A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of using the SIGMA 14mm F1.8 DG HSM | Art lens for the first time. I wanted to test an ultra-wide lens underneath the stars and captured some amazing images which were featured in my first SIGMA UK Lounge article.
I was so impressed with the quality of this well-built Art lens that I wondered what a Sports lens model would be like in comparison. Looking at my astro calendar there was a lunar eclipse occurring on the 21st January and so this looked like the perfect opportunity for me to test the SIGMA 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Sports and use the moon as my next subject.
When the lens arrived I was instantly in awe of the box size and its packaging. Then when removing the lens it suddenly dawned on me how big it was compared to my largest lens, a 70-200mm F2.8. The front element is impressive and I had visions of myself looking like one of those professional sports or press photographers. When I picked up the lens the weight felt good, it was comfy, usable hand held and fitted nicely to my D810.
The day before the eclipse I decided to do some test shots and went to a local forest. I spent hour’s happily snapping images of small birds and other wildlife. I was buzzing with excitement from using the lens and amazed with the fact that you can be 50m away and capture pinpoint feathers of the birds while watching their every movement.
The morning of the eclipse required a 3:30AM wake up, sneaking around the house to avoid waking the family and setting up the tripod in the garden. I used my 3 legged thing tripod as it is so sturdy and reliable to use for this lens. I set the lens to manual the night before and zoomed it to the full 600mm, shooting at F6.3 aperture. This allowed me to capture some beautiful images before the foggy conditions set in bringing the session to an end.
The lunar eclipse experience was truly amazing and I was overjoyed to have had the honour to use this outstanding lens to record this memorable experience. The moon shots at 600mm on my D810 are wonderful and zoomed in on live view you can see the craters and mountains on the moon. This encouraged my continued explorations with using the 150-600mm | Sports lens and I found myself snapping just about anything to get a totally different view.
The SIGMA 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Sports lens for moon photography, wildlife or anything for that compressed long distance perspective is an epic lens to use !
You can see more of Mark’s images on one of the following links: website: www.markmcneillphotography.com
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Featured product: SIGMA 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Sports
