SIGMA YS 2.8/200mm wide-open on 5DmkII

Pancolart · Expire: 2013-11-18

All shots wide-open. I think pretty unique background blur. I left soft contrast and light colors alone. I like them.
Heavy lens. Heavy compared even to 4/300mm Sigma YS. Macro (soft focusing) mode doesn't makes much sense.

Press on photo for 1440px.

nixland · Expire: 2012-07-29

Wow, I like the rendering. Congratulation!

pich900 · Expire: 2012-12-27

Glenn72 · Joined: 24 Jan 2012 Posts: 48 Location: Barcelona, Spain

Some very nice photos, especially the bokeh on the portraits!

mfoptics · Joined: 03 Apr 2012 Posts: 15

great! It seems to have a bit of 3D nice effect:)

Pancolart · Expire: 2013-11-18

Thank you. Here few more samples. Look at the 4th photo shot against the sky - it's hard to believe this milky blur isn't a product of post-processing.
All samples shown are from 1 hour walk.

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 4077 Location: Switzerland

I always had a soft spot for 20mm and fast 2.8/200mm lenses.

Today I saw a Sigma YS 2.8/200mm on the local flea market. For 20 bucks I got one of those beasts, in nice exterior condition but with some issues. Many years ago I somewhere had bought a YS 2.8/135mm with its crazy Macro setting (resulting in supersoft images at closer distances), and the YS 2,8/200mm somehow must have a similar mechanism (which up to now I couldn't unlock). In addition the lens has three spots of about 3mm diameter where the inner front doublet seems to separate. No problem at f2.8, but clearly resulting in a reduced contrast at f11. Otherwise the lens looks pretty shiny and almost like new:

Wide open the Sigma YS 2.8/200mm is somehow soft (probably spherical aberrations). On the other hand the longitudinal CAs are not as bad as one might expect from a budget 2.8/200mm from the mid-1970s (100% crop from the CENTER of 24MP FF image - Sony A7II):

Just for comparison here the same crop from a Nikkor AiS 2.8/180mm ED which one of the best and most expensive fast 180mm/200mm lenses from the mid-1980s:

The different image characteristics of both lenses are evident. I assume that the Sigma would produce cool images e. g. at concerts, especially in strong backlight ("The Glow"). Portraits may also work well.

Stopped down to f8 the Sigma becomes surprisingly good. Sure enough, it has not more lateral CAs than the expensive ED Nikkor! I really wonder how the lens section of the Sigma looks like. According to contemporary Sigma prospects it is a [6/5] construction. First a 100% corner crop of the Sigma at f8:

Now the Nikkor AiS 2.8/180mm ED, also at f8:

And finally, just for fun, the finest vintage MF tele zoom I know at the moment, the Mamiya Sekor C 4.5/105-210mm:

It's really astonishing to see an old MF tele zoom outperforming (clearly outperforming!) the famous Ais ED Nikkor 2.8/180mm - at least when it come to image quality at f8. Of course the Nikkor is smaller and f2.8 ...

Another interesting point of the Sigma is its extremely soft bokeh (probably related to the type of spherical aberration correction).

Last but not least: the Sigma YS 2.8/200mm is large and heavy: At 1190g (Minolta MD bayonet) it is nearly as heavy as my Minolta AF 2.8/70-200mm APO G D (1285g), and heavier than the Tamron AT-X 2.8/80-200mm (1045g)!

S

eggplant · Joined: 27 May 2020 Posts: 517

Interesting. I am always curious about there Sigma YS mount XQ lenses.

Maybe you could try the 300mm f/4 out from the early line?

There's a detailed test online of the 500mm f4 mirror lens, and it doesn't come up brilliantly, but it did need some restoring.

Can you show some corner crops of this lens?

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 4077 Location: Switzerland

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

I'm presuming this lens dates back to the early 70s? For that age, it seems to do a remarkable job, especially as is related to various chromatic aberrations, which the lens doesn't seem to display. In that respect, it does a better job than my Canon nFD 200mm f/2.8, which handles chromatic aberrations rather poorly.

Sharpness seems to be good, and I like the bokeh. Makes me want to get one. None found on eBay at this time, though.

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 4077 Location: Switzerland

Phalbert · Joined: 17 May 2009 Posts: 384 Location: Namibia

Just discovered this thread. I'm surprised. A friend of mine had one of these Sigmas 200. He never managed any sharp picture with it, so I passed on one or 2 occasions. This may be one more lens where one should be able to test before buying. There is a test of the 300 somewhere which is apparently not so good either. Another "Test it before" case? [/list]