First impressions
First of all, the reason why I bought that lens is a small
mistake. The first "serious" telezoom I bought for my new D70 camera
has been the Sigma 70-200 EX 2.8 with a Sigma 2x teleconverter.
I bought those because I wanted quality glass and fast glass at a reasonable
price and the possibility to have a 600mm equivalent for nature photography. In
fact, the combo 70-200+TC was working pretty well, with excellent sharp pictures
BUT in practice I was switching all the time (with or without TC), because
sometimes I needed the speed (2.8) because of the poor light, sometimes I needed
the reach (shorter than the 140mm you get as a minimum with the TC installed),
sometimes I wanted the 400mm etc...
So I looked for a better solution.
The Sigma 80-400 OS gave me the range I was looking for, with a smaller aperture
on the short end but with the optical stabilization, a major advantage for
relatively static subjects. In the meantime, this lens became my favorite nature
lens.
For the pros and cons, also have a look here (comparison between the Nikkor and the Sigma)
Pros
- incredibly versatile zoom - fantastic range
- OS is working and can save quite a lot of pictures (400mm 1/60 is possible
hand held)
- very good build quality
- reasonably fast AF (built-in motor) body independent
Cons
- weight and size
- softness if not closed down @400mm
- AF and OS are a bit noisy
- I don't like the grey finishing of the Sigma lenses
- lens with a learning phase
The technique - tips
It is important that you pre-activate the OS before shooting by
pressing the shutter button. It takes approximately half a second to stabilize.
You see a kind of slow motion effect in the viewfinder, confirming that OS is
active. Use mode 1 for normal shooting, mode 2 for panning (typically shooting
cars or planes during an airshow).
To get the best picture quality @400mm, you will have to close down to f11 (peak
performance). This is easily usable even for action shots on a sunny day but you
might have to select a high ISO value (ISO800 gives perfect results on a D200).
See examples below.
Pictures - a few among my favorite shots (I have tons of them)
Sharp eyes
Whale watching @400mm Tadoussac, Quebec province, Canada
Another one (whale watching in the mist...)
Action shot (bikers in BC, Canada)
A last one, the lens is huge when extended (here mounted on a D200)
