Autumn walk – Sigma 105mm F2.8 DG Macro HSM lens

Getting used to a new lens

Earlier this year I added a new lens to my kit bag. The rather snappily titled Sigma 105mm F2.8 X DG Macro OS HSM.

It was September when I bought the lens and since then I have written a couple of posts (including pictures), and which you can check out at these links: developing my skills and lots to learn.

I bought it primarily to use for macro photography. Macro is an aspect of photography that at the moment, and as I have said before, still feels like something of a ‘dark art’. It’s a photographic genre I am quite happy to describe myself as being not so proficient at and ranking as somewhat less than amateur.

Having said that, I am keen to learn, and my first port of call for advice is my wife who takes decent macro pictures, and which you can see by clicking this link.

Sigma describes the lens as a high-performance, large aperture medium telephoto macro lens with optical stabilization… but I’m not even going to attempt to write a technical review of the lens, plenty of people have already done that.

If you want to read what Sigma says about the lens you can read that here. If you want to check out other reviews a quick google search will throw up plenty or alternatively try here and here.

Out and about with the lens

I didn’t buy the Sigma lens to use as my main or ‘daily lens’, rather as more to add some variety to my interest in photography and to use in the garden on those days when I want to capture the insects that visit during the summer months.

It seems to me, that macro photography, perhaps more than some other aspect of photography requires quite a different approach, a fair degree of patience, and an investment of time to develop decent skills and techniques.

That time aspect will in turn mean that my own learning and development will take place over a longer timescale given the occasional use nature of this lens.

A few days ago I went out and took just the Sigma lens, not especially to take macro shots, just to use the lens and increase my familiarity with it. In addition to its impressive 1:1 macro capabilities, it works perfectly well as a standard short telephoto lens.

There are some pictures below from my wander along the local river bank. Clicking any of them will open a scrollable gallery. Scroll down for a second small gallery of few random autumn pictures (non-Sigma lens)