Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 OS

This is my Sigma 150-500mm lens which I am now selling. It was the first lens I bought separately for a DSLR and I've used it almost exclusively for wildlife. On this site at the moment, all of the shots under "Wildlife" are taken with it except for three in the "Non-Stock Wildlife" section. It has served me very well and I would highly recommend it to any keen wildlife photographer on a tight budget.

There are two versions of this lens around and this is the more expensive one with image stabilisation, hence the "OS" in the name ("Optical Stabiliser"). This gives you about 4 stops more freedom in low light and practically means I have shot hand held at the long end at 1/200 with not much difficulty. I've even been able to push it bellow 1/100 with something to lean on.

The lens is in good functional condition. The only thing of note is that the image stabilisation sometimes doesn't quite kick in. I believe this isn't a fault however and is because Sigma reverse-engineered the Canon lens protocol (allowing lens and body to communicate). Therefore, it's not quite as sound at communicating to the body as a Canon-made lens. Practically, this just means that 1 in 100 times you have to turn the image stabilisation on/off a couple of times to get it to kick-in. I stress it has never "stopped working". Optically it is still as good as when I got it.
Aesthetically, it has seen better days. There are various scuffs and marks but these are typical with the Sigma lenses with the matte coat. It's sort of like felt in that you can see if someone touched it recently! I think all the marks would probably come off this a damp cloth but it doesn't seem worth it in my opinion. There are a few points where the matte coat has lifted off (due to frequent hand placement, not knocks), some of the paint on the buttons is quite worn and there is a small crack in the hood. This crack doesn't have any effect on the usability of the lens and thus is just an aesthetic thing.

I have listed it on eBay here but feel free to contact me directly though the Contact Me section of the site.