New Lens Test: Sigma 150mm 2.8 HMS

[jhale]

I don't like these new pics as much as your older ones-not sure is it post production or just personnal taste.

interesting, it may be these are darker and have more contrast?
I'll shoot more with the lens this weekend and see what it produces.

the lens has received nothing but great reviews, with some more practice I hope to take some photos you'll like

mray, i would need to know what kind of camera your using before trouble shooting blurry pics. If it's a P&S then increasing the ISO could help. if it's a dslr make sure your using a shutter speed equal or greater to the lens focal length your shooting with. i.e. with a 50mm lens the shutter speed should not be used below 1/60 of a second, for hand held shooting.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

interesting, it may be these are darker and have more contrast?
I'll shoot more with the lens this weekend and see what it produces.

the lens has received nothing but great reviews, with some more practice I hope to take some photos you'll like

mray, i would need to know what kind of camera your using before trouble shooting blurry pics. If it's a P&S then increasing the ISO could help. if it's a dslr make sure your using a shutter speed equal or greater to the lens focal length your shooting with. i.e. with a 50mm lens the shutter speed should not be used below 1/60 of a second, for hand held shooting.

I think it's the too punchy you said before, the pics seem not too natural, comparing to seeing it in person. Look at the first pic, the fish seems not in sync with the back ground. It's like paper cut out.

 

[jhale]

I see what you mean. I think that look is due to the length of the lens, and the shallow depth of field. when I saw the first shots from the sigma I was a bit surprised how much contrast it gives. I might have to change the way I work in post with it. Instead of using jpegs for online use, I can use the raw NEF files. This will give control over the contrast and allow me to fine tune it much more than the jpeg files.

I was actually planning on getting the nikon macro lens booze let me try, that was the 105mm 2.8 VS. While I was reading about the nikon macro I came across many people mentioning the sigma. I decided to try the sigma lens because it was slightly longer. The one shot that had sold me on the nikon was the macro I took of the pods in the net. It's sharp, but the depth of field has a nice fall off, and the color has such a natural look to it. I'm going to put the sigma through it's paces today, if I don't see results similar to the nikon I may be exchanging it.

this is the shot taken with the nikon 105mm 2.8 that I loved.

 

[crox99]

Those pods are huge:tongue1:

 

[jackson6745]

What's the update with the Sigma lens J?

 

[jhale]

I kept it. I figured out it was the way I had the camera set up that was messing with the lens. I had the body set on super vivid color mode. this was fine for other lenses, but with the sigma it was too much. once I shot with the body set in the normal color mode everything looked normal and not so contrasty.

the only downside to the 150 macro is the amount of light it needs, compared to shots I could get with the 90 macro hand held. other than that I ended up liking the lens quite a bit. I'll try to post some examples later.

 

[boozeman]

Almost missed this thread.
Jonathan, if you want we could plan a day of lense swapping photography at greenwich aquaria.
LMK.

 

[jhale]

we can make that happen

 

[emmanuel]

I wish this thread would come back to life
jhale what happened out of all the lenses you recommend the nikon 105 right?

 

[jhale]

I'll see what I can do to add to this thread.

To answer the lens question, out of the macros made for nikon I ended up liking the nikon 105 the best.

 

[emmanuel]

thanks I think I'm going to b and h tomorrow for that nikon 105 I hate to blow that kind of money especially since I'm new to all this and my d60 didnt even cost as much as that lens but what the hell I just hope I dont change my mind 100 more times till tomorrow

 

[jhale]

cool, well if for some reason you don't like it I'll swap my 150 for the 105

 

[marki24]

jhale does the AF feature on the lense work with your camera>

 

[BZOFIQ]

Huge difference between raw lens and lens+converter

Unbelievable detail on the set in first post.

 

[jhale]

jhale does the AF feature on the lense work with your camera>

yes it should work with most bodies. I have a d200 I use it with.

 

[jhale]

I shot these last summer when I was concerned about the color and contrast I was getting from the lens. these were shot in low light with the lens full open at 2.8. some of the shutter speeds were as low as 60, less than half of what they should have been to keep the shots in sharp focus.

after this test I decided to keep the lens. I realized it was the camera settings I had used, and not the lens that had given me the excessive contrast in the original group of shots.