New Sigma 60-600mm L Mount - First Effort

[Virob]

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12 hours ago, michali said:

In the never-ending search for the holy grail of long telephotos, I have the Leica VE90-280mm L which is too short for birding, however excellent for general wildlife. I've also owned the Sigma 100-400mm, then the Sigma 150-600mm which I felt was a big improvement & really had no complaints. Possibly yours was a dud?

Recently I sold the 150-600mm & acquired this 60-600mm.

Based on my daily use & experience over the last 10 days in the field, this is a very good lens. Definitely an improvement in terms of IQ, AF speed & versatility; it is heavy. As technology evolves we're seeing constant improvements in lens design, as incremental as these may be.

It's also got me thinking about which lenses I would take on safaris in future. The additional focal length from 60mm upwards is a big plus & would probably see the Leica VE90-280mm getting less use (I'm not selling this lens). The Canon 400mm f4 USM DOll  is always the first lens to go into my bag, which is without doubt the best long lens I've used in 50 years of photography.  

In short, to answer your question, this is a very good lens. For a long zoom in the +400mm range, IMO presently this the best L mount zoom lens available.  Obviously it's unrealistic to make a comparison between a long zoom & fixed tele. eg. the Canon 400mm.

For my photography I try to get the best of both worlds, this is my current set up on safari, on the Land Rover seat next to me-

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Interesting to hear about your experiences. You mentioned that you’re not selling the 90-280, where do you see it fitting in?  I have the 150-600, with no plans to sell it, but have also been thinking that the 90-280 might make a good long term investment if it is optically significantly better and as sensor resolution continues to increase.

[drjonb]

Good seeing conditions makes all the difference.

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[kobra]

2 hours ago, drjonb said:

Good seeing conditions makes all the difference.

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Great photo! What equipment and settings do you use? 

BTW, pet peeve of mine on this forum software - to me a "proper" photography forum would show EXIF information by default when images are posted, as does some of the competitors. Oh well, but it does make it a pain to always have to manually add details, and even then rarely would one bother to look up all of the details and manually post. 

Thanks in advance!

Brad

 

[drjonb]

22 minutes ago, kobra said:

Great photo! What equipment and settings do you use? 

BTW, pet peeve of mine on this forum software - to me a "proper" photography forum would show EXIF information by default when images are posted, as does some of the competitors. Oh well, but it does make it a pain to always have to manually add details, and even then rarely would one bother to look up all of the details and manually post. 

Thanks in advance!

Brad

 

Many thanks Brad. Forums (fora?) have a habit of generating peeves!! 840mm, f9.0, iso 800, 1/800s. Manual focus. Tripod. Remote trigger, manual fire. I take around 10-15 frames at a time. Re-centre and repeat. After that it’s all about the processing. Hope this helps.  Jon

[drjonb]

16 minutes ago, drjonb said:

Many thanks Brad. Forums (fora?) have a habit of generating peeves!! 840mm, f9.0, iso 800, 1/800s. Manual focus. Tripod. Remote trigger, manual fire. I take around 10-15 frames at a time. Re-centre and repeat. After that it’s all about the processing. Hope this helps.  Jon

Apologies Brad, I missed out a key ‘setting’, this image is a stack of 138 frames.

[michali]

13 hours ago, Virob said:

Interesting to hear about your experiences. You mentioned that you’re not selling the 90-280, where do you see it fitting in?  I have the 150-600, with no plans to sell it, but have also been thinking that the 90-280 might make a good long term investment if it is optically significantly better and as sensor resolution continues to increase.

Thanks Virob. The 90-280mm is ideal in situations where the additional focal length isn't required. I did a gorilla trek in Rwanda last year & took only 2 lenses, the VE24-90mm & VE90-280mm. Given the shooting conditions in dense rainforest, a longer lens wouldn't have worked, the 90-280mm was perfect.  

[michali]

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Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus caeruleus), a small bird of prey approx. 36cm (14in.) beak to tail.  I love these birds, they're efficient, opportunistic hunters, hovering over their prey & strike quietly & quickly. 

Zuka Game Reserve S. Africa   SL2 & Sigma 60-600mm & 1.4x TC @ 840mm

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[michali]

As above

Just landed....

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Edited May 31, 2023 by michali

[drjonb]

60-600 as a 'Macro'

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[drjonb]

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[drjonb]

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[michali]

10 hours ago, drjonb said:

60-600 as a 'Macro'

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Excellent Jon! I really like everything about this image.

[drjonb]

2 hours ago, michali said:

Excellent Jon! I really like everything about this image.

Thanks, Mike, very kind.  The hardest part of that image was getting the insect to keep still….

[kobra]

16 hours ago, drjonb said:

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Great work @drjonb - this is not an easy shot; I have tried with the Sigma 100-400 and have not achieved the clarity you have here. Nicely done!

 Brad

[michali]

Red-billed Oxpecker  (Buphagus erythrorynchus) eating ticks out of a White Rhino's ear  -Zuka Game Reserve S Africa

SL2 & Sigma 60-600mm & 1.4x TC @ 840mm

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[drjonb]

4 hours ago, kobra said:

Great work @drjonb - this is not an easy shot; I have tried with the Sigma 100-400 and have not achieved the clarity you have here. Nicely done!

 Brad

Thanks, Brad, much appreciated.  I must give a lot of the credit to the lens, the AF on the 60-600 is really very quick which I have mentioned before (the latest 60-600 L-Mount has a different updated AF system to the 100-400); and of course luck plays a big part. These bees only stay feeding on a particular petal for a fraction of a second and then move on to the next one.

[michali]

♀ White Rhino at Zuka Game Reserve S Africa. SL2-S & Sigma 60-600mm 

Rhinos are highly endangered due to rampant poaching, they're being killed for their horns which is made of keratin, the same material as our fingernails.

The horn is powdered and used in traditional medicine in Asia, with people believing that it's an aphrodisiac and can also cure cancer. All bullshit of course, it's as effective as chewing your fingernails. Rhino horn trades on the black market for up to $200, 000- per kilogram.

 We started dehorning all of our Rhinos in 2015, to remove the incentive for poachers. This has so far proven to be a successful strategy & we're seeing a reduction in poaching of Rhinos.

Some more images here from posts I made in 2018: Saving a Species from Extinction Part 1   Saving A Species From Extinction - Part two 4 images    Saving A Species From Extinction - Part three 3 images

This female's horn is regrowing again (much like our fingernails), after we removed the horn 18 months ago. We dehorned her again last week.  

It costs us approx. USD10, 000- to dehorn each Rhino, the exercise involves specialist wildlife vets, helicopters & ground teams all working in tandem.

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Edited June 10, 2023 by michali

[michali]

Not one of my best Leopard shots; just to illustrate the AF speed of this lens. It's quite fast even with the 1.4x TC mounted.

SL2-S &  Sigma 60-600mm & 1.4x TC @ 145mm.   Zuka Game Reserve S Africa  

She was moving quickly through the tall grass & plenty foliage in the way.

Camera set to: SPOT FOCUS, AFS, SINGLE SHOT & as always I tried to stay on the animal's eyes.

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[drjonb]

12 hours ago, michali said:

♀ White Rhino at Zuka Game Reserve S Africa. SL2-S & Sigma 60-600mm 

Rhinos are highly endangered due to rampant poaching, they're being killed for their horns which is made of keratin, the same material as our fingernails.

The horn is powdered and used in traditional medicine in Asia, with people believing that it's an aphrodisiac and can also cure cancer. All bullshit of course, it's as effective as chewing your fingernails. Rhino horn trades on the black market for up to $200, 000- per kilogram.

 We started dehorning all of our Rhinos in 2015, to remove the incentive for poachers. This has so far proven to be a successful strategy & we're seeing a reduction in poaching of Rhinos.

Some more images here from posts I made in 2018: Saving a Species from Extinction Part 1   Saving A Species From Extinction - Part two 4 images    Saving A Species From Extinction - Part three 3 images

This female's horn is regrowing again (much like our fingernails), after we removed the horn 18 months ago. We dehorned her again last week.  

It costs us approx. USD10, 000- to dehorn each Rhino, the exercise involves specialist wildlife vets, helicopters & ground teams all working in tandem.

(please click on image for better res.)

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Magnificent animal and great shot as always.  It is heartening to hear of your efforts to save the Rhino, thanks for the links to your earlier posts.  I wish you well in such efforts.  Mankind appears on a relentless path to its own extinction with the current failure to address climate change on the necessary scale, the pursuit of dwindling natural resources (particularly in Africa), and of course a developing seismic shift in the balance of economic and political hegemony between the ‘great’ powers.  And as we stand in probably the most dangerous place ever where the threat of a global conflagration is concerned, our quality of governance in the so-called first world is in a dire state!  Maybe the Rhinos and Elephants and others will outlive us all!  Or maybe the robots will take over…if we believe the utter nonsense about AI in the media.  Not sure if the AI hype has reached South Africa yet!

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Hallo,

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[jaapv]

20 hours ago, michali said:

♀ White Rhino at Zuka Game Reserve S Africa. SL2-S & Sigma 60-600mm 

Rhinos are highly endangered due to rampant poaching, they're being killed for their horns which is made of keratin, the same material as our fingernails.

The horn is powdered and used in traditional medicine in Asia, with people believing that it's an aphrodisiac and can also cure cancer. All bullshit of course, it's as effective as chewing your fingernails. Rhino horn trades on the black market for up to $200, 000- per kilogram.

 We started dehorning all of our Rhinos in 2015, to remove the incentive for poachers. This has so far proven to be a successful strategy & we're seeing a reduction in poaching of Rhinos.

Some more images here from posts I made in 2018: Saving a Species from Extinction Part 1   Saving A Species From Extinction - Part two 4 images    Saving A Species From Extinction - Part three 3 images

This female's horn is regrowing again (much like our fingernails), after we removed the horn 18 months ago. We dehorned her again last week.  

It costs us approx. USD10, 000- to dehorn each Rhino, the exercise involves specialist wildlife vets, helicopters & ground teams all working in tandem.

(please click on image for better res.)

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Very interesting, and useful, Mike, and close to my heart. Not many  people realize that there are  Rhino subspecies that are extinct already. The Northern White Rhino has only two females left in Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, both incapable of carrying a pregnancy. There is frozen sperm  but of doubtful quality and  the eggs harvested from the females are doubtful too. Scientists are looking into genetic techniques. I took this photograph (on foot) in 2014. Using an M240 and 105-280 R back then.