Recently bought a Sigma 150-500 mm and I figured it was worth recommending.

When spring hit I started taking pictures of the birds behind our house using the 70-300 mm lens but found myself always wanting more reach. After some research I realised the only lens within a pricerange that would not summon the fury of the CEO was the Sigma 150-500 mm OS lens (known as 'the Bigmos'). The main draw of the lens is that it is suposed to be possible to handhold at 500 mm. Also it is not white like the L telephotos so it does not scream PAPARAZZI!!!

Got the lens and a couple of filters for ~$1040 with S/H from king camera - was a disapointing experience since it took them a week to get the lens to me even though I bought overnight shipping - so when the lens came spring had gone and we had 2 weeks straight of rain

The lens itself though is fun as hell I am not going to do a review - there are lots of those done by people who actually know what they are talking about so I will just give you some quick thoughts:

- It can indeed be handheld at 500 mm (in my case on the 50D it is an equivelant 800 mm) and it still gets good results.
- It does require a lot of light so on a sunny day I shoot ISO 400 to get 1/800 @ F8 which I find is the low limit for what I need for good pictures without shake.
- The OS is crazy good but it does take a second to kick in and is a little noisy.
- Focus is fast - matching any of the Canon lenses I have.
- Image quality is decent - could be better but considering the price and specs it is as good as one can reasonably expect. The main problem is probably dark corners becoming noticeble if shooting at the sky.
- It is a heavy lens - with the 50D I would say its about 6-7 lb worth - which is alright for handholding for a few minutes at a time, but I would definatly not want to carry it around for long.

Overall I am very happy with the Bigmos - anyone wanting to take pictures of birds and other wildlife should consider it

Anywho - here is a smattering of pictures I've taken with the lens:

Attached Images

      

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- Ravenheart