Sigma 150-500mm f5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM for Nikon Digital and Film SLR Cameras

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I got this lens as a smaller, easier to carry 'long' lens (as an alternate to my Nikon 200-400). Gave up waiting for an AF-S version of the 80-400.

Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM APO Specifications Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM APO Specifications

I have the Sigma 150-600 Sports (which now is 30% more costlier than the C, at least here, and locally costs exactly the same as the Nikon 200-500), and I used to have the 150-500. My what a difference! There are also some 80/100-400mm lenses on offer of which the venerable Canon EF 100-400mm IS USM and Nikon AF VR 80-400mm 4.5-5.6D ED are the most popular. Distortion is low at all focal lengths, as would be expected from a telephoto zoom of this type. It would be very unlikely to be a problem, in fact you'd probably have a hard time seeing it, even in architectural shots.Closest focus distance/max. magnification: 2.20 m (7.2 ft.) / 1:5.2. I measured this with manual focus to go down to 1:4.7. This is quite useful for moderate close-ups. [+] The Sigma did not suffer from any focus lag when used with a Nikon D7000 or a D70. Readers may recall from my review of the Tamron 150-600mm VC that focus lag was an issue with older Nikon bodies, especially when using single-point focus. The difference between the two lenses is likely due to better firmware compatibility of the Sigma 150-500mm OS with older bodies. NIKON D800 @ 500mm, ISO 1600, 1/1600, f/6.3 I ended up with a Nikon 80-400 and did some comparisons. Wide open at 400mm the Sigma matched or beat the Nikon in sharpness - though the balance tips as you step down. IMO, this lens is a better value than the current version of the Nikon 80-400. Longer reach, faster AF and 2/3 the price. At 300mm there's a very slight drop in sharpness wide open. Stopping down does improve sharpness a little, but on normal pictorial targets you'd be hard pressed to see the difference. A very small amount of chromatic aberration can be detected at the edges of the frame.

Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM review - Trusted Reviews

Price: around 890 EUR new (incl. 19% VAT) = the cheapest way to reach 500mm with stabilization! The Tamron 200-500mm (non-stabilized) is 900 EUR and the Sigma 50-500mm at 1300 EUR. Only the Sigma 120-400mm is cheaper at 750 EUR, but of course it doesn’t reach 500mm. [+] Even though the Sigma 150-500mm OS is an ‘older’ lens, a lot of folks will have a ton of fun shooting with it, especially if they own an older DSLR body. Plus, it is affordably priced compared to the other options available. The fact that it is available in Nikon, Canon, Sony, and Pentax mounts will also add to its appeal for a great many photographers. NIKON D800 @ 500mm, ISO 800, 1/2500, f/6.3 With a DxOMark score of 11 points and a sharpness score of 6P- Mpix the Sigma doesn’t perform particularly well on APS-C format bodies, and is in no way a reflection on the performance of the Pentax K-3. In fact if we look above at the sharpness map of the Sony mount version on the Sony SLT A-77 (above), we can see the performance is essentially identical.

Compared to the Nikon the Sigma appeared to offer faster focussing speed, an equally effective optical stabiliser, longer reach (the extra 100mm was important) and adequate build quality for my purposes. All lenses in this comparison cover full frame sensors or can equally be used on a cropped APS-C camera body. [+] The newer lenses are so much better optically, but Nikon seem to still have quality issues with their 200-500 (some are superb, some suffer from bad decentering, and it is hard to get help from Nikon, as they seems to think it is you that is imagining things). As usual I’ll have a look at the technical data first. I’ve rated the features with a [+] (or [++]), when it’s better than average or even state of the art, a [0] if it’s standard or just average, and [-] if there’s a disadvantage.

Sigma 150-500mm f5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM Sony and - DXOMARK Sigma 150-500mm f5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM Sony and - DXOMARK

For a lens with such a modest maximum aperture, the levels of light falloff towards the corners are a little disappointing. At 150mm and f/5 the corners are 1.6 stops darker than the image centre and this level of vignetting is pretty much constant throughout the zoom range. To achieve even illumination, the lens needs to be stopped down to f/11.

Chromatic aberration is visible between 250mm and 500mm but it's at a fairly low level. Here's an example at 370mm, shot using and EOS 7D DSLR. First the whole frame: This is quite an astonishing performance for a zoom: even wide open the results are very good at the center, the DX-corner, and the FX-corner. Remember that we are looking with a 36MP sensor at the performance of this lens. So this is an excellent result! I got the 120-400 first, a lens that doesn't impress anyone at 400mm, but the 150-500 does perform a bit better, not least at longer focal lengths than the 120-400 (which is best at 120-150).

Sigma 150-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM Lens for Pentax Digital Sigma 150-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM Lens for Pentax Digital

The lense has performed fully to my expectations. Handheld, it provides sharp, richly coloured images. It did take some time to develop a technique for carrying and handholding the lense/camera combination, which weighs 2.7 kg all up. Always I'm looking for a supertele. I'm a Nikon gay, new in photo and looking to this wonderful Nikkor lenses make many wishes about, but the price make me forget it.As a full- frame model we’ve partnered the Sigma with the Sony SLT A-99 for testing where it achieved a DxOMark lens score of 14 points. That’s slightly behind the results of the lens tested on the Nikon D610 here mainly on account of an increase in (pincushion) distortion over a greater part of the zoom range (from 200mm onwards) and some slight difference in uniformity. Sigma’s service can change the mount of the lens between Sony’s E-mount and L-mount (at a cost). This is a unique feature that no other manufacturer offers. [++] Even though it is smaller than the canon lense, it is still the biggest lense i have by far. It is heavy and will take some getting used to. I am able to shoot very clear photos at 500 with a shutter speed of 200 and perhaps even slower. I took some sample photos to compare image quality with my canon 135l and 70-300 4-5.6. You just cant compare with the 135 but it appeared better than the 70-300 at comparable ranges.