Sigma docking station

arshuter

Senior Member
Thinking about getting one. Are they worth it? How about some real life testimony. I've read on another forum they can make ART lenses out of any Sigma lens, really?
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Thinking about getting one. Are they worth it? How about some real life testimony. I've read on another forum they can make ART lenses out of any Sigma lens, really?

Second things first - no, they cannot make an Art series lens out of any Sigma lens. What they will do is a system conversion on any Art or Sport lens so if you go from Nikon to Canon they'll change the mounts for free, you just pay shipping to them.

The dock only works with more recent lenses (Contemporary, Art, and Sport series), but if you have one of those the dock is well worth it as it will allow you to update firmware (something you'll always have to do if you get a newly released body) and you have more flexible focus tuning (4 different distances x 4 zoom levels on zooms).
 

Hobbit

Senior Member
i have the dock for my 150-600C, it great for updates on firmware but ive not gone into the custom focus setting or anything yet with it, i may have to now i have a D500. it cant make lens into art lenses as that is a glass change :(
 

TwistedThrottle

Senior Member
Only get one if you have a lens that is compatible with the dock. Check here for lenses that are compatible.
It is great for updates and also lens calibration. Lens calibration can be a bit overwhelming at first, but not bad once you get the hang of it. After using the dock for both Sigma and Tamron, I am surprised Nikon hasn't come out with a dock yet. Nikon offers exactly 1 focus calibration per lens with in body lens calibration which may be ok for primes (not really though) but not good enough for zooms. With the dock, you have 4 distances to calibrate- close, far and 2 in between. On zooms, you have the 4 distances and also 4 zoom lengths for a combined 16 calibration points, compared to Nikon's 1 calibration point. Needless to say, even with a prime lens, its going to take some time to calibrate using the dock but IMO worth it. Another cool feature is you can customize the buttons on the side of the lens (sometimes) by adjusting how the OS behaves and also speed up or slow down focus speed. I could do this for the 150-600 but not the 18-35.
 

arshuter

Senior Member
Thank you folks for the help and clarification. I did buy a 100-400 contemporary lens that I really like and have been thinking of getting some more Sigma lenses, hence the questions. I guess it must be true "you can't always believe what you read on the internet".
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
One thing I should point out about Sigma's focus calibration, you are calibrating the lens using a single body. So it will be spot on with the body you calibrate it for, but that may cause it to be slightly off for any other body you put it on. How off depends on the lens and the differences between the bodies. Suffice it to say if you're going to take the time required to calibrate a 150-600mm make sure you do it on the body you're going to have it on most of the time. If that's a D7200 and you upgrade to a D500 then you'll need to recalibrate.
 
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Needa

Senior Member
Challenge Team
One thing I should point out about Sigma's focus calibration, you are calibrating the lens using a single body. So it will be spot on with the body you calibrate it for, but that may cause it to be slightly off for any other body you put it on. How off depends on the lens and the differences between the bodies. Suffice it to say if you're going to take the time required to calibrate a 150-600mm make sure you do it on the body you're going to have it on most of the time. If that's a D7200 and you upgrade to a D500 then you'll need to recalibrate.

Just curious, is there a way to back up the setting so you could in essence calibrate for two cameras just switch profiles?
 

bandit993

Senior Member
I have one but unless you are customizing your lenses often or have mutiple ones that work with it, it is a tough call. They only offer 1 maybe 2 updates so it is not like they are constantly improving their lenses. I did the 2 updates on the 150-600mm C lenses and that was it. Haven't did any updates since March 2019. So for update usage, kind of a waste.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Just curious, is there a way to back up the setting so you could in essence calibrate for two cameras just switch profiles?
Unfortunately, no. The calibration settings are written to the lens firmware directly via the dock and there is no option to save the configuration anywhere but to the lens itself. The best thing I can think of would be to keep a written record of the specific settings you want for each camera but you'd still need to connect the dock to the lens to switch the settings from camera X to camera Y, or vice versa.

That being said, I think the dock is pretty much an essential item. Some of my dock compatible lenses needed significant adjustment, some very little (I'm including Tamron lenses when I say this) but even small adjustments seem to add up. My Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art was really, really good out of the box but after careful calibration it legitimately made me say, "Wow...". When you consider a dock not only allows you to calibrate the auto-focus far more precisely, but can also adjust optical stabilization behavior AND apply firmware updates, I can't really see a reason for not having one. If you only have one compatible lens I can see how the cost might give you pause, though. I have been known to lend mine on occasion so for a trusted poster here in a tight spot that's another possibility.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Just curious, is there a way to back up the setting so you could in essence calibrate for two cameras just switch profiles?

It's not hard to manage multiples but to my knowledge you cannot save a lens-camera profile. Easiest thing to to is write them down or do a screen shot of the calibration screen. You don't have to physically recalibrate, just enter the 4 or 16 numbers on the screen. But you would need to connect to the doc to apply the changes.
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
One thing I should point out about Sigma's focus calibration, you are calibrating the lens using a single body. So it will be spot on with the body you calibrate it for, but that may cause it to be slightly off for any other body you put it on. How off depends on the lens and the differences between the bodies. Suffice it to say if you're going to take the time required to calibrate a 150-600mm make sure you do it on the body you're going to have it on most of the time. If that's a D7200 and you upgrade to a D500 then you'll need to recalibrate.

Although I don't have any Sigma lenses that work with their docking station, I certainly wasn't aware of only one body's info being saved to the lens. But it makes sense since it would require firmware of the Nikon body to be compatible with these Sigma lenses - and we know that isn't going to happen.

It's not hard to manage multiples but to my knowledge you cannot save a lens-camera profile. Easiest thing to to is write them down or do a screen shot of the calibration screen. You don't have to physically recalibrate, just enter the 4 or 16 numbers on the screen. But you would need to connect to the doc to apply the changes.

Thanks for this, Jake - in case I ever decide to go with any of their more recent lenses.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Although I don't have any Sigma lenses that work with their docking station, I certainly wasn't aware of only one body's info being saved to the lens. But it makes sense since it would require firmware of the Nikon body to be compatible with these Sigma lenses - and we know that isn't going to happen.

Don't get mixed up here - no body information is saved to the lens. You are simply calibrating it's internal focusing mechanism at 4 different distances (for primes) and at 4 different focal lengths (for zooms). This is done using a camera body but it doesn't care what body you use because it's the lens' AF that's being calibrated. The body goes along for the ride, so it makes sense you do it with the body you're going to put it on. You may see little difference between a pair of D500's, or you may find that it works fine for close focus but introduces softness at distance, and vice versa. In this case you might actually be able to use Nikon's single point calibration on the second body to adapt and not have to worry about it.
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Don't get mixed up here - no body information is saved to the lens. You are simply calibrating it's internal focusing mechanism at 4 different distances (for primes) and at 4 different focal lengths (for zooms). This is done using a camera body but it doesn't care what body you use because it's the lens' AF that's being calibrated. The body goes along for the ride, so it makes sense you do it with the body you're going to put it on. You may see little difference between a pair of D500's, or you may find that it works fine for close focus but introduces softness at distance, and vice versa. In this case you might actually be able to use Nikon's single point calibration on the second body to adapt and not have to worry about it.

I understand - but I didn't express myself clearly here. The camera body info isn't stored per say, but the lens' focusing ability will react as though it was mounted on the body to which it was calibrated even when a different body is being used. Unfortunately that could make things worse when the lens is mounted on a different body since bodies can vary slightly with their AF accuracy.

Thanks for the clarification, Jake. I want to make sure any new camera shooters understand.
 
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BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Like a Nikon lens that you cannot calibrate (it's got a set calibration from the factory) a calibrated lens will react exactly the same way on every body. Like the Nikon lens it may be perfect on one body and need additional focus calibration on another. Sigma just lets you change factory settings.
 

crycocyon

Senior Member
I could be wrong, but I've read that Canon DSLR users need to calibrate more than Nikon ones (?). As for myself, I bought the dock in anticipation of getting my first Sigma Art lens, the 85mm, but found I didn't need it for the Nikon D850. Same was true after I then got the 35mm Art, 50mm Art and the 105mm Art (I might get the 28mm someday as it's a landmark lens). I shoot in conditions where focus has to land on the eyes every time and the Sigma lenses have performed wonderfully for me. That being said, I don't often shoot at f1.4, usually f2-2.8.
 

BF Hammer

Senior Member
I just thought it would be productive to chime in here and point out that if you actually look for firmware updates at Sigma, you will notice that Nikon F mount lenses might get one update early, or none at all. Canon mount lenses by far get the most updates. Unless you need a specific fix, the Sigma dock for a Nikon F mount is not really needed for firmware. But if you have something like the 150-600mm C lens where there are custom programs for VR operation and a programmable mode switch you need the dock for to change.
 
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