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It
takes a strong telephoto lens to reach
out where I want to be for long
distance or closeup sports &
wildlife shooting. The Sigma 50-500
gets me there with the added
flexibility of a wide ranging
zoom. The big Nikon
& Canon Super Telephoto lenses have the
reputation of being absolutely the *best* of the
extremely long focal length lenses. The 400,
500, and 600 mm lenses reach out long and
crystal clear, but wow! These are really
gigantic lenses. Cumbersome, to say the
least. And back-breaking expensive. Certainly great
to have that much power, but those big fixed
focal length lenses can actually be too
strong at times. Without a zoom, there's nowhere
to go unless you back up. (Of course, you can't
realistically do that most of the time.) A
shorter focal length is needed when the action
shifts to closer range, 200 to 300 mm being
ideal, sometimes less. And to capture an overall
scene, an even shorter focal length is a must.
This has always
been a problem for me. A bag full of different
lenses is way too much of a burden while
shooting in the field, plus the hassle and time
delays of frequent lens changes. (Translate that
into missed shots & missed opportunities.)
Yes, interchangeable lenses are one of the the
greatest strengths of a pro camera, but too many
lenses can be a handicap. The whole idea of a
zoom lens is to take the place of a range of
single focal length lenses, but with sports
shooting, it's hard to find that "perfect" range
for consistent use. Nikon's 80-400
mm VR Zoom looked excellent to me at first
glance, but lacked range on each end of its
limits to suit my personal needs. For example,
from practical experience I found that my 80-200
lens frequently needed to be a little bit wider
than 80 mm. And 400 mm on the 80-400 lens didn't
quite reach out to where I wanted to
be. So when I read
the excellent review on the original Sigma
50-500 mm f4-6.3 zoom lens in Popular
Photography Magazine's July 2000 issue, I
quickly got on the phone to find out if they
were available yet. (I felt that the range of 50
through 500 mm would certainly work for me.)
Luckily, I found one locally at Competitive
Cameras (downtown Dallas) and was able to
take a few test shots with my camera before
making a deal on one. The test shots spoke for
themselves, I had one in my bag the next
morning. It's big and
heavy (over 4 lbs.), but it's actually extremely
well balanced, comfortable, and steady on my
camera. Impressive and very professional looking
- while shooting these surfing pictures, I had
several people ask "... hey, are you shooting
for a magazine?..."
(Of
course! Lonestardigital.com!!) Included with
the lens is a bayonet mount hood (shown in the
photos above) similar in shape to the the
top-end Canon & Nikon lens hoods.
The lightweight
magnesium tripod mount serves as a perfect
carrying handle while walking around with it
mounted on the camera. Filter size: 86
mm. For the price,
it can't be beaten. High quality, high
performance, crystal clear, sharp from edge to
edge, lightning fast zoom & sure-footed
autofocus lock. Because of its considerable size
and weight, consider it as a 500 mm telephoto
that can zoom 'backwards' all the way down to 50
mm. What huge flexibility ... and so much fun to
use!
(Below) Focal
Length: 500 mm Focal
Length: 500 mm Focal
Length: 500 mm Focal
Length: 500 mm Focal
Length: 500 mm Focal
Length: 500 mm Focal
Length: 500 mm Focal
Length: 165 mm Focal
Length: 50 mm |
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