New Toy :)

[LaZeRz]

Hi,
I've seen this lens locally (£60) is it any good? would it be ok for macro shots?

I'm not buying it now due to lack of funds, in a month or so though.

Sigma EX 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 APO DG Lens For Canon 0085126504274 | eBay

For that price, definitely a good buy. It also comes with a carry case and hood which Canon doesn't include in their budget telephoto's.

Take a look at the customer pictures on amazon and see what you think

Amazon.com: Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG APO Macro Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras: Camera & Photo

Due to the large focus range (70-300mm) you will experience some slight softness in your pictures at around 200mm+. All you need to do is stop down your aperture a bit to counteract it It also nicely complements your 18-55mm lens and is a great way to step in to DSLR photography. You'll be amazed how much you can improve your pictures just buy manually adjusting your settings.

If you can find a Canon 55-250mm IS ii for around the same price I'd go for it instead. Image stabilization really comes in handy and it is a sharper lens overall.

EDIT: There are many variations of this lens by Sigma. Make sure you purchase the right one as they're usually only identifiable as different by a few characters in their names.

 

[ped]

All you need to do is stop down your aperture a bit to counteract it

How?

 

[LaZeRz]

If you turn the dial to AV which is aperture priority, you can use the dial near the shutter to scroll up/down. You only need to drop down the aperture a small bit. (Dropping down aperture means increasing F-stops) The higher the f-stop is, the smaller the aperture hole within your lens. If you drop it down too much your camera will have to compensate for the lack of light with more ISO or a slower shutter.

An example is when you're at 18mm on the kit lens. The minimum shutter is 3.5. Raising it to the next f stop (4) or the one after that (4.5) will counteract blur.

 

[ped]

Superb will give that a go.

Thanks

Little +3 for ya

 

[ped]

Double post

Does the Canon 55-250mm IS ii have the same macro function & performance as the sigma?

 

[Roam]

Funny how my cell phone camera being literally the size of a lentil, has more megapixels than the big dslr. All these devices being fabricated at nano size a fraction of a micron keep getting smaller.

 

[LaZeRz]

You can't really compare the image quality of say a 12mpx phone camera to a 8mp DLSR. Even though the DSLR has less megapixels it will still deliver a much better quality picture.

@Ped, The Sigma has a magnification of 1:2 while the Canon has a magnification of 1:3, So the Sigma comes out better here, but with any telephoto macro, you'll need to stand almost a meter away from your subject to get the lens to focus. Both telephoto's won't give you much of an improvement over your kit lens unless you buy some macro filters/macro tubes.

The Canon does have better image quality and image stabilization though so it's up to you. If you will be using a tripod most of the time image stabilization isn't really necessary but when taking pictures handheld it's really useful.

There's no subsitute for a proper macro lens but with a few filters or an extension tube you'll be able to get great looking extreme closeups.

If you don't need a telephoto, a canon 50mm prime with some filters or an extension tube will give you better looking macro's. The downfall of having a 50mm lens is that you will need to get much closer to your subject to take a macro of it. If you won't be taking pictures of moving objects such as insects a 50mm lens will be fine.

Macro filters (These allow your lens to focus when closer to the subject): http://www.amazon.com/Zeikos-defini...8&qid=1372910606&sr=8-3&keywords=macro+filter

Macro extension tube: There isn't any glass in these tubes, just empty space so they won't impact image quality, but they are harder to use as you will have to go fully manual as it disconnects your lens from the camera.

EDIT: Have a look at the three pages of this thread: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=806478&page=2. All the pictures posted were taken with a prime lens and either a macro tube or macro filters. Btw thanks for the rep

 

[Trevor]

You could also use a reversing ring with your 50, but the same caveat applies - you'd need to get really, really close.

But a reversing ring is like $8 for a nice one.

Trevor

 

[Blaster]

AWESOME CAMERA FOR THE MONEY .I wish i got bargains that good
cheers

 

[LaZeRz]

You could also use a reversing ring with your 50, but the same caveat applies - you'd need to get really, really close.

But a reversing ring is like $8 for a nice one.

Trevor

Yep, reversing rings for most macro photography but you'll need alot of light and a small aperture to get a usable depth of field. Ped has a ring on order already so I didn't mention it

Btw Ped, what's wrong with the macro lens you had from your previous cam?

 

[ped]

Ok Iv'e ordered the Canon IS lens based on what you've said as I do do a lot of handheld work so the stabilization will be handy, and the image quality will be better anyway .

Thanks for your help.

The macro lens from my previous cam is still in use, its just crap quality.

 

[LaZeRz]

Sweet!

Once you get a hang of your cam in auto, I'd recommend you try experimenting in manual mode. You can get some really cool pics by changing things like your aperture and shutter speed. The practice will also help you when using a reverse lens/macro tubes.

Do you mind telling me how much you forked out for the 55-250?

 

[ped]

Hi, Yeah I plan on doing a lot of manual settings experiments, But I only had one battery, Now I have 3 .

Here is the exact auction I bought it from.. £115 delivered.

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS Mark II for 1100D 100D 700D 650D 600D 50D 60D 7D 0689466380750 | eBay

Postman has been nice to me this morning.

 

[LaZeRz]

Nice! Have fun with those, can't wait to see some shots

 

[ped]

Did you have a look at the auction, is the lens ok?

 

[LaZeRz]

Did you have a look at the auction, is the lens ok?

Yep, That's the right lens, It's even the second gen variation As stated it won't come in the normal canon box as it's been split from a 2 lens kit (still the exact same lens) but other than that it definitely seems genuine. The price on these lenses doesn't really get much lower than that, good buy