With good tripod yes...and for birding, you can perhaps get a bird who is patient to sit still long enough to lock the tripod onto it. Most of my shots are handheld.
My keeper rate drops precipitously once you go below 1/1200. All sharp at 1/2000, 80% at 1/1600. (Need to drink less coffee and calm down if I want to improve :-)
I have to say, this lens is really sharp, for the price you pay, once you get the settings right. F6.3 at 600mm and 1/1600 means you need to bump the ISO pretty high or be shooting in
a full sunshine....
I have the 150-600mm SigmaC lens. Never shoot under 1/1600 at full extension. (I have a crop and FF Canon). As other posters have noted, the images are not sharp. It may be due to focus or shake. Given there is no part of the image that is in focus, then shake is probably the answer. Crank up the shutter and ISO to get right exposure and see if that helps. (Other posters notes on post processing and contrast will help but I would start with a sharp photo first. (took me a while to figure out that I needed to be at min 1/1600....600mm on 1.6 Canon crop camera = 960mm. 1/2000 is even safer. Good technique can get you below 1/1000 but you will need to be steady.)
Precisely Correct.
At 300mm, you need to be at 1/1000 shutter speed to "guarantee" to take out camera shake. With IS you should be able to handhold down to 1/200 or even better with a still subject like a bird sitting in a field, but 1/1000 will remove any unwanted camera shake regardless. I have a 150-600mm Sigma and anything under 1/1600 shutter requires good handhold technique. When I shoot sports at 600m, it's 1/1600 shutter and bump the ISO until I get good exposure. (Crop camera)
Hello,
Semi-professional photographer. Engineering Director by day, wedding and portrait photographer on weekends and holidays.
Jumping in to share some helpful hints and learn a few things too.