Marked improvement after camera firmware update. No birds, had to settle for a squirrel. This is SOOC. I am much happier now.

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OK many replies were very helpful. I finally had time to hook up the docking station. The lens firmware was already at 2.02 - the latest according to the docking station sw.
Several things I tried:
1) removing the UV filer did improve IQ *slightly*.
2) set the AF mode to "smoother"
3) shooting wider open - f6.5- 8.
4) adjusted the focus at 30ft and infinity to -5 ( lens seems to focusing behind slightly.

Here is what I was able to capture SOOC. Still not very sharp.

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EXINFO - the first pic was 1/400 f13 ISO 800. Second pic (same egret head under) 1/1250 f13 ISO 800. The flying sandhills was 1/640 f14 ISO 640. 1/400 may be a bit slow for 600mm.

I will try with IS off and see what that gets me.

Before buying this lens, my go-to telephoto lens is a Canon 70-200 2.8 L. I have been taking pictures for a very long time, but I am just starting to get interested in birding. A longer lens seems necessary. I was wondering if that L lens just spoiled me, but my wife's Canon EF-M 55-200 is much sharper than the Sigma.

The only other complaint on the Sigma is the autofocus is slow.

I've had this lens for about a month. So far I am not impressed.- Here's some pics taken today and a coupe weeks ago. Pics a re unmodified out of the camera. Camera is Canon 7D mark 2. I would prefer to think I am doing something wrong. I used a heavy duty monopod. Shutter speed 1/400 up to 1/8000 (trying to keep it faster than 1/1000 if possible) @f11 - f13.

At 150mm, the lens is much sharper. Above 400mm everything is soft.

I think its too late to return the lens. Maybe Sigma can do something?

Thoughts and comments appreciated.
Jim

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Canon EF 70-300 f4-5.6 USM
Includes:
- Lens
- Lens hood
- original box
- 3 Hoya filters (58mm). UV (always on the lens), Polarizer and "warm".

Light use, excellent condition. No signs of wear.
Asking $250 + $15 US shipping.

"Jeffrey Epstein did not hang himself"

From a friend of mine who works at Boeing: It was a software problem. The Mission Elapsed Time (MET) was off by enough that the flight software thought the orbital insertion burn had already happened so did not fire the engine. At the same time it was keeping the spacecraft in high precision 'station keeping mode' during the non-existant burn, which uses RCS jets (these are the small jets that control the spacecraft attitude).

This was happening when Starliner was not in communications with flight control due to its position. By they time Starliner regained communications, there was not enough RCS propellant left to safely dock with ISS.

If there had been crew on board, they would have commanded the RCS jets to stop firing and would have plenty of fuel left for docking.

BTW, the shots are fantastic!

Oh, I should have mentioned location. The race I referred to is off the Texas Gulf Coast. This shot was over Galveston Bay. We were up before the sun because we had to motor sail from Clear Lake to Galveston. We were still 25 miles away from the starting line off Galveston Beach - Pleasure pier. (if you are not familiar with Houston, it's a suburb about 17 miles southeast of downtown, and right off Galveston Bay).

Thanks for the kind words.

The oil rig is actually a shrimp boat. There are 2 shrimp boats and 1 sailboat in the shot. The sailboat was one of 130 participating in the Harvest Moon Regatta. This is a 145 mile off shore race from Galveston to Port Aransas, TX. There were 4 other sailboats off to the left out of the scene. Most of the boats are from the Clear Lake/Galveston Bay area of Houston. A handful were from further away.

BTW, we came in 1st in our division.

Taken at sunrise enroute through Galveston Bay TX to start a 2 day race from Galveston to Port Aransas. The reward for being up before the sun is witnessing a beautiful sunrise.

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My first post on this forum!
Sailing on Galveston Bay a couple weeks ago. Really stretching the limits of what a 7D mark 2 can do on a moving boat. I have not mastered using GIMP. Any tips on using GIMP to reduce some of the noise in this shot? Unfortunately I did not shoot raw.

Shot with Canon 7D2, 70-200L f2.8 180mm 1/60sec image cropped 75%ish

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