A dart pops a balloon microseconds after bursting thanks to the sound trigger setting on the Miops RemotePlus, which triggered a Canon 580EX Strobe set to 1/64 power just out of frame. The shot was captured on a 6D with the new Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 DG OS HSM | Sports lens. A very quick dab of the Healing Brush in Adobe Camera Raw wiped out the monofilament and safety pin in each image.
Jack Howard paired the Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 DG OS HSM | Sports lens, and a Miops Mobile Remote to trigger a strobe set to fractional power for ultra high-speed captures of balloons bursting.
The story behind these photos begins with the fox that visits my back yard on a regular basis. My quest for an easy to use laser-trip camera trigger led to my discovery of the Miops RemotePlus. (Visit the Miops website here.) From interval shooting, to sound, lightning, and laser-trip triggering—each selected through an intuitive smartphone app— this matchbox-sized, smartphone-interfaced camera and strobe trigger packs a ton of features and functions for creative photography into a tiny package. Hopefully, one of these mornings, I’ll actually catch my neighborhood fox! But right out of the box, I realized the Miops RemotePlus could help me make a series of colorful photos that really “pop” off the backdrop. It was an interface and function familiarization exercise that turned into a fun project of its own for both me and my daughter!
We experimented with dart angles and trajectories. I really like how this one came together…or should I say blew apart? The blue festival powder, the bright yellow balloon and the shadowy dart just make this one “pop” for me.
How to photograph a popping balloon
The setup is pretty simple, actually. I used a boom stand to dangle the balloons in front of a black flocked backdrop. My Canon 580 EX Speedlite was positioned about 16 inches from the balloon on the upper left side, with the Miops RemotePlus flash adapter wrapped around a tripod leg, also about a foot and half from the balloon. A file box lid was used as a simple white reflector at an angle to bounce the light back at the balloon for more even illumination. The Miops RemotePlus was set to “Device Sound Detection” with sensitivity set to 60. This was sensitive enough to be able to test-trigger the strobe with a solid hand-clap, but not have it popping off for a cough or conversation at normal talking volume between shots. The strobe was set to Manual, and set to 1/64 power for an extremely short, high-speed motion freezing pulse of light that’s somewhere around 1/30,000 of a second, per most sources. Continue reading Ultra High Speed Photography with the Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 Sports lens and Miops RemotePlus
There’s an unshakeable feeling that rises at certain times—that it’s been just a little bit too long since your last photo outing. It could be a week, or month—or horribly, even longer—but once that feeling gains a foothold, there’s only one thing that you can do: check your calendar, block out some time and head out to a favorite photo spot to spend a few hours outside with eyes through the viewfinder.
It is birds—shorebirds in particular—that call to me. I grew up on a thumb of land between two tidal ponds that fed into the Manasquan River along the Jersey Shore. Gulls, ducks, pipers and all of the stilt-legged pointy-beaked things are lifelong friends. Any chance I can get to spend a few minutes to a couple of hours alone among these winged sea-loving creatures is always time well spent for me. Salt water courses through my veins. When the call rises, I usually head for Sandy Hook, a spit of land jutting into the Raritan Bay, across from New York City, the northernmost point of the Jersey Shore, the nearest shore bird hotspot to my home base.
There’s nothing like a walk along the shoreline, is there? I love to hear the whistling calls of the American Oyster Catchers while they fly in tight groups. Sigma 150-600mm C lens paired with a 6D. 1/2500 F6.3 ISO 400 at 600mm.
Walking gingerly into the saltmarsh, feeling with each step for where the raft of cattail straws strewn along the intertidal zone goes from sandy to boggy to a surprise tidepool while the laughing gulls cackle, terns trill, oyster catchers give a shrill whistle while on wing, a hint of sedge and dune grass on the salted breeze, the muffled roar of distant ocean waves and the more delicate and precise lap of bayside wavelets, the cool air and goosebumps of a foggy patch giving way to a warm kiss as the midmorning sun finally claims victory over the morning fog, the declarations and protestations of Red Wing Black birds perched atop poison ivy branches, the squeaking wings of a mourning dove alighting, and the impenetrable silence of a snowy egret on the hunt fill my senses. Continue reading The Call of the Birds
The Sigma 70mm F2.8 DG Macro | Art is the first 1:1 magnification prime lens in the Art line. And it is the successor to the world-renowned 70mm F2.8 EX DG Macro lens. Just hearing the combination of this focal length, “macro” and “Art” all put together should get close-up photographers excited, and rightfully so! Cutting right to the point, this lens has huge expectations as both the first Art lens to be introduced in the Macro category, and as the follow-up to one of the sharpest macros ever produced—and it totally delivers!
The Sigma 70mm F2.8 DG Macro | Art lens is amazingly sharp, even wide open. Nine rounded aperture blades give amazing bokeh. The detail and sharpness of this lens is outstanding! This ring is captured at 1:1 magnification, 1/180 @F2.8 ISO 100 with off-camera strobe. The depth of field is razor-thin, allowing for creative focal plane detail shots.
Stopping down to F11 gives a bit more depth of field at maximum magnification.
Backing up a bit, and stopping down to F/11, there’s a bit more depth of field.
In the hands, the lens is compact. The barrel extends to achieve greater magnification; but even fully racked to true life-sized 1:1 magnification, the barrel stays protected inside the lens hood. There’s a new optical design with 13 elements in 10 groups, a new motor that’s much more quiet than the previous version. While not totally silent, it is unobtrusive in all but the most sterile sound environments.
A brussel sprout and water spray droplets at 1:1 magnification with hard directional strobe via off-shoe cord. 1/20 F14 ISO 100.
I tested the Canon mount, paired with a 6D, and was blown away by the level of detail straight out of this camera. I cannot wait to try this lens with a super-resolution camera like the Sigma sd Quattro H or the 5DrS! The detail is astounding, the clarity and color is fantastic. The focus motor is both swift and accurate, and the three-zone focus limiter that can isolate macro, full, or distant ranges for even finer AF performance.
An 1880 Silver Dollar sits atop crinkly green gift confetti. We’re back away a bit to fit the whole coin in the frame. 1/180 F9 ISO 100.
Here we have moved tighter to 1:1 magnification. The S indicates this is from the San Francisco Mint. 1/180 F/9 ISO 100
This is a crop of the previous shot to show an even tighter level of the detail this lens can pick up!
As the barrel extends, the 10.2 inch working distance at 1:1 is just a hair in front of the lens barrel. But even so, I was easily able to employ on-camera lighting with my 580EX tilted downward for macro illumination.
This geometric pattern is a close-up of a foamy head of dish soap bubbles in a tumbler set atop an LED worklamp for backlighting. We stopped down to F10 to get some extra depth of field here. 1/800 F10 ISO 500.
The setup for the above shot. A great macro lens can make amazing abstracts of everyday objects.
Even when stepped down to middle apertures, depth of field at higher magnifications is incredibly shallow and measured in fractions of centimeter. This can be used as a creative effect to guide the viewer’s eyes through the frame, or to illustrate one small details in a small object. Depth of field, obviously, increases a bit at longer focusing distances at lower magnification. All in all, the close-up images that this lens can produce are an incredible look into a world that’s hidden in plain sight.
These are water bubbles and spray droplets on a sheet of plastic wrap atop that same worklight, this time at F3.2 for a shallower depth of field and a mix of sharp and softer bubbles in the frame.
Table Salt and chili flakes at 1:1 magnification. Depth of field can literally be measured in grains of salt in this image! 1/100 F11 ISO 100.
The manual focus ring is well-damped and responsive, when the camera is set in capture mode. It is a focus-by-wire system, so the camera needs to be engaged to extend and retract the focusing barrel. So, for example, you need to make sure your camera is on in order to retract the lens. And if you’ve got the lens in your hands, not attached to a camera, the lens will not rack out no matter how many times you try. This is as designed, and it can take a little while to get attuned to it.
Selective focus is right on the edge of a cilantro leaf in this shot of a fresh melon salsa. 1/180 F9 ISO 100.
This is an excellent documentary lens, even are a longer working distance, as well. Here’s a historic building’s brickwork filling the frame from a distance. 1/1000 F3.5 ISO 200.
Perhaps the best thing a photographer can say about a piece of gear is this: It makes me want to stop everything and go make photos. Since this lens showed up a few days ago, I’ve found myself thinking non-stop of what to explore next. It is just that amazing a close-up lens.
The SIGMA 14-24mm F2.8 DG HSM | Art lens is $1,299 through Authorized US retailers.
The SIGMA 14-24mm F2.8 DG HSM | Art lens is an outstanding fast-aperture, constant aperture ultra wide to wide angle full-frame zoom lens. Designed for today’s super-high resolution megapixel DSLRs, this new 1.7x zoom ratio Art lens is designed for edge to edge sharpness for 8K monitors, and large-format prints.
This is simply a fantastic lens. It is razor-sharp on the focal plane at all focal lengths, and from edge to edge. And the rectilinear correction is simply outstanding—straight lines stay straight—from 14mm to 24mm, from sweeping fields of view covering 114.2º to 84.1º, the lens exemplifies pro-caliber wide angle imaging.
In the hands, it certainly has heft at two and half pounds, but it is well balanced and the zoom and focusing ring is well damped—it is an Art lens, and we have talked about this line’s build quality so many times before. It wears this badge well. And it adds a level of splash proofing and weather sealing comparable to the Sports line, which should make photographers who work in the harsher elements very, very happy.
1/2500 F2.8 ISO 100.A sundial at East Jersey Old Towne, wide open at F2.8 at 14mm.Framed tighter at 24mm, same camera settings as above. It can close-focus to a few inches in front of the front element with a maximum 1:5.4 magnification to showcase foreground elements in their environment.
Another first for this lens is the compatibility with Canon’s in-camera Peripheral Illumination Correction settings, however, in my test images, I did not enable this in the Canon ESOS 6D, and quite honestly, based on my tests, I’m super-impressed with the edge-to-edge illumination results at all apertures and focal lengths, even without this at-capture tweak.
1/2500 F2.8 ISO 100.This lens is impressively sharp wide open for an ultrawide! We are at 18mm here, 1/2500 @ F2.8 ISO 100, and focused on the corner of the stone cottage.
The photos posted in this article are captured in RAW mode, and are toned in Adobe Camera RAW 9.1.1. I have made some Basic Adjustments for exposure, Shadows, Highlights, and such. No Lens Profile has been assigned (this lens is so new that Adobe doesn’t have it in the database yet); and no Lens Correction actions have been taken on any of the images posted here. The edge-to-edge performance you see in terms of rectilinearity, sharpness, and illumination speak to the strengths of this lens.
1/320 F2.8 ISO 320.Available light interior shot of a restored historical church at 14mm, focused on the pulpit at center of frame. I’m standing just inside the doorway to take in this sweeping view at 14mm.1/80 F2.8 ISO 320 at 21mm.This is straight out of camera. No adjustments have been made in Raw conversion except for sizing to 2000 pixel wide for web display.1/320 F8 ISO 100.Stopping down to F8 at 24mm gives unlimited depth of field and fantastic edge to edge performance!
As soon as I heard about this lens, I wanted to experiment with the Pixelstick on the local pedestrian mall that offers a great one-point perspective. Using a tripod and a timer, I set the exposure to 8 seconds, the aperture to F14 and the ISO to 100, which is the basic exposure for the buildings. I then shot a ton on frames on interval shooting with the Pixelstick with a variety of patterns.
The bright blue and green swirls and curves are a nice counterpoint to the straight lines of the buildings converging on the single-point perspective at the center of the frame.
Another Pixelstick experiment. This time I “painted” Van Gogh’s Starry Night into the center of the frame, flanked by lamplight starbursts and the façade of Yestercades, a vintage arcade on the pedestrian mall. 4 seconds F11 ISO 100 at 14mm. The overall imaging performance of this lens makes it fantastic for long-exposure nightscape work!
I cropped to a 2:1 aspect ratio for presentation here.
This is, quite simply, an outstanding ultra wide to wide angle fast-aperture, constant aperture zoom lens. I had the lens for a week, and begrudgingly shipped it off to SIGMA Ambassador Jack Fusco this afternoon—who is hoping to catch the Milky Way rising over the Pacific this weekend with this lens! Stay tuned for his photos and much more team coverage in the coming weeks.
This is available light, 1/25 F2.8 ISO 320 at 24mm.The interior of this blacksmith shot is a natural sepia tone! I am super-impressed with the edge to edge performance of this lens, at all apertures, at all focal lengths, in every situation I experimented with it.
The Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Contemporary lens has quickly founds its way into the hearts—and camera bags—of photographers everywhere. The combination of long telephoto reach, and zoom versatility in a truly portable, hand-holdable lens is a winning combination. Add in Sigma’s exclusive lens customization with the USB Dock to tune the lens’s autofocus performance, and to set custom focus limiters, and it is simply a whole lot of lens in a two and half pound, foot-long economical package. Here’s a rundown of what our team of bloggers have to say about this outstanding super telephoto zoom lens.
The light weight, reach, range, and optical stabilizer, along with the economical cost, make the 100-400mm F5-6.3 a great choice for air show photography.
The SIGMA 16mm F1.4 DC DN | Contemporary lens is the second in the series of fast-aperture prime lenses designed specifically for Micro Four Thirds and Sony E-mount mirrorless cameras. This bright F1.4 prime equates to a 24mm F1.4 lens on the Sony E-mount system thanks to the 1.5x APS-C crop factor, and is the first wide angle lens for this system to offer this focal length and aperture. On Micro Four Thirds cameras with a 2x crop factor, it equates to a 32mm F1.4 lens. And it is just a flat-out great optic for these systems!
This pony was captured at 1/2000 F2.2 ISO 200.The SIGMA 16mm F1.4 DC DN | C is a great lightweight, fast-aperture wide prime for mirrorless cameras. Ideal for travel and documentary photography, this economical optic is a winner. For the photos in this article, it is paired with the Olympus OMD-E5, for a 32mm F1.4 equivalence.
I’ve had the Micro Four Thirds sample for a few days now, and offer up this first look, hands-on mini-review with a variety of image samples of the lens paired with an Olympus OMD-E5. In a nutshell: this is a great, economical, fast-aperture prime wide angle lens for mirrorless cameras. The lens is super-sharp, the stepping motor provides swift, quiet autofocus, and it feels great in the hands and is right-sized for the systems it pairs with.
1/500 F7.1 ISO 200.I stopped down to F7.1 to get unlimited depth of field along the water’s edge on the Brooklyn side of the Verrazano Narrow Bridge.
I’m impressed with this lens wide open at F1.4 for subject isolation shallow depth of field, and stopped down, it is edge-to-edge sharp from here to infinity. The focus ring offers great grip to balance the lens and is very responsive when switching over the manual focus.
1/2500 F6.3 ISO 200.Looking up at the columns and entrance of the Somerset County Courthouse.Again at 1/2500 F6.3 ISO 200.Since this is a prime, I had to physically walk farther from the building to recompose this looser shot showing the whole dome and statue.
For the most part, I shoot with the OMD-E5 through the eye-finder, but I did use the LCD for a couple of high- and low-angle shots. Single-shot Focus locks very swiftly in most lighting conditions with decent contrast and tracking focus was dead-on in both my still and video experiments, and most importantly, the AF motor is unobtrusive, and does its job to keep focus moving well below the ambient noise levels in all but the most sterile of audio environments. This isn’t meant to be the end-all set of images with the lens, but is a sampling of my first week in a variety of situations to give the lens a performance run-through. I’ll be adding some holiday lights bokeh shots early next week.
1/640 F6.3 ISO 200.I stopped down to F6.3 to keep the entire bike in focus along one of my favorite local trails. This lens is nice and sharp from edge to edge.1/4000 F2.0 ISO 200.I had to hold my camera over my head and tilt the LCD to focus on the words “Winter Wonderland” on the Santa’s Mailbox sign in the foreground. The tree is about 20 to 30 paces from the sign. 1/1000 F5.0 ISO 200.Peeling birch bark at F5.0 to give just enough DOF to keep most of the trunk and paper-thin bark in the focus zone.1/4000 F2.8 ISO 200.I’m stopped down to just F2.8 here for a bit more depth of field to keep both sides of the mural box fully in focus. This lens in crisp and sharp!1/4000 F5.6 ISO 200.I’m shooting directly into the morning sun here. Flare and ghosting is very well controlled. I cranked up the vibrancy and opened up the shadows in Adobe Camera Raw here.1/5 F7.1 ISO 200 on a tripod.The LED headlights and foglamps of an X1 are just a few feet from the lens, and at F7.1, there’s great starburst effects, and minimal flare and ghosting. (License plate partially cloned.)
The nine rounded aperture blades make the images from this sharp, fast, wide prime shine and create great background blur when wide open, and create pleasant starbursts when stopped down. The lens just feels good in the hands, and with the 32mm field of view on the Olympus OMD-E5, the overall experience is very similar to pairing the 35mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art with a full-frame camera; but in a much more compact package for top-quality imaging with a smaller footprint than a big full-frame kit.
1/500 F1.4 ISO 800.The compact design of this fast prime fits perfectly with the smaller sized cameras it is designed to pair with. My seven year old daughter made this shot of me in a backyard leaf pile. She’s a big fan of this mirrorless lens and camera set-up!
All in all, the 16mm F1.4 DC DN | Contemporary packs a lot of performance into an economical, compact package for Sony E-mount and Micro Four Thirds photographers.
The world’s first full-frame 14mm F1.8 lens, exclusively from Sigma. Click the lens for tech specs, pricing, and availability info!
Earlier this year, we announced the world’s first full-frame 14mm F1.8 prime wide angle lens. Featuring the industry’s largest aspherical glass element, this ultra-fast, ultra sharp ultra wide lens is a game changer. Yes, it seems we find ourselves saying things like that a lot these days; but it is true. The Art lenses truly have redefined the lens landscape over the past half-decade, and the 14mm F1.8 DG HSM | Art lens delivers edge to edge performance, exceptional aberration correction, and swift autofocus while taking in a sweeping 114.2º angle of view on super-resolution full-frame DSLR cameras.
Goldenrod, dune grass, and Officer’s Row at Fort Hancock on Sandy Hook as seen through the Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM | Art lens paired with a 6D at 1/200 F/8 ISO 100. Lightly tuned in ACR for web optimization.
This lens has been making huge waves in the astrophotography, landscape, and architectural arenas since it began shipping mid-summer. You can check out some of the amazing work Astrophotographer Jack Fusco has made so far with this lens and gather some night photo tips in this piece, and in this incredible video (check back Tuesday for the link!). Here, we are going to focus on the in-the-hands, and on-the-ground experience with this awesome new lens. Continue reading Hands-On: Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM | Art
SIGMA fans have been clamoring for an Art line update of the 24-70mm F2.8 DG OS HSM | Art pretty much since the launch of the SIGMA Global Vision lines a few years back, and the completely redesigned full-frame, fast constant Aperture standard zoom with Optical Stabilizer is now here and is already shipping to the first batch of lucky photographers all across the world.
Captured at 24mm at F2.8 ISO 100 through the SIGMA 24-70mm F2.8 DG OS HSM | Art lens paired with a 6D. A footbridge is softened in the background as water loving flowers sit along the pond edge. All images lightly toned in Adobe Camera Raw. Captured at 50mm at F2.8 ISO 100 through the SIGMA 24-70mm F2.8 DG OS HSM | Art lens paired with a 6D.A footbridge is now more softened in the background as water-loving flowers sit along the pond edge. All images lightly toned in Adobe Camera Raw.Captured at 70mm, 1/500 F2.8 ISO 100.The composition is now much tighter and the background is rendered more abstract.
The SIGMA 24-70mm F2.8 DG OS HSM | Art is a serious overhaul of the the last generation 24-70mm F2.8 EX lens, which was itself a very highly regarded optic. We’ve set the standards very high for ourselves with the three new lens lines, and this newest zoom in the Art series delivers on those expectations without compromise. Wedding Pros, Photojournalists and any photographer who demand exceptional image sharpness and pleasing wide-aperture bokeh in the convenience of a relatively compact zoom package should be beyond pleased with this rock-solid new optic. And like all SIGMA lenses, it is made in Japan at our Aizu factory—and each and every unit is individually tested on the A1 MTF device for sharpness and optical performance.
1/500 F2.8 ISO 100.At 70mm, I was able to stand over these lily flowers and focus on the edges of the flower. Notice how shallow the depth of field is.1/500 F3.5 ISO 100.On the focal plane, this is so sharp you can count the grains of pollen. We stopped down to F3.5 for just a hair’s more depth of field. And the foliage in the background is rendered a gorgeous blur thanks to nine rounded aperture blades and the new optical formula.
In the hands, the 24-70mm F2.8 | Art lens feels very similar to the 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Artlens both in terms of size, weight and handling, and in overall fit and finish. The one inch focusing ring is closer to the camera body, and the wide zoom ring rotates counterclockwise approximately 90º as it zooms from widest to longest focal length. The barrel does extend, but does not rotate when moving out to 70mm. Optical Stabilizer and Manual/Auto/Manual Override switches are easily flicked with the left thumb while the lens and camera are at eye level. There’s zero zoom creep to be witnessed even with rigorous shaking of the lens both at 24mm and 70mm. The front filter thread diameter is 82mm. And the brass lens mount and weather-sealing gasket feel sturdy and confident when pairing the lens with a DSLR.Autofocus is extremely zippy in daylight, and is still quite responsive in very dim conditions so long as there’s a somewhat decent contrast edge to detect.
These red maple leaves are sharp and pop from the softened green bokeh blur background at 70mm at F2.8.1/500 F2.8 ISO 100.Zooming back to 24mm changes the overall feel of the image and makes it much more abstract. 1/125 F5 ISO 100.I stopped down to F5 for more depth of field to get two flowers sharp here.
And when it comes to image quality—WOW—does this lens deliver! From wide to long it is razor sharp on the focal plane, with gorgeous defocused characteristics all along the way. That’s one of the hallmarks of the Art lenses, and the 24-70mm F2.8 proudly honors its pedigree with its optical performance. At maximum apertures for shallow depth of field, the results are simply stunning. Focal plane details pop and softened ground elements infuse and elevate the final image, and the bokeh can range from gently softened to abstract depending on focal length, focal distance and aperture, and the effects are quite lovely. This is not meant to be an exhaustive lens exploration—that will come later. This is a quick first impressions of the hand-feel and wide-open imaging characteristics of this new lens.
1/320 F2.8 ISO 100.At Rutgers Garden, there is a small step waterfall that runs into the Raritan River. At some recent point, the stacked rocks were added by a visitor, and the effect is quite nice as the water spills atop the stack. Here, I chose a relatively fast shutter speed of 1/320 second to freeze the water with the assistance of hi-speed flash. I am crouching the next step down in the cascade.Here I am zoomed in to 62mm, again at 1/320 sec F2.8 with hi-speed flash to freeze the water.Here, I stopped down to F7.1 and dropped to 1/15 second and we are fully zoomed to 70mm. I activated Optical Stabilizer, as I was three stops under the focal length reciprocal. I popped the flash to add some catchlight detail to the water motion blur. Which do you prefer, the frozen or the motion water effect?
I visited botanical gardens to try out the lens, get a feel for the Optical Stabilizer, Autofocus and overall imaging characteristics, and I am very impressed. I had no trouble whatsoever nailing a sharp shot at 1/15 second at 70mm, 3 full stops under the focal length , while crouching in the stream of a small waterfall. The continuous AF followed blooms blowing in the breeze, and the background blur speaks for itself. I’ve lightly toned the images in Adobe Camera Raw for color, exposure, and contrast using global controls. No lens profile adjustments have been made to any image. As you can see, this lens delivers spectacular results!
1/6 F2.8 ISO 100 at 70mm.With small LEDs as the only illumination, I was able to easily AF on the edge of this snifter for a sharp, crisp glass edge as a counterpoint to the softened bottle and blurred background lights.
We have a number of 24-70mm F2.8 | Art lenses in the hands of SIGMA bloggers. Stay tuned for updates and field reports from portraitists, photojournalists, and more imaging specialists putting this outstanding new standard zoom through its paces all summer long!
The SIGMA 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Contemporary is a super telephoto zoom lens released later in the SIGMA lineup. With a 4x zoom ratio, this lens is designed for full frame cameras and offers a lot of reach in a very compact and lightweight package thanks to the variable aperture design. In total specs, features, build,and focal range, it is most closely related to the slightly larger 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Contemporary lens, and it ships at a slightly lower cost. We are going to do a run through of the shared features and points of differentiation between these two great super telephoto zoom lenses.
An American Oyster Catcher strolls along water’s edge at the tip of Sandy Hook, NJ as seen at 400mm through the the SIGMA 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C lens at 1/1000 F6.3 ISO 400 paired with a Canon 6D. The images in this blog have been lightly toned in Adobe Camera raw for color and exposure. No “lens profiles” or lens correction settings have been applied.1/800 F6.3 ISO 800.A piping plover runs along water’s edge at the tip of Sandy Hook, NJ as seen through the SIGMA 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C lens at 600mm on a 6D.
Before we jump into the differentiation points, let’s take a look at how these two full frame lenses are similar. The 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C and 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C lenses both share a significant amount of SIGMA-exclusive DNA:
The most advanced lens customization options via the SIGMA USB Dock and SIGMA Optimization Pro including custom focus limiters, focus speed adjustments, and 16 zone microfocus tuning.
1/1000 F6.3 ISO 400.A pair of sanderlings at water’s edge as seen through the 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C lens. The small size and light weight of this lens makes it easy for me to lie in the “sniper position” on the sand to capture images at ground level. 1/800 F6.3 ISO 800.And here’s a sanderling as seen through the 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C lens at 600mm. Both of these lenses are super-sharp at full zoom, even wide open!
At just under 41 ounces (2.56 pounds) and 3.4” x 7.2” (diameter x length) the SIGMA 100-400mm is noticeably lighter and smaller in the hands compared to the 150-600mm | C which weighs in at 68 ounces (4.25 pounds) and is 4.1” x 10.2” in the camera bag. And at $799 street for the 100-400mm, it is a few hundred dollars less than the $1089 tag for the 150-600mm | C.
(And as far as size comparisons go, the 100-400mm is most similar in size and weight to the 70-200mm F2.8 class of lenses.)
The 100-400mm sports 21 elements in 15 groups with SLD glass and the 150-600mm has 20 elements in 14 groups with both SLD and FLD. I’ve never really been one to care too much about the specific configurations or glass types, looking more at what gets projected onto the sensor—the end result, not the process path, is what matters most to me.
1/800 F6.3 ISO 800.A sanderling runs along the shoreline at 600mm on the 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C lens at 600mm. This lens is nice and sharp at 600mm on the focal plane, even wide open.1/1250 F6.3 ISO 400mm at 600mm.I was lying in “sharpshooter” position for this shot with the 150-600mm | C lens to get the little wavelets behind the birds in the surf. After a few minutes, the bigger 150-600mm | C starts to feel heavy in this position. I find it easier to get down to ground level with the lighter 100-400mm lens for extended spells.
In the hand, both lenses feel similar, dressed in the fit and finish of the Contemporary line. Ease of use and portability is a key design tenet of the Contemporary line, and both lenses feel solid and well damped. Both lenses are capable of extending the barrel either with the zoom ring, or with a push-pull of the front element group, although with the 100-400mm, it is a much easier operation when the lens hood is mounted.Straight out of the box, the autofocus of the 100-400mm | C feels a little more zippy and swift in focus acquisition, and when paired with judicious use of the focus limiters, is blazingly fast, and even more so when the lens is customized to speed-priority AF with the USB Dock and SIGMA Optimization Pro. Mind you, the 150-600mm is no slouch in terms of AF speed and accuracy, either. For telephoto work, I generally stick to the center or center cluster of AF points, and always employ the back-button focus technique, and that’s how all the photos showcased in this piece were captured.
1/800 F6.3 ISO 400 @ 400mm.American Oyster Catcher as seen through the SIGMA 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C lens paired with a Canon EOS 6D at the point of Sandy Hook, NJ.
The 100-400mm lens does skip the variable zoom lock feature pioneered with the 150-600mm sisters, and it also skips a tripod collar completely. This shaves both weight and cost. The 100-400mm is light enough and well balanced enough though, that it’s really not an issue for most situations. But if a tripod collar for use with a gimbal head is a deal breaker, you’re better off with the 150-600mm | C lens instead.
Zoom Range and Reach on Both Full Frame and Crop Sensor Cameras
The SIGMA 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C and the 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C share a 4x zoom ratio, and both lose 2/3 of a stop of light-gathering from shortest to longest focal length, going from F5 at 100mm or 150mm to F6.3 fully racked to 400mm and 600mm respectively.
Now, here’s where it gets a little confusing. On a crop sensor camera with an APS-C sensor (using the 1.5x focal length multiplier), the 100-400mm becomes a 150-600mm equivalent, while the 150-600mm becomes a 225-900mm equivalent lens.
100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM at 400mm 1/1250 F6.3 ISO 400.At 400mm, we have the main subject Oyster Catcher filling a nice bit of the frame and the context of the waterline and another oyster catcher softened in the background. 1/1250 F6.3 ISO 400.This Oyster Catcher very gingerly pulled a mollusk off the nesting horseshoe crab while I was watching from a comfortable distance as framed by the 150-600mm | C at 600mm. 1/1250 F6.3 ISO 400.And then it strolled down to water’s edge with its catch.
In general for birding, more reach is almost always desired, but in many situations, such as sports, it is possible to be “overlensed”. 900mm reach is too tight for many youth sport situations, and even for collegiate and pro sports in many circumstances.
For first grade youth soccer on half-sized fields, I found myself grabbing the 100-400mm to pair with a full frame 6D each week instead of the 150-600mm, both for the focal range and lighter weight—and I’m a huge fan of the total portability of the 150-600mm | C as you can read here. But for me, for half-sized soccer fields and 60 foot ballfields, the 100-400mm on a full frame or crop sensor camera is the way to go to shave weight with great reach—and on a crop sensor camera, I’d probably find myself racking back to 300mm rather than pinning it at 400mm.
Fully Zoomed Sharpness of the 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C Versus the 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C
When it comes to super telephoto lenses, I’ve long been of the belief that one of the most critical aspects is the max aperture sharpness when fully zoomed—both because you choose a long lens based on that maximum reach focal length, and because with a variable aperture lens design, you trade off some light gathering gathering power in exchange for a more compact design. And with any lens, when you are the max possible aperture for a given focal length, that allows for the fastest shutter speeds for stopping motion, which is a necessity with many types of long lens photography styles such as sports and birding.
1/1250 F6.3 ISO 400.A red wing black bird investigates a horseshoe crab shell as a green fly buzzes overhead. The 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C is crazy sharp wide open at 400mm, exactly what I expect in a tele zoom lens! 1/800 F6.3 ISO 400.An Eastern Willet is razor sharp against softened wavelets at 400mm on the 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C lens.
I was flat-out blown away by the wide-open sharpness at 600mm of the 150-600mm |C lens and the same holds true for the 100-400mm when fully zoomed. Both of these lenses are crisp and sharp through the whole focal range and the MTF Charts of both lenses reflect this. But thanks to the workings of optical physics, there’s greater depth of field at 400mm than at 600mm.
1/800 F6.3 ISO 400.Wide open at 600mm, the 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C delivers super crisp sharpness and very shallow depth of field and very pleasing background characteristics.
So, for example, at a distance of 25 feet, at F6.3, you have got a 0.43 foot zone of sharpness, and at 600mm you’ve only got a 0.19 foot zone of sharpness. That may not seem a lot, but it is enough to keep an entire small bird’s body in the sharp focused area at 400mm, whereas at 600mm, it may not be quite enough. (Here’s a helpful tool for comparing depth of field.)
Optical Stabilizer Comparison
Both the 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C and the 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C have two mode Optical Stabilizer. Mode 1 corrects for camera and lens shake in all directions, while OS Mode 2 detects camera motion in order to assist with panning and tracking shots. In a non-lab setting, it is very difficult to quantify and qualify OS Mode 2.But with OS Mode 1, most photographers will be able to easily achieve sharp shots at 3 to 4 stops below the reciprocal of the focal length. Remember, OS can only eliminate camera and lens movement. Subject movement in the frame at slow shutter speeds is an entirely different thing. Learn much more about the hows, whys and whens of OS here.
I was able to hand-hold the 100-400mm at 1/40 second at 400mm in my casual experiments.OS eliminated camera shake at 1/80 sec at 600mm on the 150-600mm in this shot.
Field of View Visualizer
Both the 100-400mm F5-6.3 C and the 150-600mm F5-6.3 C lenses have a 4x zoom ratio. These photos here show each lens at shortest and longest focal length on both a full frame Canon 6D and crop sensor Rebel with a 1.6x multiplier. These shots show a distant beach scene and bridge captured on an extremely warm day, so there is heat distortion effects in the images.For reference, the beachgoers are 1.5 miles from the camera, and the bridge is 3 miles away.
100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C on full frame camera
Here is the 100-400mm at 100mm on the full frame 6D.Here is the 100-400mm at 400mm on the full frame 6D.
100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C on crop sensor camera
Here is the 100-400mm at 100mm on the crop sensor Rebel.Here is the 100-400mm at 400mm on the crop sensor Rebel.
150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C on full frame camera
Here is the 150-600mm at 150 on a full frame 6D.Here is the 150-600mm at 600 on a full frame 6D.
150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C on crop sensor camera
150-600mm | C at 150mm on crop sensor camera.150-600mm | C at 600mm on crop sensor camera.
Close-focusing and Maximum Magnification
When it comes to close-focusing, the 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C holds an advantage over the 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C, both in terms of distance to subject and maximum magnification. The 100-400mm has a maximum magnification ratio of 1:3.8 and a close-focusing distance of 5.25 feet at 400mm. The 150-600mm close focuses to 9.2 feet and a maximum magnification of 1:4.9 at 600mm. But, in practice, the bigger difference between the two lenses is the close-focusing distance, as the 1:3.8 magnification at 400mm on the 100-400 lens is pretty similar to the 1:4.9 magnification at 600mm lens.
1/125 F6.3 ISO 400 at 400mm.The 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C has a 1:3.8 magnification ratio at 400mm and a close-focus distance of 5.25 feet, which is great for close-up photography, and offers a slight edge in filling the frame compared to the 150-600mm. Optical Stabilizer Mode 1 Activated. Handheld.1/125 F6.3 ISO 800The 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C close-focuses to just shy of ten feet at just about 1:5 magnification, but does so at 600mm. So you’ve got a longer working distance and slightly less magnification. Handheld, Optical Stabilizer Mode 1 activated.1/1000 F6.3 ISO 400.The shorter working distance of the 100-400mm lens can be very useful when you happen to time a visit to the beach with the nesting of horseshoe crabs. I have two hours on the beach with just me, the birds and a great number of horseshoe crabs following nesting rituals that were already ancient when the first dinosaurs showed up. I was so close to this mollusk-bedecked female that I needed to rack back to 191mm to get the whole carapace and telson in the frame from where I was standing.
Conclusion: You Really Can’t Go Wrong Choosing Either of these Lens
The SIGMA 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C lens offers pro-level performance and sharpness in a very lightweight, compact, and economical package. For a few hundred dollars more, the 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C also offers pro caliber performance and sharpness, and adds a removable tripod foot, adds a touch over two pounds weight, and has the awesome variable zoom lock feature pioneered on this and its sister lens, the Sport variant. Both lenses have a splash and dust proof mount, and the 150-600mm | C has a water and oil resistant front element.
Both of these lenses offer SIGMA’s most advanced Lens Customization feature set through the USB Dock and SIGMA Optimization Pro software and, like all SIGMA lenses, are made in Japan at our Aizu factory. And like all Art, Sports, and Contemporary lenses, each and every unit of both of these lenses is individually tested on the A1 MTF device to ensure optical performance is within tolerances.
If longer reach is what you are after above all else, obviously the 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C has the advantage. From the same distance from subject, smaller birds will fill more of the frame, distant subjects will be pulled a bit more closer, too.
But there are a number of situations where the 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C may hold key advantages, thanks to it lighter weight and smaller size, both in the pack and in the hands. I, for one, find it much easier to use in the “sharpshooter” position than the heavier 150-600mm | C lens, and while the 150-600mm | C is very lightweight and portable itself, I’m surprised at just how much more svelte the 100-400mm feels in the hands. And obviously, the cost savings is great for photographers on a tight budget to maximize reach and range without breaking the bank.
1/1000 F6.3 ISO 500 at 400mm on the 6D.The 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C was able to track this great egret in flight over the water, through foreground dune grass thanks to the speedy AF and focus limiter settings.
The SIGMA 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Contemporary lens is the newest full-frame super telephoto zoom lens in the SIGMA Global Vision lineup, an update on the super-sharp 120-400mm F5-6.3 zoom lens. This is a very lightweight long-reach lens, weighing in at just two and a half pounds, and at 7.2 inches long in the bag, is lighter and more compact than the 70-200mm F2.8 EX zoom lens with twice the reach.
This is a first impressions, sneak peek, quick review of this hot new lens after my initial two hours of working with it. As soon as the lens showed up at my house, I was on the road to my favorite nearby birding hotspot, Sandy Hook, NJ—a seven mile long sliver of sand, wetlands, bays and beaches. I unboxed the lens in the parking lot and threw it on my 6D, and set about to grabbing some bird shots. We will follow up with a more in-depth breakdown of all the features, USB Dock customization, and suchlike in the near future, but here’s my raw take after two hours birding in flat light with this incredible new optic.
1/1000 F6.3 ISO 500 at 400mm.A snowy egret takes flight from a tidal pond as seen through the SIGMA 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Contemporary lens paired with a Canon 6D. The autofocus speed of this new lens is really impressive straight out of the box. I was usually in the 6m-∞ focus limiter zone to speed AF performance even more.
This lens is lightweight, easy to handle, and crazy sharp at 400mm, which is where I had it pegged pretty much constantly. The three zone focus limiter helps speed Autofocus response, and in the 6m-∞ zone where I was mostly focusing, the AF response was seriously zippy and able to keep up with all sorts of flying, flitting, and skittering shorebirds in very flat lighting conditions. The entire take was captured in AI Servo (Continuous autofocus), center focus point, and back-button focusing in either Manual or Aperture Priority mode.
1/1000 F6.3 ISO 500 at 400mm on the 6D.The 100-400mm was able to track this great egret in flight over the water, through foreground dune grass thanks to the speedy AF and focus limiter settings.
The 100-400mm Contemporary lens shares a lot of SIGMA DNA with its 150-600mm sisters, but it does skip the variable zoom lock to shave weight and cost. That being said, the zoom barrel is very well damped, and showed no signs of creep, even while hiking with the lens pointed skyward at 400mm for extended periods of time, and also in deliberate shaking tries to see if I could force it to budge. And the ability to easily work either the zoom ring or push-pull method to rack the focal length is a great touch, though as I mentioned, most of the time I was keeping it pegged at 400mm while out in the wetlands. My one very minor gripe with this lens is that when the lens hood is in transport position, it completely blocks the zoom ring.
1/2500 F5 ISO 400.A great egret in a salt marsh at 100mm. 1/2500 F6.3 ISO 400 at 400mm.Same bird, same spot, zoomed all the way to 400mm.
Paired with a full-frame Canon 6D, it felt very well balanced in the hands, and it is nice and crisp through the viewfinder. It was very flat midday light, ranging from cloudy-cloudy to cloudy-bright so it was an expose to the right kind of day. The AF was quick and responsive, and I had an easy time of tracking birds in flight, and scampering on the sand straight out of the box. I’m very excited to tune the lens with a speed-priority AF and custom focus limiter setting in SIGMA Optimization Pro before my next outing to tweak it even more. The photos in this series were lightly tuned in Adobe Camera RAW to optimize exposures.
Thanks to a cool night after a very warm day, it was a pretty low-contrast day, so most of the shots had a very low total dynamic range.Building back contrast really made the birds pop and the fine detail on the focal plane is mind-blowing with this little tele lens.
On a full-frame lens, this is the perfect lightweight midrange tele lens for wildlife and field sports. And when it comes to crop sensor cameras, it is a virtual 150-600mm zoom lens, again, perfect for small and distant wildlife, and especially for youth field sports, where it is sometimes possible to be over-lensed with the actual 150-600mms (900mm reach on a half-size soccer field or 60-foot ball diamond is overkill!)
1/1250 F6.3 ISO 500 at 500mm.I knew by the whistling call in the distance I’d spy an Oyster Catcher along the waterline. AF tracking with this lens is swift, both for airborne and ground-based subjects.100% pixel view of the center of the previous frame. This lens is razor sharp wide open at 400mm! (Click the photo to view full-size.)1/1250 F7.1 ISO 500.Snowy Egret Portrait at 400mm.Center of frame 100% view. (Click the image to show full screen.)
So after two hours of chasing birds on wing and along the water’s edge, at fast shutter speeds, I can tell you I am very impressed with both the autofocus speed and accuracy and the wide-open sharpness of this lens at 400mm. That’s what I was after in my shots, because, really, that’s what matters most to me in a tele lens.
1/1250 F6.3 ISO 500.Great egret at 400mm.100% pixel view of the above. (Click to view full-size.)1/1250 F6.3 ISO 500.Autofocus tracking with the lens at 400mm is really impressive. Super-responsive in following birds in flight.
I didn’t bother turning on Optical Stabilizer, because even exposing to the right with slower shutter speeds, I was still always well above 1/1000, rendering OS wholly unnecessary. We’ll tackle OS effectiveness, performance with the teleconverters, tweaking the autofocus parameters with SIGMA Optimization Pro, and a full-on breakdown comparison with its bigger sister the 150-600mm C lens in a follow up post in the near future.
1/3200 F6.3 ISO 500 at 500mm.Sanderlings are just about eight inches long from beak tip to tailfeathers and weigh in at a whopping 3.5 ounces! These tiny toasted marshmallows are super zippy as they skitter along the surf’s edge. I as very impressed with the AF tracking speed of the 100-400mm as I may have already mentioned! 100% pixel view showing both the focal plane sharpness and super-shallow depth of field at 400mm.1/1600 F6.3 ISO 500 at 400mm.A grooming moment by one of the sanderlings. 100% pixel view of the above. Notice the fineness of detail in the bird’s leg joints, and all shades of feather.
The SIGMA 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Contemporary is a super-sharp 4X super telephoto zoom lens in a very compact package for it full-frame reach and range. And at $669 street, it is a whole lot of lens for the money.
