Ha. I have that lense
Be very warey of getting it from Japan mate. The customs people will really sting you for import duty. I think it's around 15% or something like that for camera equipment. IMO your best bet would be eBay which is where I got mine from. You obviously have to be careful, but mine had apparently been used twice by the bloke that had it before, and I have every reason to believe him. It was still in the original box with all the documents (including the warranty card and the silcon anti moisture bags!) and still had the little protective piece of plastic on the Sigma logo on the side! LOL. Total price...?330! A third of the RRP.
IMO it's a great lense, although the focus is so fast it can overshoot a little bit sometimes although I read that this is apparently only on some cameras (I have a D70 so it may well be different on the S). Being a 300mm with out any stabaliser it can suffer from shake quite a bit, so I'd say a decent monopod is a must. I got a Manfrotto one for ?30 so they're hardly much of an expense
I have had a few issues with the pictures looking a bit too washed out at 300mm, but I think this is more down to my lack of experience with a telephoto than the lense itself. I've noticed that the quality is getting better the more I use it, so it's probably just a practice thing.
Weight wise it's not light. If your holding it you gonna get a tired arm after about 20mins at the most even if you rest your elbow on your chest
Obviously a monopod solves this, but it's worth a mention.
When I did my research before buying it, I found a lot of good reviews for it, and the general consensus is that it's as good, if not better than the quality of the sensor on a D70. The Nikon 300mm is ultimately better I believe, but then it's twice the price and you probably wouldn't notice any difference unless you were using a D2X!
Remember that because of the sensor size the lense is actually a 160-480mm, so you may find you won't need a teleconverter. I've heard the 1.4x is good, but using the 2x apparently means you can't use the autofocus.
The only significant drawback I think of with it is the 82mm filter size. Very few high street stores will stock them that big, and it obviously increases the price a little. The only real purchase your gonna want though for this kind of lense is a UV, so it's not likely to be an issue.
Other than that I can't think of much else to say. Have a look at the following galleries of mine for some shots taken with it.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v427/ArosMike/FSAE 06/?start=all
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v427/ArosMike/TKM Testing Whilton/?start=all
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v427/ArosMike/D1GB/?start=all
Other related links are this review:
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/sigma_100300_4/index.htm
And here's a search on PBase for images that were taken with it
http://www.pbase.com/cameras/sigma/100-300_4_apo_ex_dg_hsm
I want...
