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Author Topic: Sigma 150mm macro with O.S.  (Read 3755 times)

Herb Fabry

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Sigma 150mm macro with O.S.
« on: October 09, 2010, 12:31:53 pm »

   At the 2010 photokina in Koln Germany, Sigma showed a 150mm macro with their own propriatary optical stabilizer. Would anyone have some ballpark idea of when they will bring this to market. Also, for those of you that enjoy macro photography, do you think this focal length might be more usefull than the alternative 100mm  O. S. lenses offered by Canon and Nikon for hand held use? Paticularly for those those fleeting moments where for instance butterflies are briefly at a flower
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rsn48

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Sigma 150mm macro with non O.S.
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2010, 10:51:39 pm »

I have the Sigma 150mm macro without OS.  One the one hand, I'd love to have the OS, but on the other hand, I've never missed having the stabilization.  I should note however that I almost always shoot with the lens on a monopod, not so much for the stabilization, but to take the weight of my hands and wrist, if I"m shooting long.  Needless to say, the monopod adds stability to the camera/lens platform.

The longer reach if shooting bugs is a nice feature, if you're shooting florals, you don't need 150mm.  The bokeh on my currenct lens is excellent.  This lens is slowly becoming the "go to" lens for many, saving money over the longer Canon 180 lens, with basically the same quality except weather sealing.
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imagico

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Re: Sigma 150mm macro with O.S.
« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2010, 08:04:02 am »

For handheld macro shooting 150mm is quite a stretch, esp. if you use an APS-C camera of course.  Stabilization will only help to a limited extent since it does not solve the focussing problem and it is reduced in efficiency at short distances.

That being said the Sigma 150mm macro (old version without OS) has a good reputation.  Owning one i can confirm optical quality is very good, both at close distance and at infinity.  But as common with Sigma lenses it has its downsides - AF is really slow despite HSM and it has the usual Sigma dirt collecting finish.  And no one knows about the quality of the OS version yet.

For handheld macro work i would recommend a 100/105mm lens - if that is too short for your subjects you really should consider using a monopod/tripod.

Greetings,

Christoph
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Christoph Hormann
photolog / artificial images / other stuff
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