We just finished another successful Texas Bird Photo Safari. I'll be writing more later in the week but since so many of you are curious about the Sigma 120-400mm Telephoto Zoom lens I wanted to let you know that it was a complete success.

Several participants used the lens and all loved it and got many good images with it. Without exception they all plan to order either it or the similar 150-500mm lens to get a little more reach. We also lent out a Wimberly Sidekick which is a great companion for the lens--and some of those will be getting ordered also. The attached image of a Pyrrhuloxia was taken with the 120-400 on a D2X. It is a resized JPEG straight from the camera. The only surprise I had is that when used with a Sigma Teleconverter the lens doesn't Auto-Focus. Not too big a shock since it is an f4.5-5.6 lens to start with, but that would tend to make me recommend the slightly longer 150-500 for most people. Either lens is a bargain. The Sigma 120-400mm f/4.5-5.6 for Canon or Sigma 120-400mm f/4.5-5.6 for Nikon are under $750 and the half-stop slower but slightly longer Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 for Canon and Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 for Nikon are about $100 more at $850. All are about half the price of the much older and slower Nikon 80-400 and the older and less full-featured Canon 100-400. They don't hold up against the Nikon 200-400 of course, but it is 5 times the cost and much larger and heavier. These lenses are our new favorites for those looking for a good safari lens.