Tag Archives: lens review

Sigma 50-500mm on Canon T2i • 2 Comments

Emm • August 25, 2010

This is project 'overkill'. This is the setup for those who might feel a bit inadequate with their camera body and need to throw on some type of intimidation factor. LOL. The Sigma looks huge on the Canon T2i and there's a battery pack on. Imagine what it would look like without. Someone wanted to see what this would look like, it's crazy. It's so forward heavy, I wouldn't be able to shoot with this thing if it were on the T2i. It does take some awesome photos with great range http://cheesycam.com/sigma-50-500mm-quick-test/

Sigma 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM APO Autofocus Lens

Update on the Sigma and Canon Lens
I screwed up big time talking about reviewing the Sigma 50-500mm vs. the Canon 100-400mm. The Sigma is in a different class, and I was confused by the price. They both sit around the $1600 dollar range. In fact the lens that I really should be comparing to the Canon 100-400mm is the Sigma 120-400mm F/4.5-5.6 that has the same aperture range and costs only $900 dollars. I'll see if I can return this Sigma 50-500mm and review the other. It won't be anytime soon though, so for now i'm not going to do Lens vs. Lens, i'll just review them seperately. I did get to shoot with the Canon 100-400mm on the 5D Mark II and is there such a thing as 'love at first click?'. I'm blown away by this lens on how fast and sharp it is. The colors and contrast that come from a lens with this range is amazing. The optical stabilization works awesome, I was able to do some handheld video at 400mm with decent results. Imagine if I had a Tripod. Next article post will be around the Canon 100-400mm F/4.5-5.6.

Canon Zoom Telephoto EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS (Image Stabilizer) USM Autofocus Lens

Sigma 50-500mm Quick Test • 7 Comments

Emm • August 24, 2010

Sample Wide and Zoom shots with Sigma 50-500mm, click any image for a slighter larger view.

Wide shot of Hotel and then zoomed in to the moon.

Wide shot of bay and then zoomed in on some visitors

Wide shot of the bay and then zoomed in on the feeding bird

Stupid me, didn't have a tripod with me in the car to test the massive Sigma 50-500mm Lens. I can shoot handheld since this lens has optical stabilization, but forget trying to do video at 500mm. Sorry no video samples yet, but here's a look at the range this bad boy can pull off on a Canon 5D Mark II. This is a watch spot around Burlingame close to the San Francisco Airport. There wasn't parking so I jumped out, took a few snaps, and then drove off. These are unedited quick jpegs resized for the web, nothing fancy, just images to show the range you get to play with.

Sigma 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM APO Autofocus Lens

New, New, & New Stuff to Review • 8 Comments

Emm • August 23, 2010

Monday's mail bag contains my two Sima L Brackets referencing this article I posted not long ago http://cheesycam.com/double-l-bracket-configuration-alzo-t-pod/. I went with the Sima as it was cheaper than the Alzo L Bracket. It feels real solid and has the dual shoe mount. I'll have more information on what I plan on doing with these when I get my aluminum flat bar cut out.

Here's an image of the Canon T2i with Sima L Bracket next to my Zoom H1 Portable Audio recorder.

Sima Video Bracket with Handle + 2 Accessory Mounts

Next up, received the package from bhphotovideo.com . No it's not my Zoom H1 Portable Digital Audio Recorder, that's coming in the mail tomorrow. This box contains some very special lenses. I recently shot at the Craigslist Foundation Boot camp, and was requested to shoot the conference event speeches with DSLR's. Normally I would have opted for a Sony EX1, or Panasonic HVX for longer running video clips, but we were able to shoot with the Canon 5D Mark II using multiple camera angles and overlapped recording. The only problem we ran into was the range of the lenses. Shooting off to the side and wanting the closest possible headshot, my Canon 70-200mm F/2.8 on the full frame just didn't cut it. With the Canon 2x Teleconverter on, we got closer, but the aperture minimum now up F/5.6 (the converter does this) plus the dim lit theater combination had us up to ISO 1600 at the least.

So after every shoot I think about what lenses could make this so much easier and provide better quality, still keeping in mind it has to be at an affordable price. Having a telephoto lens is important for this type of coverage, so prime lenses would be out of the question. I needed to zoom in and zoom out for wider shots as they traveled the stage. For low light, I needed something that had at least a comparable aperture of F/5.6. So I narrowed down cost + functionality to two lenses. The Canon 100-400mm F/4.5-5.6L with IS & the new Sigma 50-500mm F/4.5-6.3 with optical stabilization. Yes the Sigma stops down to 6.3 at the longest 500mm, but as a comparison i'll see if I can get 5.6 at 400mm with the Sigma. Both priced roughly around $1600 US Dollars i'll have the lens vs. lens comparison up this week......

Canon Zoom Telephoto EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS (Image Stabilizer) USM Autofocus Lens