Blue-footed Booby

This is a shot from a previous Galapagos tour that I had not posted, looking forward to going back there next January. This was photographed on Santa Cruz Island. This was taken with the Sigma 150-500 at 500mm. This lens has been panned by many people, saying it's not sharp especially at 500mm. I find that not all of the images I take with this lens are sharp at 500mm but I still get my share of sharp images at the max focal length. The keys are to stop down at least 1 stop and make sure you are shooting in brighter light. It's consistently sharper at 400-450mm. I use this lens a lot in the Galapagos as many of the subjects are close. I have heard that the new Tamron 150-600 is even better but I haven't tried it yet. I do think any of these zooms that cover a large focal length there is some inconsistency in the various copies of them out there. My biggest nit on this shot is that it doesn't show the blue feet. This is close to full frame.

Nikon D7000, Sigma 150-500 at 500mm, 1/1000, F11, iso 400, handheld