Posted by Alan Woolnough on September 3, 2006 at 10:30 AM
the realms of auto focus
After giving up on manual focus 'flight photography', which was a dismal failure for me , i decided i ought to do something about it.
By pure chance i stumbled across a s/h sigma 300mm f4 apo macro, at a ridiculous price, and i grabbed the opportunity to own it .
Unfortunately it is a 'rod-drive' version {not HSM}, but i hoped it would be an improvement over manual focusing for 'flight' situations. I would have loved a nikkor 300mm f4 AFS, but unfortunately my wallet was too thin.
I had many sleepness nights while i was waiting for it to arrive, as my last sigma was pretty poor quality {about 25yrs ago}, but the wait was worth it!
On arrival i was impressed with the build quality and balance in my hand {as i am most likely to use this lens 'hand-held'}, but was nervous about the optics quality {as i was hoping to use a 1.4 tc if required}.
I did some indoor tests {using flash} against my nikkor 400/2.8, and was so impressed with the Sigma that i immediately ordered a kenko pro 300 1.4, with confidence {yet more cash}.
In all honesty i could not notice a sharpness/contrast difference between the nikkor and sigma, at the apertures that i commonly use. The sigma does have a slightly warmer colour rendition, but that is not necessarily a drawback IMO.
With the tc attatched, the sigma/kenko combo appears to control chromatic abberations better than my nikkor/nikon tc14 combo, which was a slight{but pleasing} surprise for me, and the overall image quality remained almost undegraded {very usable, even wide open}.
In future i shall buy a modern sigma with complete confidence {if i ever need another lens}.
My first 'real world' shots with this lens were encouraging, although not completely satisfying. I had set my D70 to AF-C mode, and soon got used to tracking relatively easy subjects {gulls at my local harbour}. However, when i looked at my first efforts on my computer screen, i noticed that although most of my efforts were in reasonable focus, many were slightly soft.
After playing about with the camera/sigma in my garden for a while, i realised that the d70/rod-driven sigma combo was not very sensitive to slight changes in shooting distance, and focus would often remain unchanged if the subject shifted a couple of inches further or nearer {possibly due to the fairly large AF sensor area of the D70, or maybe a drawback of rod-driven AF lenses in AF-C mode }.
In desperation i changed my shooting mode to AF-S, and headed back to the harbour for another effort.
BINGO I took about eighty shots, and about 90% were in very good focus. I took 'head-on' and 'side-on' shots with consistant success and felt very pleased with my purchase and myself. Although i am restricted to 'single-shot' shooting, its great to have another tool in my armoury thats small and light enough to lug around with my nikkor 400mm, and provided i prefocus at the approximate shooting distance, is reasonably quick at focusing. Admittedly shooting gulls is not a huge test, but i'm looking forward to trying my luck with something more challenging.
Enough of my rambling. This is one of my first efforts using AF witchcraft.
D70
iso 400
sigma 300mm f4
kenko pro 1.4
f6.3
AF-S mode
High Quality Jpeg setting
Hi Alan, you certainly nailed the focus on that one but whats this 'manual focus' you talk about
Terry
Posted by Philip Kirkham on September 3, 2006 at 12:41 PM
Hello Alan
Certainly not the easiest of tasks, trying to manual focus and follow a moving subject! I'm sure you will find the job much more rewarding now. The gull in this image seems spot on to me, a good result with new equipment.
Best wishes
Phil
Posted by Graeme Lee on September 3, 2006 at 12:51 PM
Yeah pleasing result with this new technology Even with AF, I'm still crap at tracking!! Gull looks bang on focus to me.
Graeme
Posted by Tim Munsey on September 3, 2006 at 4:10 PM
I enjoyed your ramble, I have a few sigma lenses and happy with them all. My only worry is the funny finish they use, it's peeling off my 50-500mm leaving a pleasing one underneath.
Gull looks great, good angle.
Nice image and narrative... like you I am very much an mf guy, only using af to place me into the ballpark.... I find my 300/4 a great compliment to my 400/2.8 as well, I am sure you will enjoy.
Discussion
5 repliesAfter giving up on manual focus 'flight photography', which was a dismal failure for me
By pure chance i stumbled across a s/h sigma 300mm f4 apo macro, at a ridiculous price, and i grabbed the opportunity to own it
Unfortunately it is a 'rod-drive' version {not HSM}, but i hoped it would be an improvement over manual focusing for 'flight' situations. I would have loved a nikkor 300mm f4 AFS, but unfortunately my wallet was too thin.
I had many sleepness nights while i was waiting for it to arrive, as my last sigma was pretty poor quality {about 25yrs ago}, but the wait was worth it!
On arrival i was impressed with the build quality and balance in my hand {as i am most likely to use this lens 'hand-held'}, but was nervous about the optics quality {as i was hoping to use a 1.4 tc if required}.
I did some indoor tests {using flash} against my nikkor 400/2.8, and was so impressed with the Sigma that i immediately ordered a kenko pro 300 1.4, with confidence {yet more cash}.
In all honesty i could not notice a sharpness/contrast difference between the nikkor and sigma, at the apertures that i commonly use. The sigma does have a slightly warmer colour rendition, but that is not necessarily a drawback IMO.
With the tc attatched, the sigma/kenko combo appears to control chromatic abberations better than my nikkor/nikon tc14 combo, which was a slight{but pleasing} surprise for me, and the overall image quality remained almost undegraded {very usable, even wide open}.
In future i shall buy a modern sigma with complete confidence {if i ever need another lens}.
My first 'real world' shots with this lens were encouraging, although not completely satisfying. I had set my D70 to AF-C mode, and soon got used to tracking relatively easy subjects {gulls at my local harbour}. However, when i looked at my first efforts on my computer screen, i noticed that although most of my efforts were in reasonable focus, many were slightly soft.
After playing about with the camera/sigma in my garden for a while, i realised that the d70/rod-driven sigma combo was not very sensitive to slight changes in shooting distance, and focus would often remain unchanged if the subject shifted a couple of inches further or nearer {possibly due to the fairly large AF sensor area of the D70, or maybe a drawback of rod-driven AF lenses in AF-C mode
In desperation i changed my shooting mode to AF-S, and headed back to the harbour for another effort.
BINGO
Enough of my rambling. This is one of my first efforts using AF witchcraft.
D70
iso 400
sigma 300mm f4
kenko pro 1.4
f6.3
AF-S mode
High Quality Jpeg setting
Alan
Terry
Certainly not the easiest of tasks, trying to manual focus and follow a moving subject! I'm sure you will find the job much more rewarding now. The gull in this image seems spot on to me, a good result with new equipment.
Best wishes
Phil
Graeme
Gull looks great, good angle.
Tim
Nice image and narrative... like you I am very much an mf guy, only using af to place me into the ballpark.... I find my 300/4 a great compliment to my 400/2.8 as well, I am sure you will enjoy.