god dag

Hi

Thanks for looking. I’m glad you’re finding the review usefull.
Whatever rocks your boat meaning you do what you have to do in order to get the shot you need. If thats full-auto to you then by all means use it and forget what everyone’s telling you else.
The lens takes quite a lot of practice (as do Wildlife Photography) but as long as you’re in focus and the lighting is just right you’ll be rewarded with great photos. That’s how good the Sigma 150-500 really is.

Tobias

Very useful info, thanks – esp for a relative newbie like me.

I have a 7D and 150-500mm about 4-5 months old. I also have a Canon 17-40mm L lens.

I almost always take “Auto” shots in RAW. Is that a straight “no-no”?! Seems like I am simply Not able to get rock-solid crystal clear photos from this camera on “auto” mode, period. Relative to the results i see on the Net generally, and the ones that you have here, in particular.

After all, even a decent SLR should be able to double up like a ‘point and shoot’, right?!

Hi Christopher

Man these are great shots! It looks like your giving the lens a run for the money.
I hope everyone else would click your link!

Best regards
Tobias

Hi Tobias
 
It’s been 7 months since I posted the comments (above). I’ve went through the learning curve and I am very happy with the results that my 150-500mm lens give now. If it is possible I would like to share my shots at the following link
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/world-nature/1066441-walk-park-my-bigmos-3.html
 
Thanks Tobias!
 
Regards
Christopher

@mads_s

Okay let me know how it goes and if it solves you problem.

Tobias

@mads_s

Okay let me know how it does and if it solves you problem.

Tobias

@tobiashjorth Thanks Tobias,

I was shooting Goosander yesterday in Thorsminde, no extender, results only barely acceptable. I’ll borrow Christians 7D for a test round and make up my mind,

Thanks for taking an interest 🙂

Mads S

@mads_s

Hi again

I would reuse “unsharp mask” every time you resize your image. Ever noticed how very fine detail fade away when resizing for web use? The key is resize in step and sharpen each and every step to keep the very fine detail.

Other than that the Owl shots looks very similar although the Merganser looks to be shot in a slightly higher angle than your friends. Be careful about adding the built noise reduction in Photoshop – It’s vastly inferior to products like Noise Ninja, Noise Ware or many other. These come as a plugin for Photoshop and are highly recommendable.

@tobiashjorth Hi Tobias thanks for taking the time here 🙂 and re. the extender yes I already worked that out – too bad really, money out the window plus I really could use the extra reach. Ah well.

The gallery resizing isn’t good, they MUST be clicked up but even then I guess I’m doing it wrong since I save in 2400×1200 and that means even the big ones are resized by the gallery – thanks for helping me identify that one!

And finally about post-processing: I shoot in RAW, convert with the built-in RAW converter from Photoshop (CS2). In the RAW converter I typically look at colour temperature, exposure, then I switch to sharpening and give it as much as I think I can get away with, and then I add some noise reduction (luminance) of around 25-30. Once open in the normal PS work window I crop, then I may look a little at Levels (I tend to use the “Sample in image to set black point”) and then I may also tweak just a very little in curves. Finally I give it a little Sharpen Edges, and save as .jpg. By then the image

I don’t use the Sharpen function in the PS work window much (only in the RAW converter). Am I doing something wrong?

Cheers again,

@mads_s

I’ve looked at your shots and I have a couple of suggestions. First of all you need to ditch the extender. You’re simply asking too much of the lens than less you stop down to F11+.

Other than that they don’t really look bad in any terms. The gallery you’re using on the other hand is noteriously bad when it comes to resizing so you’re really better off without it. Resize your work in post and let that be your final step in resizing.

Thirdly your processesing looks to be a lot less of that your friend does That might bring you the last punch in the shots.Let me know what you think.