#Sigma zoom lens

[abirddogmoment]

I got a refurb canon rebel t7 as a wedding gift last year and have several good lenses (Tamron something for landscape, and a canon 55-250 mm for zooms) both of which are second hand from camera shops, but I was wondering what exactly do you recommend for a birding setup? Preferably dedicated amateur-friendly, and not national geographic level! Also I'm limited to the t7 for at least a while. The 55-250 is blurry at max zoom but I can get decent pictures with good lighting and a stationary subject and I wonder if better lens will help. Thank you!

Hi! I'm gonna be honest, 85% of my wildlife photos on this blog were taken with my Canon Rebel T6i and a Canon 55-250mm. It is not a professional level lens but it is extremely versatile and was my go-to for years and years. I would highly recommend it as a budget lens for pretty much everything!

I would personally stay away from the Canon 75-300mm. It's a decent lens but you get a lot of distortion and I found the image stabilizer lacking. I used my 55-250mm much more than my 75-300mm.

My current set up is a refurbished Canon 7D, which I really like so far, and a Sigma 150-600mm. You can definitely get better lenses (and better cameras) but for where I'm at in terms of skill, usage, and budget, it's pretty much perfect. I'm really excited to get out more this year now that I have a really solid set up!

[sirfrogsworth]

I had a bad feeling about sending all of my camera gear to Sigma. I sent my camera body and only 2 lenses to get calibrated because they were wildly out of alignment and all attempts to adjust them myself failed miserably.

Sending my only means to create photography across the country just felt scary. And it turns out my fears were somewhat warranted. Though my big fear was my stuff being pulverized during shipping. I paid for insurance, but I've heard stories of USPS not honoring that or making it a lengthy and painful process.

But the frustrating happenstance ended up being less smashy-smashy and more bureaucratic in nature.

I previously asked Sigma's service department how much it would cost to get each lens calibrated. They told me $100 for a zoom, and $50 for a prime. And there was no hesitation in their wording. There was no "it could be more or less depending on these circumstances." They said very definitively those were the prices.

So the final repair quote was sent today and it is... confusing.

Wut?

First of all, the total should be $400. So they can't even get their own math correct.

But this is not what was agreed to and I risked sending my entire photography setup to New York under the assumption it would only cost $150 plus shipping and tax.

So, I sent screen captures of my quotes to the service department. But I also mentioned how I have had frustrating experiences with them in the past with no satisfactory resolution.

After an unscrupulous Amazon seller sold me a fraudulent lens, I asked Sigma's service department how I could prevent this from happening in the future. They told me to only purchase their lenses from "Authorized Dealers" listed on their website.

And that's exactly what I did.

And I got scammed... AGAIN.

An "Authorized Dealer" sold me a refurbished lens as new. I paid full price for it. And when I asked Sigma what to do, they said they would "investigate" and that was it.

To this day, that dealer is still on their authorized list. And I have a lens I paid full price for which has no warranty.

I love Sigma lenses. You get as-good or sometimes better quality for half the price of the name brand lenses. I really don't have a choice but to purchase their lenses. And I don't think the company as a whole is bad. But their New York service department is failing to live up to the brand's standards.

I'm hoping after seeing my receipts, they will honor their original prices, but I am really frustrated with my entire customer service experience.

[kas-e]

Street Scenes from Catania, Sicily.

I particularly like this set because it puts me right back on the streets of southern Italy, and reminds me of how charming it was upon arrival that first day. I also shot verticals on the street for most of the time, so these are the few that I grabbed in landscape format.

The trip was shot with a full frame Nikon d600, Sigma 24mm 1.8EX, and the dated and underrated 28-200G Nikkor (G lens but with a screw drive, from the film era). I like the zoom so much, especially coupled with the d600 because it's so light and compact, and if you shoot it stopped down a stop or two it still delivers. Amazing travel rig, stays light in the pack but still covers. I highly recommend.

[istandonsnowpiles]

My Photography in 2024 by the numbers

📸 Total photos taken

In 2024, I took 18,277 photos, that's about 50 photos a day!

In 2023, I took 23,721 photos. So I took 5,444 fewer photos this year than last year.

Photos taken this year make up 27% of my photography archive, which is 65,814 photos total.

💽 Raw Photo Storage

Photos taken this year take up 677GB.

That's about $9.30 of storage at current hard drive prices (per diskprices.com, $13.75/TB)

In 2023, photos took up 914GB of storage, so we're down 237GB from last year.

Photos taken this year make up 25% of my archive storage, 2.64TB.

💾 Keepers

In 2024, I exported and posted 1,129 photos, about 4.25 photos a day.

In 2023, I exported and posted 1,600 photos, about 4.4 photos a day. So, while I exported 471 fewer photos (about 30% fewer), I maintained my usual posting rate.

Exported photos from 2024 take up about 11GB on top of the 677GB above. JPEGs are far smaller than raws!

🪩 Klout

Flickr

My photos received about 616,000 views, 18,500 likes, and were featured on Flickr's Explore page 19 times. That's up 130,000 views and 4,800 likes from 2023. My most popular photo was The Sears Tower

Tumblr

All but one of my top 10 posts of the year were photos, with I think we need to put more lines up there topping the list at about 1,800 notes.

My top photography post is still my 8 minute long exposure from Lake Placid from 2022, which topped 115,000 notes this year. None of my posts from this year broke into the top 10 posts of this blog by notes.

Electric Phallus Friday remains a thing every week. No, I do not run the daily blog for it. Tho, I bet I know who does. Thank you.

Google Maps

If you're looking at places around DC, or places I have travelled, on Google Maps you might spot some of my photos. My photos have 10.8 million views on Google Maps, with Kenilworth Park and Pudgie's Pizza in Corning NY both breaking a million views each.

IRL

My photo Alone at the Reflecting Pool was a winner in the 2024 Exposed DC photography contest and will be featured in The DC Public Library's People's Archive soon.

⚙️ Gear

Cameras

In 2024, I used at least 10 cameras*:

Fujifilm X-T2 (248 edited photos)

Fujifilm X-E1 - Full Spectrum Converted (99 edited photos)

Fujifilm X-H1 (56 edited photos)

Fujifilm X-T5 & Full Spectrum Converted X-T5 (1,478 edited photos)

Film Cameras, mostly Nikon F3 (83 photos)

Panasonic LX100II (2 edited photos)

Panasonic S5 II (60 edited photos)

Panasonic GX85 - 590nm Infrared Converted (145 edited photos)

Sigma DP2 Quattro (45 edited photos)

Sony RX100 VII (35 edited photos)

This year I upgraded by trusty Fujifilm X-T2 to an X-T5. I had gotten the Fujifilm X-H1, which has the same sensor as the X-T2 (which I love), but with IBIS. An X-T2 with IBIS would be my ideal camera if it existed, but it doesn't, and the X-H1 handling is so different that I didn't enjoy it. I ended up selling the X-H1 and handing down the X-T2 to @dykedotexe.

This year I rented the Panasonic S5 II and Sony RX100 VII, both of which are fine cameras that I probably wouldn't rent again. I would love a high resolution Panasonic S5 body, maybe at CES?

Lenses

For full data, see the Read More

Top used lenses:

Fujifilm 33mm f/1.4

Fujifilm 16-55mm f/2.8

Fujifilm 56mm f/1.2

Viltrox 27mm f/1.2

Fujifilm 18mm f/1.4

The only surprising entry here is the 16-55mm. It's a standard zoom and the lens I've had for the longest. So, it's certainly my Old Faithful lens. However, I don't think I realized how much I was using it.

My most common lens combos are:

Fujifilm 18 & 33 - I travel with this setup frequently. They're both nearly perfect lenses I feel very comfortable using. Plus, they're fairly small.

Viltrox 27 & Fujifilm 56 - I tend to like longer lenses more than wider, and these two lenses are probably my favorite. So, you'll catch me with this a lot. Tho, it's a heavy setup.

Fujifilm 16-55mm - if I'm gonna be on a tripod or unsure of what to bring, this is the lens. It's big, heavy, and slow compared to all my primes, but I know it'll work. Fujifilm recently released a version 2 of this lens that I might need to pick up based on these numbers!

*in this section, edited photo counts are taken from Lightroom, a difference source than the Keepers section above. The numbers in the two sections are not comparable. Edited photos may not have been exported and posted.

🙄 To Improve in 2025

In 2024, my projects in Lightroom rarely got cleaned up. I still have imports from March that I need to curate and edit. 7,400 photos (40% of what I shot this year) sit in my Lightroom unedited.

This year, I'd like to curate my photos before editing them, separating out the keepers & removing photos I don't want to edit. Of course, they'll all be in the archive still. But, I think this would help wrap up projects rather than letting them sit around forever.

Thanks for all your support in 2024. I'm working on improving all kinds of things in 2025. I'm currently working on my posting system, which should bring some cool things when I wrap up.

Lens usage data

Viltrox 13mm f/1.4 (23 edited photos)

Fujifilm 16-55mm f/2.8 (313 edited photos)

Fujifilm 10-24mm f/4 (41 edited photos)

Fujifilm 18mm f/1.4 (167 edited photos)

@dykedotexe's Fujifilm 23mm f/2 (17 edited photos)

Panasonic G 25mm f/1.7 (145 edited photos)

Viltrox 27mm f/1.2 (179 edited photos)

Sigma DP2 Quattro - 30mm f/2.8 (45 edited photos)

Fujifilm 33mm f/1.4 (556 edited photos)

Sigma 50mm f/2 - L Mount (60 edited photos)

Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 - F Mount (83 photos)

Fujifilm 50mm f/2 (35 edited photos)

Fujifilm 56mm f/1.2 (194 edited photos)

Fujifilm 50-140mm f/2.8 (28 edited photos)

Viltrox 75mm f/1.2 (61 edited photos)

Fujifilm 70-300mm f/4-5.6 (157 edited photos)

[helluvatimes]

A Small Community

A close-knit community of florets busy producing pollen in a sunflower flower head in the conservatory. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.

This was taken with a budget Canon zoom lens that seemed to be able to resolve as well as our old Sigma macro lens. The exposure was biased 1-1/3 stops darker to keep highlights.

[jazaesis]

Some shots I got from today’s eclipse 🌙 ✨ We had partial coverage in my area, about 50-70%

Did any of you get to see the eclipse today? Let me know in the comments!

[Shot on my Canon 90D with Sigma 18-300mm zoom lens]

[michaelwriston]

Hey Micheal what camera would you reccomend to some one starting out taking photos & what’s your set up?

Hey!

I'm a firm believer in buying an inexpensive DSLR or mirrorless setup with interchangeable lenses. You don't have to break the bank on a starter setup — just focus on buying a camera with a robust selection of first- and third-party lenses.

My usual advice is to start simple and only upgrade gear once you run into a physical or technical limitation that stops you from realizing your vision. For example, if you're not getting the shallow depth of field you want with your current lens and body, then maybe it's time to consider buying a lens with a larger maximum aperture (e.g., f/1.8 or f/1.4).

I started out with a Nikon D50 and a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8. That served me well for nearly five years, before I started running into technical limitations with the sensor that made shooting night photos difficult. That's when I switched to shooting medium format film for a spell, before ultimately settling on a full-frame Canon digital body. All-in-all, that experimentation period took about 17 years (I'm still not done).

That said, shop used for your first camera. Places like KEH or MPB have a great selection of tested and used gear. I personally shop from MPB. Here are a few great beginner full-frame camera bodies. I'll break out lenses later on in this post.

Why full frame? I think you get superior image quality, better depth of field, better image resolution for printing, and phenomenal dynamic range.

Canon EOS 5D Mark III ($714)

Nikon D750 ($774)

Canon 6D Mark II ($884)

Nikon D810 ($819)

Anyone of these are going to get the job done and then some.

The world of lenses is complicated and varied. You'll have “prime purists” that will tell you to eschew zoom lenses and only shoot prime (a lens with no zoom capabilities). You'll have people that say longer telephotos are all you need. The truth is, you'll find your niche the more you shoot. I prefer prime lenses for their simplicity (and the less I have to think about, the better).

I'll break these out by purpose.

Portraiture

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 ($259)

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 ($134)

Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 ($184)

Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 ($78)

Landscapes

Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 IS ($294)

Nikkor AF 24mm f/2.8 ($134)

Multipurpose

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-f/5.6 IS STM ($54)

Nikon AF-P DX Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ($73)

I could go on and on, but this is enough to get you a start in the right direction.

If I were to put together a beginner kit with the above options, I would snatch up the Canon 5D Mark III with the Canon 50mm f/1.8 and the Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 IS. Total cost before taxes and shipping would be $1,142. You would have an incredibly flexible kit that lends itself to portraiture, landscapes, and street work, all for the same price as a new “prosumer” kit with only one lens from Amazon or other big box stores. If you don't know which direction you want to go, or you want to save on cost, there's nothing wrong with swapping out the two primes and grabbing the 18-55mm kit lens for next to nothing. That will at least let you dabble with different focal lengths and see what suits you.

I'm happy to answer any other questions here!

P.S. I shoot with a Canon EOS 6D Mark I and usually have a Sigma 35mm f/1.4 lens mounted on it for street portrait/street landscape work. My other carry-around camera is a Ricoh GR III.

[thelearningcurvephotography]

Lucky Number 13.

One of my favorite past annual events here in Toronto, The St. Lawrence Market Criterium (sometimes called The Toronto Criterium). A section of downtown is closed to traffic and a 1km race course is constructed.

Original photography using a Canon EOS 60D body with a Sigma 17-70mm f2.8 DC Macro OS lens. Reprocessed using various Photoshop filters for the zoom effect.

Brian Carson The Learning Curve Photography linktr.ee/thelearningcurvephotography

[mirandamckenni1]

Liked on YouTube: Reacting to ~Actually Good~ Lesbian Thirst Traps (lord give me strength...) || https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bFoI0SDufo || Lesbians make everything better. We know this. To learn more about Lovehoney’s Womanizer Wave shower head, follow the link https://ift.tt/aY1jI29 and use code ALAYNAWAVE for 20% off sitewide for a limited lime. vvv OPEN DESCRIPTION! vvv The best way to support my content is through Patreon: https://ift.tt/AMfUV94 Check out CHOSEN FAMILY PODCAST here: https://ift.tt/KsIyhxk Check out my merch: https://ift.tt/Mpr1wtV Jade's Channel: @iamjadefox TIKTOK CREATORS FEATURED @Peta : https://ift.tt/LMTKtmw @Jorgee Rae. : https://ift.tt/kGdHZDR @angieberbuer: https://ift.tt/lnYGdp6 @God (genderless) : https://ift.tt/WVdl59f @nadegemferi: https://ift.tt/J2QpyqC @goddessgothx : https://ift.tt/fp2Iwt8 @jesse: https://ift.tt/ROnuY94 @LIBRASEASON: https://ift.tt/ZhHvEDo @faith: https://ift.tt/8RJwxXd @littlerey19: https://ift.tt/9zB8yX4 @gegenewtt: https://ift.tt/IRVGJcN @yourfavoriteroofer: https://ift.tt/3s9ai17 @sixtine: https://ift.tt/FIbEodX @babyazi: https://ift.tt/lQICNrY @zemossugarbaby: https://ift.tt/VBzX1ed @wlwbesties: https://ift.tt/B0ODunC @snackychannn : https://ift.tt/bCDrAWT @shellrowe: https://ift.tt/78boShK @maruzeedragon: https://ift.tt/gcZ8Bpo @yourstrawberryflame: https://ift.tt/XDy8f7g @thesamurider: https://ift.tt/xoCKP2B @kingkitty: https://ift.tt/bvROVrP @melfiretti: https://ift.tt/6f5lbFw FOLLOW ME Instagram ↠ http://www.Instagram.com/missfenderr  TikTok ↠ https://ift.tt/0w2SVj5   Twitter ↠ https://twitter.com/missfenderr  Twitch ↠ https://www.twitch.tv/alaynajoy  Facebook ↠ https://ift.tt/w9hIs4H Join my email list for a FREE Self-Compassion Mini Course ✨: https://ift.tt/gIV98ld RECOMMENDATIONS   ~ **Therapy has been the #1 best thing I’ve done for myself and my mental health. You can try online therapy here: https://ift.tt/8Wo3PHV (I receive commissions on referrals to BetterHelp.) MY VIDEO TOOLS   ~ **Closed Captioning is Rev.com (Get $10 off!): https://ift.tt/KtPA2gW   ~ **Music and SFX are Epidemic Sound (Sign up for a 30 day free trail!): https://alaynajoy.site/EpidemicSound  Canadian Equipment Links: Canon 80D - https://ift.tt/cukqgvY   Sigma 18-35mm Lens - https://ift.tt/R5QBLSa   Zoom H4N Pro Mic - https://ift.tt/Tk6M0lA   Diva Ring Light - https://ift.tt/rvSVxsi   Canon G7X Vlog Camera - https://ift.tt/2jAgFXs   DJI Mavic Pro 2 - https://ift.tt/0PIjgTC   USA Equipment Links: Canon 80D - https://alaynajoy.site/Canon80-USA  Sigma 18-35mm Lens - https://ift.tt/6BTywnE   Zoom H4N Pro Mic - https://ift.tt/tV6f9nd   Diva Ring Light - https://alaynajoy.site/DivaRing-USA  Canon G7X Vlog Camera - https://ift.tt/2etGOhr   DJI Mavic Pro 2 - https://alaynajoy.site/MavicPro2-USA    **affiliate link ↠ If you made it all the way to the bottom of this description comment 'WOMEN ✅' on this video!!

[iso3200net]

Dreamy alley

Walking around the neighbourhood, through the nooks, crannies, parks, and alleys. Here, a dreamy view of an alley bordering a park.

Taken with a Nikon FE film camera and Sigma XQ Mini-Zoom 39–‍80mm F3.5 lens, on a roll of Kentmere Pan 400 film. Developed with Adox Adonal, 1+25 dilution at 21°C. Scanned with Plustek OpticFilm 8100 film scanner, using VueScan.

I finally decided it was time to test this lens, and probably never use it again. It has this dreamy effect because of all the fungus and dirt found in it, probably it got soaked, sometime before it reached me. Also, it's a bit big and heavy, and the range is not that useful, but at least it has a somewhat useful close-focus mode and a constant aperture.

[swifttailphotos]

A lot of these early photos are taken with our old setup. We had a Nikon D3200 paired with kit lenses. We would later buy a 35mm f2.8 lens for it. Several of these early car photos that we've shared were taken with the 35mm lens.

We eventually upgraded to our current setup of a Nikon D850 paird with Sigma f2.8 zoom lenses.

[miya716tienda]

Sony FE 28-70mm F2 GM Review

Sony can’t claim to have the world’s first 28–70mm zoom lens with background-blurring f/2 optics — Canon beat it to the punch by a few years — but that doesn’t detract from the stellar job the company’s optical team has done designing the FE 28–70mm F2 GM ($2,899.99). It matches the Canon RF 28–70mm F2 ($2,999.00) in angle and aperture but is smaller and a whole pound lighter. Its bright optics are ideal for creators who want more background blur and better results in very dim light, so wedding and event photographers may find good reason to prefer it over the stellar FE 24–70mm F2.8 GM II. The FE 28–70mm F2 GM earns our Editors’ Choice award for its ambitious optics and the gorgeous photos they bring to life. If you’re turned off by its price, don’t count out the $1,349 Sigma 28–45mm F1.8 DG DN Art as an alternative — its zoom range isn’t as expansive, but its photos are just as pretty.

Sony’s recent trend has been toward smaller, lighter zooms, and versus those others, the FE 28–70mm F2 GM qualifies. It measures 5.5 by 3.7 inches (HD) at 28mm, weighs a comparatively meager 2.0 pounds, and supports 86mm front filters. The 2.0-pound weight is made possible by Sony’s use of some of its exotic optics in the 20-element/14-group formula, which includes three extreme aspheric (XA), three standard aspheric, three Super ED, and one ED element. The lens extends slightly to zoom but maintains its center of gravity throughout the range, which is good news if you plan to use it with a powered gimbal for video.

It’s up to you to decide if your photo and video work requires an f/2, though I’ll speculate that it’s useful for creators who cover weddings and events, work in concerts or clubs, or are interested in night sky photography. The plusses for low-light work are obvious. When used at maximum aperture, the FE 28–70mm F2 GM gathers twice as much light as the FE 24–70mm F2.8 GM II (4.7 by 3.5 inches, 1.5 pounds) and other f/2.8 options, and four times that of an f/4 zoom like the FE 20–70mm F4 G (3.9 by 3.1 inches, 1.1 pounds).

[sirfrogsworth]

Lens Calibration Madness

I was doing some more tests comparing my smartphone camera to my DSLR and I noticed in one of them the smartphone looked sharper than my DSLR.

(Smartphone top, DSLR bottom)

This did not compute.

How did a camera with a tiny sensor, half the megapixels, and a tiny plastic lens produce a sharper image?

Then I remembered that 3rd party lenses often need to be calibrated in order to focus properly. Canon is especially bad about restricting information about their focusing algorithms, so companies like Sigma have to reverse engineer everything. With mirrorless cameras they have been able to fix this focusing issue. DSLRs... not so mich.

Unfortunately, my camera has a flippy mirror that gets out of the way of the sensor every time you take a picture. That's the clicking sound most people associate with taking a photo. And since the mirror in a DSLR is a moving part, it will have some variability from camera to camera. And wouldn't you know it, DSLRs use that mirror to focus. If my mirror is even a few nanometers out of alignment compared to the camera Sigma used to create the focusing system for their lenses, I will not be able to get perfectly accurate autofocusing.

It will be good enough for most. But with all of the product photos and macros I do, having perfect focus is pretty critical.

So now I need to spend a couple of hours photographing test targets.

The lens was "front focusing."

You want the depth of field to cover the same distance in front of the 0 as behind. You can see the 1 and 2 at the top are blurry. The goal is to have the 1 and the 1 to be of equal sharpness. Ideally if you put the 1 and 1 next to each other, you wouldn't be able to tell them apart.

This caused a problem when taking a picture of a cylinder, like the flashlight I was using as a test subject. The text at the center of the cylinder was in focus, but the sides were farther away and started getting blurry. All of the in focus area was in the empty space in front of the flashlight.

But, after 20 test shots adjusting the focus correction 1 unit each time, I was finally able to dial it in.

And then when I redid my photos of the flashlight...

Not only was the DSLR much sharper, you can now see the individual lines from the printing process.

I have been using this lens like this for years and now I am wondering how many photos were a smidge out of focus. It's not a huge deal because you have to be zoomed in about 400% to really notice. And it really only affects photos taken less than 2 feet away.

But still, perfectionism is a pretty big trigger for my anxiety so I need to fix this so my brain doesn't melt every time I take a photo in the future.

Unfortunately, the issue isn't resolved with one adjustment.

It requires 16 adjustments.

You set the focal length of the lens to 18mm and take a test picture from 28 cm, 35 cm, 50 cm, and 2 m.

Then you set it to 24mm and do it over again.

Then 28mm.

Then 35mm.

And there is no gaurantee you will fix it with the first adjustment. You could overshoot or undershoot. So you have to keep testing and testing until you drill down and hit the bullseye.

All because Canon doesn't like other companies making lenses for their cameras.

Sigma will actually do the calibration for you, but you have to send them both your camera and your lens and who knows how long that would take.

And I really want to bring my camera to Florida in a few weeks.

So I guess I've got another project aside from my 20 other things I need to get done.

[swede1952]

Chickadee and Sunflower Seed

This would be a much better photograph had I gotten closer. I added a X1.4 Extension to the Sigma 150-600 lens, to get more reach, but when I zoom above 400mm the auto focus gets quirky. That is why I removed the extension a while back. But I want to sit farther away, and the extension increases the focal length to >800mm. I just have to put up with the quirkiness. It does cause me to miss some good moments. In this photo not only is the bird's image not sharp, but there is an aberration on the bird's head top above the small branch. The bird is a Carolina chickadee.

You can browse through my photo gallery at:

[mizmeliz]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Nikon N2020AF SLR Film Camera w/Case Sigma AF Zoom Lenses and instruction book.