sigma 50-500/nikon D-70 question

[namgrunt 0]

anyone tried the sigma lens 50-500 ?
will it auto focus fast enough to get landing pictures/

its a tossup between nikon 80-400vr or the sigma 50-500

..

59 YEARS,OVERWEIGHT,BALDIND,X-GRUNT
LAST MIL. JUMP VIET-NAM(QUAN-TRI)
www.dzmemories.com

[freeflydrew 0]

IMO, neither lens you mention are going to be great for photographing landings... First of all, unless you're planning on being way fay away from the landing, having the extra 200-400/500mm is unnecessary. The f/4-5.6 means that as you zoom in and out you will have to constantly refocus because the aperature will be changing, where as a lens with a fixed f/stop of say f/4, would allow you to lock in your focus on the subject and then zoom in or out to frame the subject, without losing your focus. Also, the f/stop (aperature/speed) of the lens is kinda slow. Sigma and Nikon both make a 70-200mm f/2.8 which would probably better suite your needs for photographing landings. You can focus on your subject and zoom in or out without having to refocus, and the the faster lens (f/2.8), means more light and faster shutter speeds (greater range of photographic opportunities). You can still shoot at any aperature smaller than f/2.8 (f/4, f/5.6, etc), but you can get the bigger opening if you need it. The 200mm is plenty of zoom for most landing areas and competitions.
The other thing is that the f/4-f/5.6 lenses are going to be too slow for indoor/lower light photography, so you are really limited with where you can shoot with those lenses.
In terms of focusing, I think that the sigma lenses and nikon lenses will focus fast enough for landing photographs.
Hope this helps
-drew

[velocityphoto 0]

I agree 100 % i shoot landings all day long with my 70-200 2.8 usm canon i have a 2x converter to match the lense but i never use it much .I always have awsum results though..
Lonnie

A friend will bail you out of jail , a REAL friend will be sitting next to you in the cell slapping your hand saying "DUDE THAT WAS AWSUM " ................

[dragon2 0]

I usually use a 28-135 or 35-200 for shooting landings, plenty long enough. And even 28 or 35 is too long if people know you're there and come close to you.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[DancingFlame 0]

Bigma (Big Sigma 50-500, about 7 lbs!) is equipped with HSM (hypersonic mechanism). Auto focusing is fast enough to catch such a big bird. However that long lens is never needed for landing shots, 200 mm is more than enough.
But with 500 mm one will be able to shoot people in freefall from the ground! I saw shots made at 500 mm and was quite amazed with the quality.
VR is not required for landing shots as tripod might be used.
Personally, I use Sigma 70-300 APO that costs something around $200 and get perfect shots.

[freeflydrew 0]

Another thing about getting a faster lens (f/2.8) is that you can produce those pics where the subject is very clear and the background is all blurry... Super nice effect in photography. I think it's called a shallow depth of field.

[namgrunt 0]

got it today

I really like to get pictures of faces in the last 10 feet od landing.

folks do NOT know how much they concentrate .

I take pictures that I like and sometime outhers like them enough to buy them.

since i can no longer jump ,this is my part of the sport. wife still jumps and my choice was packing bitc@ or staying at home waiting for her to return.

we travel around to the bigger boogies so she can jump and my sport pays for her sport.

yes bigma is heavy
but wowwww can you get close to the action

nikon d-70
iso 400
full frame of sholders and head

then back it up and take super wide with a nikkor 12mm

..

59 YEARS,OVERWEIGHT,BALDIND,X-GRUNT
LAST MIL. JUMP VIET-NAM(QUAN-TRI)
www.dzmemories.com