User review: Sigma 400mm f/5.6 AF in PKA mount

Had the opportunity to buy a copy of this lens from a seller on e-bay who happened to live within a few minutes drive and hence I was able view before bidding.

Given that affordable AF primes of this focal length in PKA mount are somewhat of a rarity, and that examples of this particular lens are offered for sale on e-bay fairly frequently, I thought it potentially worthwhile sharing some examples to illustrate the kind of results that can be obtained when used in combination with a K20D or K5.

Test images (hand-held and tripod-mounted at various apertures with and without a Sigma 1.4X or Tamron 2X TC) as well as 'real world' examples can be found here link.

With 1 or 2 clearly labelled exceptions, all the images were captured in JPEG format (in-camera default settings) and subjected to minimal post-capture editing in PSE 9.0 (correction of colour cast when necessary, levels adjustment, cropping and resizing).

Constructive feedback as to the utilty, or otherwise, of these images for those hankering after an affordable prime with greater reach would be much appreciated.

Jon

i have this lens and find that it needs good light, works best around f9.5 -f16 and a fast sutter speed i did find that i had to ajust the af to -5 to get the best out of it, anybody had the same experance? have not tryed it yet in raw mode i have put a photo on the gallery but its from the wrong folder will put the right one up tommorrow doh