A bit of advice on a sigma af 5,6 400mm

[den9112]

Hi, i was passing my local camera shop today and noticed he had a used sigma AF 5.6 400mm at a decent price, he told me he thinks it only works on sports mode on a early eos models ,he also had a 500d for sale so he tried the lens on thge 500d which he passed to me to try ,i put it in AV mode at 5.6 and took a few pics and all was fine , i took around 5 pics ,however when he initially tried the lense (not sure what settings he had it on) it did come up with err code ,but after i had it i didnt get any problems , the focus was pretty quick and it is nice and clean.,,,i dont know much about the lense and i cannot try as i dont have my camera at the moment, its a greyish colour and i cannot see APO ,so i presume AF 5.6 -400mm is all it is, i would apreciate it if any one as owned one of these lenses could give me some info.Thanks

 

[twist]

Think it is an APO lens from what I recall, not a bad lens as they go pretty cheap. How much does he want for it?

 

[den9112]

Hi, i have bought it for £100

 

[twist]

Nice one. They go for between 100-180 in excellent nick. Im sure youll enjoy it if not flog it for what you paid perhaps 150. BTW can only be used in Aperture mode from what Ive read.

 

[den9112]

I will be happy if it only works in AV mode as that is mainly what i use ,it did work in sports mode in the shop ,so that could be a bonus. .. It does seem though that the tripod collar is fixed though as i cant seem to find a way to get it off.,,,

 

[twist]

Hmmm, not unusual for some older lenses to have fixed collars. Well for £100 youve done well. Aperture mode is pretty much perfect anyway.

 

[den9112]

I will post a pic taken with the lens when i get my camera back.

 

[twist]

Would like to see that, just reading a bit more, it seems the black lens is the APO version. If yours doesnt say APO Im not sure it is. Still a decent lens though. It came in gunmetal gray & white. Tripod collar does move but may not be removeable.

 

[den9112]

Yes its gun metal grey,it does seem to be well built though and its in excelent condtion. when i used it to test, the auto focus was very quick ,and £100 for a lens is not a vast amount and if i am happy with the results the all should be ok. forgot to metion the camera shop guy said he believed it was a prime .

 

[twist]

£100 is nothing for a lens.

 

[simonblue]

I had one of these quite a few years ago,as far as I remember it was APO,not a bad lens