Mama mia...
That thing is HEAVY !
I'm talking about the Sigma 60-600mm ƒ4.5-6.3 SPORTS zoom lens ! Itself it weighs almost 3 kilo. The handle i replaced with a solid metal handle with Arca Swiss mount - probably adds more weight - and together with the camera, it might even approach 3.7 kilo in total.
I FELT that this morning.
Unfortunately, i have carried that thing around in my backpack during my 7 hours duty - so when i finally went out of the train depot in Högdalen, wandering home - i felt a bit tired. Which increase the feeling of iffiness to handle this monster zoom lens. Especially when i had to do images aiming high up... i felt it in my arms (which currently seem to have some weird inflammation since several months - which exacerbates the feeling of heaviness with the Sigma Zoom).
Felt like an amateur
And I felt like a frikkin amateur just starting - knowing nothing. I hadn't used the Canon EOS R6 for at least a half year or more - and felt suddenly so clumsy. The handling of the zoom too is a bit weird - because it has a locking mechanism. Otherwise the front is so heavy, that when you aim downwards, the front will slide out towards the 600 mm position.
And the handle (Arca Swiss lens foot) is always in the way...
*rolling my eyes*
I am sounding like a cry baby. *wuääääh*
But really, it all felt a bit... off.
I had no love for the lens handling while taking images. Thinking of how effortlessly the big Fujinon GF 500/5.6 OIS for the Fujifilm GFX mediumformat camera handles... Oh, just pure love !!! Even the Pentax 645 FA zoom lenses (150-300/5.6 ED and 400/5.6 ED) felt better.
Hahaha.
On top of that, my Canon EOS R6 was set to only RAW files (no jpeg's), which when you want to examine the sharpness afterwards in the camera, looking particularly fuzzy / blurry / low res. Giving the impression of a zoom not being really that sharp. (But it is !!)
Later I set the camera to produce RAW + JPG, making it a bit better. By the way, even the viewfinder in the Canon EOS R6 doesn't really have that high resolution, which sometimes gives a slightly fuzzy impression fuzzy, unsure if you got things really in focus or not.
At the computer
Almost everything forgiven.
Man, what a high quality lens (in most cases), showing really fantastic sharpness. And with post processing (Adobe Noise AI for higher ISO images + gentle sharpening) - oh boy - all the finest details get chiseled out.
Really impressive - and surely better than the classic 150-600 from Sigma and Tamron !
So, the zoom has its price with weight coming from more lens elements... And next time, i take a glove with me, in order to get a better feeling when carrying the lens via lens foot (because it is a bit sharp on each side). Plus, it is not a lens to carry around in a backpack for 7 hours at work - and then go out taking images when you are at your low and get tired (equivalent to coming home from work, and going out in the evening, at the end of the day).
I love the handling of the lens on a TRIPOD though.
Everything is smooth like a kitten. The big Arca Swiss replacement handle is perfect, and the issue with the zoom weight, is no issue and nothing is moving. Turning around the lens + camera via lens foot, is smooth like a kitten.
600 mm
Although the 600 mm focal length is considered to be a bit weaker - i consider it to be excellent !!! (The potential of sharp details is in the file ! Just gently sharpen it (fine, not coarse) and you get it all.
60 mm
What I feel is a bit weaker is the widest setting; 60 mm focal length. Here you can see some LoCA - but that can be ironed out in Photoshop.
Not bad to be able to take a 60 mm "normal lens" photo from a scene, giving an overall impression of where you have been - without having to switch lens. (See second photo below)
Wide open apertures
Even at wide open apertures, with the addition of some mild sharpening of the finest details - show that they are present. They get chiseled out in a way resembling more of professional optics.
See 1st and 3rd photo. |
