Flora, fauna and other animals people see whilst out driving.
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No good at all. I thought you had a Pelican Case with silica to keep it dried out. Is the Sigma lens still serviceable, Cuppa?
I do have a Pelican case with regularly changed silica gel .......but I fell into the habit of often leaving the camera out 'ready to use'. When I left it in the case inevitably birds had gone by the time I'd pulled it out of the case & assembled the lenses.
The Sigma lens is still good. As are all the lenses.
Camera I have just bought is a full frame Sony A7III. The ASP-C (crop frame sensor) lenses fit it & I'll use them for the time being, but they only use a portion of the full frame sensor, & the effective focal length is shorter, which much of the time wont matter, but the output is only 10 Mp instead of the camera's full capability, so in a pic like above heavy cropping would see the image degraded more. It also means that whilst using crop sensor lenses I can't make use of the full frame's superior low light capability. Problem was , because of the worldwide chip shortage, Sony decided to concentrate on their full frame range & I wasn't able to source another A6500/6600 & needed a camera here which could use the lenses I have. Could have got an A6400, but for some reason it doesn't have inbuilt image stabilisation which I now consider essential. (Better still when combined with a lens that also has inbuilt image stabilisation).
I would have liked the newer A7IV as it has bird eye tracking autofocus, but couldn't justify an extra $1k just for that. As it is my wallet is still in recovery mode from the A7III body purchase! I've seen pics of birds in thick bush taken using the bird eye tracking & they have been pin sharp. Only way I can achieve that is using manual focus, & this relies on the bird staying still for long enough for me to adjust the focus, which, especially with the big Sigma can take a while.
The Sigma is the only full frame lens I have, & to be honest whilst it does the job, I am finding it to be a bit too heavy & bulky. Pointing it at a bird, all too often the shot I want is just after I've lowered the camera because my arms are aching! MrsTea has told me I can buy the Sony Gmaster 100-400 zoom lens with a x1.4 Sony teleconverter. This will give me 540mm so not too far off the Sigma, & quite a bit lighter (Also a lot more expensive! ), but I think it'll have to wait until we are back in Vic next year. For now I have to get used to the Sigma only giving me 600mm. (On a crop frame camera it gave me 900mm).
How are you finding your Sigma?
Last edited by Cuppa; 27th June 2022 at 01:10 PM.
2006 4.2TDi ex-Telstra Remote area Camper. 425w roof mounted solar, 360Ah Aux batts, BCDC1240, Onboard hot & cold pressurised & filtered water, (25 litre hot water calorifier), ARB fridge, ARB freezer, Built in kitchen, heaps of easy access storage, 240v, 3” Genie exhaust + dynotune, 2” lift, 3900kg GVM upgrade, second glovebox, ROH Blaktrak steel wheels, Bridgestone D697's (now Toyo RT's), Redarc gauges/pillarpod, Hema HX-1, Icom 450 CB, dual rear view cameras, Onboard 30amp Victron mains charger, second glovebox, dual seat conversion, TPMS, Boss PX7 onboard air with 9 litre tank, 350w inverter, Steel bullbar, Harrop Eaton diff lock (front), Warn winch, Snorkel, Dual spares , 160 litre water tank, 180 litre fuel in two tanks (approx 1200km range) 2010 Tvan Tanami. (incl another 70 litre water tank) with matching wheels/tyres (& 3rd spare) A Nomadic Life (Blog)
Glad to read your lenses are Ok. The Sigma is far too heavy, to be honest. I can only get a couple shots off when holding the camera, especially above chest height. It also has the annoying ability to go out of focus at exactly the wrong moment. But it can also give me some fantastic results when used in conjunction with a tripod.
It also has the annoying ability to go out of focus at exactly the wrong moment.
I've found that sometimes too, usually because I've been at a distance from the subject which might change a little & take me from one distance range on the lens to another. Also using autofocus is tricky because the focal length multiplies any movement causing focus to change. I've found using the continuous autofocus (AF-C) helps a bit, but at the longer focal lengths the lens struggles to keep up with the camera. It is still a good lens for the price & as you say capable of great images, so nothing wrong with the glass. Just a beast of a lens!
2006 4.2TDi ex-Telstra Remote area Camper. 425w roof mounted solar, 360Ah Aux batts, BCDC1240, Onboard hot & cold pressurised & filtered water, (25 litre hot water calorifier), ARB fridge, ARB freezer, Built in kitchen, heaps of easy access storage, 240v, 3” Genie exhaust + dynotune, 2” lift, 3900kg GVM upgrade, second glovebox, ROH Blaktrak steel wheels, Bridgestone D697's (now Toyo RT's), Redarc gauges/pillarpod, Hema HX-1, Icom 450 CB, dual rear view cameras, Onboard 30amp Victron mains charger, second glovebox, dual seat conversion, TPMS, Boss PX7 onboard air with 9 litre tank, 350w inverter, Steel bullbar, Harrop Eaton diff lock (front), Warn winch, Snorkel, Dual spares , 160 litre water tank, 180 litre fuel in two tanks (approx 1200km range) 2010 Tvan Tanami. (incl another 70 litre water tank) with matching wheels/tyres (& 3rd spare) A Nomadic Life (Blog)
Female Eclectus Parrot. We watched the nesting hollow, knowing she was inside. Occasionally we would hear her call - the 'bring me food' call. When some passing males answered her call she popped her head out hopefully. The hollow was at around 30 metres height.
The Following 8 Users Say Thank You to Cuppa For This Useful Post:
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