arm by resting on the door of my Jeep.
I can think of one negative about the Sigma: I need a new tripod now! My old Sunpak carbon fiber 'pod with pistol-grip ball head only has half of the needed load capacity. The thing shakes like a phone on vibrate mode. I need a drop for a good tripod. For now I stick to the monopod without any head attached.
So the last 2 weekends I took a trip to the dam at Prairie du Sac on the Wisconsin River. It is a spot locally where bald eagles congregate when the lakes and rivers freeze-over as the hydro-electric plant keeps the river water open downstream of it. Two weekends ago I did not have the Sigma lens yet, so I photographed mostly with my Nikon D7000 + Nikon 70-300. I had my backup D80 + Nikkor 500mm reflex along and used it for some shots. It was frigid out and there were plenty of birds to photograph. This past weekend I had just the D7000 + Sigma 150-600mm C along. It was 45 degrees warmer that day, and very few birds to find, and they were mostly across the river on a slightly hazy day. But I still got better shots this past weekend. What they say about this lens being sharp is spot on. See the 2 photos below.
Some other shots. Most are cropped, some cropped a lot.
I can think of one negative about the Sigma: I need a new tripod now! My old Sunpak carbon fiber 'pod with pistol-grip ball head only has half of the needed load capacity. The thing shakes like a phone on vibrate mode. I need a drop for a good tripod. For now I stick to the monopod without any head attached.