Sigma 120-400 Any Good?

I'm thinking of replacing my Tamron 70-300 with a Sigma 120-400, does anyone have this lens? is it good? how sharp through the full range of the lens are the images? etc etc your views are appreciated.

I'm not considering the Bigma as I have filters that would fit the 120-400 and I wanted something little smaller and more portable.

Has anyone used the 120-400 with the Sigma teleconverters, and if so what was the impact on image quality?

I haven't tried one myself as I replaced my Tamron with the DA55-300 and then the DA*60-250 which is now way more expensive.

It's probably a very good choice. I would be very interested to hear any other Pentax users opinions.

Sigma say that it is compatable with their 1.4x and 2x TC's but you won't get AF operation.

You would be better advised to find a Tamron 1.4x Pz-AF TC which has the SDM/HSM power contacts, but make sure it's the Pz-AF version. They are only available s/h now and are somewhat rare.

I can't find it now, but there was a comparative test between the Sigma and Tamron 1.4x TC's and the Tamron was a clear winner optically.

Hi Richard,
Would be interested to hear how the DA 55-300 compares with the DA* 60-250, perhaps as a seperate post:

Davex.

Simon - might find the Sigma 135-400 worth a look at. Its not an HSM lens, and has a aperature ring, so useable on any K mount body you care to mention. Not very heavy compared to the 150-500 or the 50-500, so quite travel friendly. Part of my overseas kit - it's already short listed for the trip to NZ/Aus in March

I had a play with it with an EX 1.4 TC and was pleased with the result. Not pixel peeped it to any degree and it wasn't a shot that would stop a show!

There are a couple of shots taken with this lens in my gallery - one at the extreme end of the zoom.


Steve

Hello all. I have a sigma 120-400mm lens and I think it's pretty good. I must confess that I have not used it that much, mainly because I tend to travel around on a pushbike and although the 120-400 is smaller than a bigma or a 150-500, it is still quite a lump to lug around..., and I also managed to get hold of a DA*300mm for a bit of a steal and have been so enamoured with that I tend to take that around given the choice.

I haven't tried it with a teleconverter although I have half a mind to get hold of a 1.4x to see what it is like - I understand that the autofocus will not work with a teleconverter fitted. I like the fact that it is a 77mm thread on the front as I have three other lenses that size so no need to buy a new suite of filters. I also have a (very cheap) sigma 70-300mm and I reckon on the whole that the 120-400mm is perhaps a little sharper at 400mm than that is at 300mm.

I saw an article recently in Digital camera magazine (autumn 09 edition) which compared 8 'super-telephoto' lenses and the 120-400mm was their 'winner' (beating the 50-500mm, the 150-500mm, and tokina, tamron, nikon, olympus and canon lenses) although the example on test was not the pentax variant, rather a version with built in optical stabilisation - the pentax one not requiring because of the stabilisation built into the pentax bodies.

Here are a few images I have taken with mine:
















The first four of these are all at 400mm, the first three hand-held. The fourth (the boat sailing in front of the isle of wight) is 400mm from a tripod, and the final image (the mallard) is at 270mm. I tend to find I generally use the lens at 400mm. These were all taken earlier this year when I was not very au-fait with photoshop elements (I still only manage the basics:shock so I don't think there's been a great deal of post processing - mainly just a bit of a tweak and a crop. All were taken on the K10d, although the lens works fine on the k7. The HSM is very quiet and not too sluggish...

Don't know if that helps - hope so. I really ought to make a resolution to take mine out more

Regards

Mat

Some tests on my Flickr site. Choose which lens you want to pixel peep at! LINK HERE

Thanks Guys

I think I'll look at the sigma 120-400 in the new year in hope that santa deposits me with some bank of england gift vouchers!

I have tested the lens a few months ago on a Canon system (EOS 50D) and I must say that I was impressed. At half the price of the Canon 100-400L it seems like a good value for money option. For Pentax I think there must be a non-stabilised version..I am not sure though.

That's right, the pentax version does not have the optical stabilisation in the lens because the pentax digital bodies (certainly the K10/20/7) have the shake reduction built in. I think that makes the pentax fit variant a little cheaper (although I could be wrong)...

Mat

I have the Sigma DG 120-400 HSM lens. I have also posted a some photos on the forum that I have taken with it and I am very pleased with the results.
Like every new lens it takes a bit of used too, before getting get the best out of it.

Hi Simon

I bought this lens earlier this year from SRS and have been very impressed with it. I bought it for taking photos of wildlife plus model gliders, that I am involved in racing. Don’t let the glider reference fool you into thinking they are slow moving, when we race them they will be flying well in excess of 100mph. I went for the 120-400 mm lens as I wanted something that usable hand held in reasonable light and have not been disappointed.

I have also used the lens once for some work I do with a local youth theatre group and was impressed how well it handled low light conditions for what would be considered quite a slow lens. The added bonus here was that I usually use a Pentax 100-300 mm zoom lens, the Sigma focused a lot quicker and is very quietly compared to this lens and doesn’t hunt like mad in low light which my Pentax lens is prone to.

If you go this route I don’t think you will be disappointed

Andrzej

might be useful? : http://www.popphoto.com/Reviews/Lenses/Sigma-120-400mm-f-4.5-5.6-DG-OS-HSM-Lens-...

sorry if this is bad form but the only info I've seen is on another site where user brandrx has had the pleasure of owning most of the long lens options, suggest you have a search there too for his username

recent threads re the sigma TCs:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1036&message=33718736&q=bra...

hope it helps

FWIW my memory is that users on the other site felt the 120-400 is a bit softer at 400mm