In the spirit of Christmas, I turned some spare funds and gift money into a new lens – and not just any lens, but a brand new telephoto lens aimed specifically at improving the quality of my bird & wildlife photos.   Enter the Sigma 120-400mm OS.

Up until now I’ve been working with a Canon 70-300mm IS, a lens that is widely regarding as being near-L quality. I’ve got no complaints whatsoever with its performance, but the fact of the matter is that, for serious critter photos, 300mm is a bit short. (Which isn’t to say that you can’t get good shots with it – hell, I saw amazing own photos the other day, taken with an 85mm lens. 85mm!)

Photo credit of Sigmaphoto.com

I spent several days on the internet researching options before finally settling on the Sigma. Why Sigma? For starters, I’ve owned Sigma pro-level lenses in the past and have been very happy with them – the quality, both optical and build, is very good. Second, the price is much better than, say, the Canon 100-400mm L lens, which runs an extra several hundred dollars. And finally, useability; compared to other lenses in its class, the Sigma offered me the best combination of features. (That said, I’ll admit that I was still nervous about going with Sigma – there are many reports of Sigma lenses arriving with focus or quality control problems.)

The lens arrived, I’ve taken it out several times already, and I’m thrilled. Absolutely thrilled. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I was this excited about having a new lens to work with.

The Sigma 120-400mm is everything that I had hoped for. The additional range has already let me get some bird shots that would have been impossible before, and the optical quality of the lens is superb. Not only is it sharp, but it is very sharp. And although louder than Canon’s IS system, the Sigma Optical Stabilizer system works very well, making hand-holding much easier. Quite simply, this is a lens that is a lot of fun to use because it performs so well.

Physically it’s a big lens and fairly heavy. I definitely need to support it with one hand on the tripod collar foot when I’m carrying it around my neck (when carrying it from my shoulder, I stick the collar foot in my belt). After a couple of hours around your neck you definitely feel it – my suggestion is to hike to your location with it in the bag, then take it out and work with it.

On the other hand, it’s a well built lens. It feels very solid, and when you retract the zoom back to the widest setting, there’s a soft, reassuring “thunk” as the zoom extension settles against the lens body. The zoom dial is nicely firm but not difficult to adjust, as is the focus. Since it is equipped with HSM focusing, there’s a full-time manual override for the focus, which comes in real handy. And being a Sigma lens, all the extras are included – the tripod collar & the lens hood (if only Canon would get its act together in regards to this).

Frankly, I can’t say enough good things about this lens. It is really an excellent addition to my kit. For the price, it’s downright phenomenal. I do not for a second regret buying it. Quite the opposite, I can’t wait for the next chance to get outside and use it. This weekend I’m hoping to go after eagles with it – we’ll see how it does in action against them. I’m not worried.

In closing I want to mention that I bought my copy from someone entirely new to me, Photo4less.com. I’ve know that they existed as a retailer for some time (they used to be known as Sigma4Less, although they’ve sold multiple brands for as long as I’ve known of them). I’m always a little nervous dealing with a new store, and I was definitely worried that I’d made a bad choice when I got an email telling me that I had to call to confirm my order with them. But it went well – they really did just want to confirm the details; there was no high-pressure sales pitch, no bait and switch tactics. In fact, the representative I spoke with even assured me that I could forgo the 2-day shipping I’d opted for & receive the lens by ground shipment just as fast, at half the cost. I checked up on Photo4less before ordering, and it appears that the reviews were true – they’re a good group to deal with!

After further reflection: I don’t regret buying this lens.  Not even a little bit.  It has been phenomenal, both in terms of the photos I’ve been able to take with it, and also in terms of the learning curve that it put me through.  (Working with a super-telephoto lens is not the same as working with, say, a 70-200.)  Best of all, it lets me get the shot.

I’ve found that the optimum settings are f/8, ISO 400, in Av mode (sometimes, if there’s enough light, you can bring the ISO down to about 250, but not usually).  Why f/8?  Because wide open, at f/5.6, this lens just isn’t as sharp as you want – looking back at the sample photos posted here, I can see that now.  But at f/8, with about 10 points of Clarity in ACR, it’s a whole different game.

The downside is, of course, that when you’re shooting birds at sunrise, f/8 eats what little light there is.  ISO 1600 or higher becomes a fact of life.  If you’re able to cope with that, then you won’t have any trouble.  You’ll actually have a lot of fun, because in the end, that’s what this lens is – fun.  These days, you can find them used without much trouble – they’re well worth the price.