Greetings:

I am looking at picking up a very nice tele lens next year for wildlife photography, grizzly bears and such. Due to budget, I am contemplating two different lenses, Canon 500mm f/4.5 and Sigma 500mm f/4.5. Both have their pros and cons:

Canon: out of production for almost a decade so it would be very used, top notch quality, have found them $3500 and up. Not sure if this model has IS feature.

Sigma: Just stopped being produced so brand new ones available with long warranty, high quality, have found them for $2500 (slightly used) and up. No IS feature.

The sigma is a bit shorter and a tiny bit heavier. I would be using it on a tripod with the odd chance of going freehand (bears move, and so must I).

Which would you recommend with price being the deciding factor.

Don't have direct experience with either. I doubt the Canon has IS, since to my knowledge IS was not offered in Canon lenses 10 years ago. I shoot Nikon and have an IS (they call it VR) telephoto and find it to be of little use for shooting wildlife. As you point out, wildlife moves and VR does nothing to help with that it your shutter speeds are lower than 1/125 or so.

If price is the deciding factor, I would go with the Sigma, since it's cheaper. They both sound like nice lenses, but I don't know what the pros and cons are that you mentioned for each. If you could post some of the pros and cons for each lens, that would help out a lot. That being said, there have been some vast improvements in lens engineering and design over the last 10 years, and that would make me lean even harder towards the Sigma since it is that much newer. I'm a Canon shooter and would love to stick with Canon glass, but a new Sigma with waranty vs. a 10 year old Canon lens... I would go with the Sigma. IS would be nice, but like Lava Lamp said, it wasn't available when the Canon lens was in production, and since you will be using a tripod most of the time, I think you will be ok without it, as long as your tripod is sturdy.

With what camera will the lens be used? The Sigma 500 f/4.5 APO has Sigma's faulty ROM and is generally not compatible with EOS bodies introduced after 2001, including the DSLRs. I've also read that Sigma will not re-chip this lens (too few, too long out of production to bother).

According to the Canon EF Lens Work III book the first lens with IS was 75-300mm f4-5.6 IS USM in 1995. Also the book states all "L" series lenses were then equiped with IS. So if the lens is 12 years old it most likely has IS.
As for quality I would say the Canon is probably sharper from past comments I have seen about the two lenses.

JS

With what camera will the lens be used? The Sigma 500 f/4.5 APO has Sigma's faulty ROM and is generally not compatible with EOS bodies introduced after 2001, including the DSLRs. I've also read that Sigma will not re-chip this lens (too few, too long out of production to bother).


Sigma will replace the ROM ...for a price of course....


JS

Sigma will replace the ROM ...for a price of course....


JS

Actually Sigma is real good about re-chipping for free. If the lens is new or they believe it should work with a given camera, all you have to pay is the shipping to get it there. If you don't contact them, or go through a "dealer" who knows what will happen. Of course the same can be said for any lens maker. The best bet is to contact the New Jersey office first. There are service centers in both Georgia and Arizona now, but I'd still at least email the NJ office first about re-chipping.

The quote from the Canon docs about all lens being IS is a famous piece of something. I've got relativly new lens that are not IS. The idea was that Canon intimated that all new designs would offer an IS version in the top lenses. Of course that didn't mean all 'L' units. It refers to lens over a certain length, 300mm and above I believe are supposed to be all IS in the 'L' versions.

One thing to remember, if all you are shooting is at a long reach, buy the fixed lens. I made the mistake many years ago of taking two primesand two bodies on a trip and missed half the shots I'd like to have gotten because I I was constantly swinging from one body to the other take photos. A zoom is the obvious alternative and helps with dust on a DSLR in the field as you don't need to swap the lens.

Like all big guns, if you can check it out before you buy or there's a try out warranty period so much the better. There can be a big difference in long lens from the same manufacturer, even the newest designs. The Sigma 50-500 is legendary for having good/bad units. We've all just seen the recalls on at least one of the normal range zooms from Canon.

Canon's 400mm/5.6 has been a pretty good lens over the years. Good bang for the buck.

Sigma has a 120-300 2.8 zoom that I've seen on sale for less than $1700 that is a good performer. Not a lightweight, but good optics for the money.

Whatever you decide on, spend a little more and get the best monopod you can find. Equipped with a a QR head (Titanium for strength/weight preferrably) it will be your best friend in the field with a big lens.

Want to see some bear photographs soon :D

The story of the Canon 500'S :)

The simple answer is that the 500f4.5L(in FD and EOS) doesn't have IS. I do not believe they made a 500F4 non IS lens, but went from the F4.5L to the F4L IS .

I used the older Sigma 500f4.5 in nikon mount a few times and It was pretty sweet images wise! I have used all but the 1200f5.6 in the canon line up and the 500f4.5 is quite a capable lens with enough light to handhold or a sturdy tripod!