Sigma 105mm f2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro Lens

Originally I had the Canon 100mm F2.8 mk2 and whilst it is a cracking lens I didn't use it that often, and as my photography had taken a turn towards wildlife I decided to sell the Canon 100mm lens and put it towards a Canon 500mm f4 L IS (which has now also been sold as Canon decided it had come to the end of its life).
So when I read a review in Photoplus of a bunch of macro lenses  the Sigma 105mm f2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro Lens came out as best value for money winner, at £360 whats not to like, its half the price of the Canon equivalent and almost matches the Canon on the image quality stakes.

After hunting around on the good old WWW and doing the necessary research I took the plunge, found one on sale at Mathers of Lancashire for £339 including delivery.

I ordered on the Thursday not expecting to see it until the following week, but i was wrong there, phone call from Mathers asking if i needed a filter for the front and informed me it would be on its way the same day for delivery on the Friday before 1pm !
True to their word it rocked up about 10.30am, fantastic service from Mathers!!

So far all I have done is MA'd it too my 5dmk4 using Reikan Focal, it needed a setting of  +2 to get the focal point on the money.
Other than that it looks like a good bit of kit for the money.

I will update this post when I get it out in the field.

Wasn't entirely happy with the MA results from Reikan Focal so I decided to do it old school on my home made ma test scale.
Aperture set to f2.8 iso 200 manually defocusing to both sides of the focal point  this is what I found.

 The above is the result using Reikan focal a setting of +2 on the MA scale, looking at this picture to me there is a slight back focus on this setting.

The above I have set MA to +20 which gives a big front focus.

On this one I have set MA to -20 which gives a big rear focus

Finally I have set MA to 0 and looking at this result I am happy that this is where it should be set.

All of these results are after multiple shots defocusing between each shot manually to ensure a consistent result.

A quick whizz into the green house for a tester shot.

Shot using a tripod f14 iso200 1/320th 105mm

So far pleased with this lens !

Gimbal Head Update

OK so I bought one of these NEST   NT-530H Mk2 some time ago,

Nest NT-530H MKII Carbon Fibre Gimbal Head

 Got it from these guys UK Digital


and I do love it, don't get me wrong, there is  no slop in the bearings etc good solid construction, great features:

• - 10 layer Carbon Fibre
• - Precision bearings
• - Arca-Swiss compatible
• - 360 degree pan
• - Load capacity of 25kg

My one gripe with it is that it is far from free moving.

After putting up with it since I have had it hoping it may free off with use I decided to strip it down and have a look at what makes it tick!

3 Alan bolts on the top removed the carbon fibre head leaving the horizontal rotating bit behind this is held in place with another larger Alan bolt which in turn has a plastic washer and a bearing race, once that is off  there is a black outer casing followed by the inner workings.
I have never in all my days come across anything so sticky as what was on the main bearing, whilst it might do a good job of lubricating the bearing it is this goo that gives you the damping effect and makes the head somewhat hard to rotate, and for BIF shots etc it makes life easy if the gimbal head moves freely.
I was impressed with the construction, precision and quality of the bearings is very good it is just the goo that spoils it for me.

So I dunked it all in some white spirits to remove the sticky goo and repacked it with High Melting Point Lithium Grease, whacked it all back together and hey presto beautiful smooth rotational movement, just what the doctor ordered

As for the up / down axis I have left that with the sticky goo as that stops your lens / camera setup doing a rapid nose dive if you haven't got it balanced correctly.

A quality bit of kit at a reasonable price only spoilt by the goo they put it together with.