It's finally here! Sigma came through!

[millster]

After months and months of backorders, misorders and just general frustration, I finally received my new lens today. I haven't taken too many pictures WITH it, since I got it pretty late in the day but I did snap a quick shot OF it. I didn't mean to take it in B&W. I guess I had my little Canon set to B&W and forgot to set it back. Oh yeah, it's Sigma's 135-400mm F4.5-5.6. So far I'm impressed with the build quality for the price. I do wish the autofocus wasn't QUITE so noisy, though. It's also a little hard to hand-hold with autofocus enabled. The focus ring is at the rear of the lens and it's hard not to jam it with your hand. Of course with that focal distance, the slow aperture and the 4.5lb weight I don't think I'll be using this one off of my tripod very much. Well, enough rambling. I'm just really happy. I've been waiting for this one for a while.

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[AKLGT]

holy cow that's a lense! so..... why so big? should we start calling you Millster PI?

[millster]

I guess I was feeling a bit... inadequate.There, I said it so nobody else has to. OK, all jokes aside I needed something a little further reaching for photographing birds and animals that you're normally not able to get too close to.

[ragingfish]

Quote, originally posted by millster »I guess I was feeling a bit... inadequate. OK, all jokes aside I needed something a little further reaching for photographing birds and animals that you're normally not able to get too close to.a little further reaching?dude, looks like you can rival the hubble with that thing!

[millster]

Quote, originally posted by ragingfish »a little further reaching?dude, looks like you can rival the hubble with that thing! Yeah, just a little! I COULD have gone with the "Sigmonster" which is 300-800mm but that would have been ridiculous. That and the fact that it's a few thousand dollars more than this one was. Truly, for the price I got on this lens there's nothing that can really compare and since I'm not really sure if I'll enjoy wildlife photography that much (it can be really frustrating trying to get just the right shot) I wanted to try it out with a lens that didn't cost me a fortune.

[AKLGT]

sure you're just photographing birds and animals?? LOL. that's a mighty big lense!

[millster]

Well, people are animals too right? There are a few other good uses (I swear they're all legal). Namely, I always wanted a closeup shot of the flame at the top of the flare tower in an oil refinery. I've never QUITE had the reach with any of my lenses to get it.

[ZubenElGenubi]

I've got a Sigma 400mm f/5.6 APO lens for my Pentax and love it. Frankly, Sigma offers the best bang for the buck in the camera lens market.

[millster]

No doubt! Especially in the case of FourThirds (and I imagine Pentax is similar). The lenses from the official FourThirds consortium members (Olympus, Leica, Panasonic) are just incredibly expensive. Sigma's offerings, while limited at this point, are a much better value especially given there is currently no widely available professional body that uses the FourThirds mount. There's no point in putting a $2000+ lens on something like my E500.

[damronjr]

Bet that cost a pretty penny!

[Vibr8tr]

Quote, originally posted by damronjr »Bet that cost a pretty penny! Why is the penny always pretty?That thing is huge, I bet you could take a picture of the Florida meet with that.... FROM YOUR HOUSE, lol.I am glad you are happy with it though,. It's always fun to see someone get something that gives them joy.... just think though.... that could ahve abeen a S/C

[Kari]

Wow, what a lens...reminds me of the things they use at Bristol Motor Speedway to take close-up pit shots from the top of the grandstands! LOL

[GrayFox]

my what a large... lens you have I think someone is compensating for something That's pretty cool millster So when do we get to see some pics of... whatever it is you'd need that thing for? lol

[millster]

Going to try to reply to everyone in one post...Damronjr:Actually, it wasn't as much as you'd think. Even though it's a big lens, it's not exactly top-end. Vibr8tr:No S/C here. It wasn't nearly that expensive and at least for the moment the Cobalt is going to stay stock. Now, once the warranty is up and if I'm able to rebuild the engine in my truck all bets are off. Kari:That's another possible use... well, if we had such a facility here I guess. Of course this one might be a tad slow for that use. At F5.6 on the telephoto end, it needs quite a bit of light.ANO:I was waiting for that joke to come up! I'm surprised it took that long. As for when you'll see photos with it, I was hoping for today but once again it's snowing here. So if it stops snowing today maybe I'll get a few. Otherwise, it'll probably be later in the weekend. Thanks everyone. I know it may seem a bit odd to be so excited over something like this but I guess I'm just a "geek" that way.

[n2ho]

Nice lens, congratulations! Looking forward to see pics taken with it.George

[WaveAction]

thats awesome..im sure that cost ya a pretty penny, i know the local photography store has lenses similar to that and they're well into the $1000 range

[ColonelPanic]

Cool, now you're ready to go stalk some peopl...er, animals! heheheSince everybody else is doing it........... That is a mighty big lens you have there... Can't wait to see how you can work it, big boy! lmaoLooking forward to the pics. Congrats on it. And P.S... Don't worry about getting excited about it, I've bought far lesser things that I felt the same way about. It's a geek thing.

[GrayFox]

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »And P.S... Don't worry about getting excited about it, I've bought far lesser things that I felt the same way about. It's a geek thing. heck no don't worry about it... we're all geeks about something...

[millster]

Redfire:It really wasn't that bad. Shipped, it was just shy of $600. The Sigma lenses are really affordable. Had it been an actual Olympus it would have been at least twice that. As I've mentioned before, this isn't exactly a top quality lens either. It has little things about it that could be better for sure but really at the price it's hard to beat. n2ho:Thanks! I'll have something up soon. It's finally stopped snowing here but it's still really overcast so there isn't much in the way of lighting. I'm really hoping things clear out later in the weekend.CP and ANO:That's why I wasn't too worried about posting on here like I did. I knew I'd be in good company. At any rate, I've done a little more testing with it today and it should be quite a treat to use. For such a long lens, it's remarkably responsive and seems to be pretty clear. Once I get some real shots with it, I'll know more. I've been shopping around for a polarizing filter and IR filter for it but given the thread size, I think I'll be holding off on those for a while. For the ones I want, I'd be looking at about $250 each! OUCH!

[GrayFox]

Quote, originally posted by millster »For the ones I want, I'd be looking at about $250 each! OUCH!haha & here I was thinking cars are expensive hobbies Camera stuff can get pretty pricey pretty quick. that's why I've only got a cheap digi-cam that was given to me, lol

[millster]

Oh yeah. It builds up REALLY quick. I've already spent quite a bit on my gear and I haven't even gone to the high-end of camera bodies or anything. But, it's starting to pay me back now so I guess it's been worth it. Of course when I'm getting paid I shoot with the studio's gear so...

[Toasted7]

With a lens like that, you should be able to see me way over here in Ohio (see, I'm waving right now). I expect the pic posted asap... LOL!

[millster]

Sample picture time!I didn't get too many with the new lens this weekend. With Easter, it was kind of busy so I didn't have a lot of time and now I'm working evenings shooting soccer photos and this weekend I have another high school dance to shoot so I probably won't have any better opportunites for a while.Anyway, here's one decent shot and this is actually at the wider end of the lens still. I was hand-holding so I probably wouldn't have been able to zoom in and still keep it steady that well.And yes, I know I blew the highlights in the photo. I had the camera set to center weighted metering from the night before (just testing) and forgot to set it back before shooting in the daylight.

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[Vibr8tr]

That's still awsome, and for us "non photo guru" type people, I would have had no idea any settings were "off" or "on" if you wouldn't have said anything....

[rebbierae]

I just saw this thread! Congrats on the new lens Wes--I know how excited you have been to get it, and I'm glad it FINALLY came and was worth the wait! You already take amazing pictures (or should I say your equipment does?) and I can't wait to see more of what the lens can do! EDIT: Ok, part of that is an inside joke between Wes and I. My Dad was a professional photographer, and he HATED it when people would say how good his photos were, and that he must have really GREAT equipment. He likened it to telling someone, "Wow, this food is really good--you must have GREAT pots!" Yes, good tools help make the most of your work, but you have to have talent and a good eye to take the kind of great photos that Wes (and others on here) do, and I only wish I had I had inherited some of that talent from my dad!

[Vibr8tr]

Quote, originally posted by rebbierea »Yes, good tools help make the most of your work, but you have to have talent and a good eye to take the kind of great photos that Wes (and others on here) do, and I only wish I had I had inherited some of that talent from my dad!I agree with you 100% on this, it takes talent with things like that, not the equiptment.BUT!!!!! (I am playing devils advocvate here, not trying to start a debate, just a discussion, please don't think I am being rude )My buddy used to say that with his music. He played guitar, and was AMAZING at it. He always would tell people that it didn't matter what kind of guitar you had, it all mattered how you used it. But one day, another friend brought over some equiptment, and even the first friend agreed by the end of playing with it, that equiptment can make some players sound better than they are.I am not saying if you have the equiptment it will make you good, I am just saying that it helps make things better. Without knowlege and talent you can't use it to it's potential.... but without equiptment, sometimes talen is wasted....on that note, I still do agree that you should praise peoples talents, and not how much stuff they can get to help them. We all know Millster is good at photography, even if we gave him a 35mm $20 walmart camera. Keep up the good work Millster (and all you other photo gurus)