Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary Lens for Canon EF

[loalposo]

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Hi all,

 

Has anyone had any experience mounting the Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary Lens for Canon EF to a Leica SL2 using the Sigma MC-21 adapter. I have been interested in a long range telephoto lens (longer than 400mm) for my SL2 and prefer not to use a tele converter. Is this combo possible? Any drawbacks? Your comments will be greatly appreciated.

 

 

[ImmerDraussen]

I tried the SIGMA 150-600mm Sport on the Panasonic S1r. Autofocus is very slow. The lens has not enough resolution to serve the 47Mpixel sensor at 600mm (same is true for the Tamron).

Both lenses are okay with a 20Mpixel Canon 1dx.

I could achieve the best results with the Canon 100-400mm cropped to 600mm on a Canon 5dsr or the Panasonic S1r or with the Canon 2.8/300mm ii and converter.
 

Even being a Leica fan, I stay with Canon if it goes beyond 300mm.

Andreas

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[loalposo]

Thanks for your reply. I figured that even if it did work, the performance would not be up to par. Thanks again. Cheers

[Ivar B]

The Sigma 100-400 in L-mount and an 1.4 extender, might serve you well?

It is a very good lens, but I have not tried out the extender yet.

[loalposo]

Thanks for your reply Ivar. I have heard good things about the 100-400 in L Mount but wanted the extra reach of the 150-600 and to avoid having to use an extender. That being said, I wonder how the 100-400 would perform if I set my SL2 in crop mode. At 20 MP it might still give me usable results. Have you tried it in such a way?  Would love to hear your comments. 
Cheers

[michali]

18 hours ago, Ivar B said:

The Sigma 100-400 in L-mount and an 1.4 extender, might serve you well?

It is a very good lens, but I have not tried out the extender yet.

 

17 hours ago, loalposo said:

Thanks for your reply Ivar. I have heard good things about the 100-400 in L Mount but wanted the extra reach of the 150-600 and to avoid having to use an extender. That being said, I wonder how the 100-400 would perform if I set my SL2 in crop mode. At 20 MP it might still give me usable results. Have you tried it in such a way?  Would love to hear your comments. 
Cheers

I have the Sigma 100-400mm L, its a very good lens & as I've posted here before, it punches way above its weight. I also have the 1.4X TC, there's virtually no loss in image quality. Beyond a subject distance of 15-20m the lens starts showing its limitations, but that's probably true with many zoom lenses.

I also have the Leica VE 90-280mm L which is a fantastic lens, but too short for birding. I find myself using the Sigma 100-400mm more & more, mainly due to weight & focal length.  For serious wildlife photography I use the Canon 400mm DO f4 USMII & Canon 1.4x TC with the Sigma MC-21 adapter, this the best telephoto lens I've ever used.

SL2 & Sigma 100-400mm & 1.4 x TC @ 560mm

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[michali]

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Another image with the SL2 & Sigma 100-400mm L (full frame no cropping).

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[ImmerDraussen]

A friend of mine uses the Sigma 100-400 in combination with the S1R and is quite happy. So it seems to be a decent lens.

Please allow a few thoughts around shooting with 600mm. These are my personal experience and might not be valid for your application.

1. How many pixels are needed for a picture?
   I want to have sharp pictures on a 27´´ 5k screen and make prints up to 50 cm*75 cm watched from a normal distance. For this requirement 6MP are enough for me. Of course, if you get very close to your screen or print, more resolution will give you more details.
    
2. My application for this type of lens is wild life mainly in Africa. 
   
   This means often you are sitting in a 4WD and the use of a tripod is not possible (a bean bag may be the best you can have). Under these conditions, I need at least 1/250s. In best case your aperture is 5.6. Often I stop down a bit it is 8 to 11. The best shots are possible in the morning or the evening. This brings me at least to 1600 ASA.
   
   The reason to use such long lenses is the distance to the animals. This means dust or air movement is reducing the contrast of your picture. Most animals try to hide in the nature and have no high contrast itself. So what you get are pictures with an low overall contrast. If you enhance the contrast later at home even modern sensors become a problem with noise.
    

Long story short. As long as you can keep the ISO low, you can easily crop 600mm pictures from a 400mm zoom lens. A prime lens with a big front lens will capture more light, increase cost and weight and finally deliver the best result. Whether you use 150-600mm or 100-400mm will not make a big difference in picture quality. This is the reason that I sold my 150-600mm and either use the 100-400 or a prime lens.

Andreas
 

[Ivar B]

23 hours ago, loalposo said:

Thanks for your reply Ivar. I have heard good things about the 100-400 in L Mount but wanted the extra reach of the 150-600 and to avoid having to use an extender. That being said, I wonder how the 100-400 would perform if I set my SL2 in crop mode. At 20 MP it might still give me usable results. Have you tried it in such a way?  Would love to hear your comments. 
Cheers

I have not tested this out, but whether you set the crop mode or not should not make any difference to cropping a normal image. I am sure, though, that 20MP is adequate for all. I have used some Leica CL lenses, and results were excellent even on a Leica SL. CL lenses need to be cropped as they are APS-C, of course. 

[jaapv]

5 hours ago, michali said:

Beyond a subject distance of 15-20m the lens starts showing its limitations,

As you use it as a wildlife lens, I'm sure that you agree that subjects beyond 20 m usually don't yield the best photographs due to atmospheric deterioration.

[loalposo]

Thank you all for chiming in. The consensus seems to be the 100-400 is a very capable lens and even cropped to 600mm will still yield amazing images.

Michali, Thanks for sharing the images. they are excellent and do show a lot of detail and separation. I agree with both yours and jaapv assessment that the longer the subject you will have to deal with atmospheric conditions that may hinder the image results.

It seems nowadays, it is a matter of choice and output requirements whether one would consider using a TC or crop the image to achieve desired results. 

Cheers!

[Paolou Pigini]

I reckon the L-mount doesn't work well with EF adapted lenses, the 100-400 DG DN is probably a much better choice. 

Surely it's a bit short and slow and hopefully we will see new tele lenses during 2021.

[loalposo]

Hopefully so but it’s good to know there are choices out there that provide more than adequate results. 
 

Cheers

[jaapv]

2 hours ago, Paolou Pigini said:

I reckon the L-mount doesn't work well with EF adapted lenses, the 100-400 DG DN is probably a much better choice. 

Surely it's a bit short and slow and hopefully we will see new tele lenses during 2021.

Short? 600 mm equivalent. Faster is heavier. Are you going to use a 600 at night? 

[Paolou Pigini]

2 hours ago, jaapv said:

Short? 600 mm equivalent. Faster is heavier. Are you going to use a 600 at night? 

A 600 f/9 it's slow in most of the cases, also at noon in the woods.

[jaapv]

Sure.Good thing it is 6.3...🙄

[fzero]

If you adapt EF mount lenses, even the Sigmas, with the MC adapter, you're more likely to run into battery issues. Burst mode will quickly disappear if you have it at all, unless you supplement with external power. And autofocus speed suffers.