50mm-500mm Bigma~~~~ARGHHH!

[ginnie1]

Screaming for help from all you Bigma users! We have just acquired one with a tele-converter as we have seen some magnificient photos in pbase taken by this lens!
What the heck are we doing wrong? The photos are coming out foggy, blurry, not crisp & sharp.
Yes, it's on a tripod, & using a timer or remote!..I noticed that looking through the lens is softer looking than looking at a subject with my naked eye.
We need all the help we can get, any tips from you BIGMA users out there?

Ginnie

[jypsee]

and it seems you're using a 40D. If you're using a teleconverter that reports to the camera body then that is probably the problem. The Bigma at 500mm is already at an aperture smaller than f/5.6 and the 40D body doesn't focus at that small an aperture (only version 1 bodies do) though supposedly the Bigma is only reporting f/5.6 to the body... don't know cuz I don't use one, but that's what users say.
In addition to the smaller than f/5.6 issue, you need to understand that the 40D has problems with using a TC on a lens with an aperture smaller than f/5.6. I use the Tamron 1.4X that doesn't report to the body with a Canon 400 f/5.6 and on a 30D or 20D there's pretty much no problem attaining focus easily. On the 40D I find that even with a contrasty subject the lens hunts and I often resort to using the lens in manual focus.... thankfully I can focus manually with the viewfinder on the 40D.
So, I'd chuck the TC and try the Bigma alone and see if that helps.