(Please note – my gear reviews aren’t based on pixel peeping or measurebeating. I simply use a piece of gear in real-world shooting situations the way I would use any piece of gear and then write down my impressions. There are plenty of places to do all the side-by-side image comparisons. This post will simply be a mini-review based on my tests. All the photos in this post were made with the Sigma 150-600 Sports Lens.)
Shooting Environment
I took my annual bird photo trip to New Mexico recently and thanks to the kind folks at lensrentals.com I had a chance to test the Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM ( S ) Lens for Canon EF Cameras / Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM ( S ) Lens for Nikon F Cameras
. This version is called the Sports Lens (hence the “S” in the name.) To test the lens, I primarily used a Nikon D810 as my camera body just to see what a high-resolution body could do in a wildlife setting.
Photo Copyright Scott Bourne – this image was shot with the Sigma Sports Lens extended to 600mm – it was heavily overcast and the lighting was pretty bad and yet the lens still rendered tons of detail and did a good job of reproducing the color in the bird’s feathers.
This is not a likely combo in my mind. In my opinion, the D810 is not a sports/wildlife camera. (I have a few friends who disagree, but if you’re a Nikon shooter, the usual suspect would be a Nikon D4s. But the higher resolution D810 is favored by people who want to use that extra resolution for tight cropping while maintaining a large file. I found it too noisy – YMMV.)
Photo Copyright Scott Bourne – Autofocus worked well on the lens, even when dealing with low light, birds in flight and sporadic motion. Some of that is a function of the Nikon camera but certainly the lens also plays a part.
I need to preface the rest of this post by saying I am primarily a Fuji guy and I haven’t used a DSLR with a big lens in more than a year. Right off the bat I will say I wish Fuji would hurry up and produce their promised 100-400 (150-600mm ELF) zoom.
But back to reality – Shooting with a DSLR and a lens at this focal range means shooting with some pretty heavy gear. My sore shoulder/back not withstanding, I was excited to see how the Sigma Sports Lens performs. My pal Robert O’Toole (a Sigma ambassador) had let me shoot with a proto-type almost two years ago up in Alaska. Because of that limited experience, I suspected that the production model was an amazing lens, but I wanted to use a production model of the lens day-in and day-out, real world setting.
Photo Copyright Scott Bourne – Again a tough situation for AF – backlit at sunset but the lens worked like a champ.
Using Third Party Lenses
Some of you might think that third-party lenses are inferior by nature. That may have been true long ago, but these days, the third-party lenses, especially from Sigma, are really quite good. In a few cases as good or better than any from Canon/Nikon. For years I used the Sigma 300-800 zoom and made plenty of salable images using that lens paired with high-end camera bodies. It was a very good lens BUT this one is even sharper, even more modern, has even less distortion, has image stabilization and is made of tougher materials so – yes, it’s even better.
Neither Canon or Nikon offers a zoom lens that matches the Sports Lens’ 150-600 focal length. A direct apples to apples comparison is therefore impossible. But it is possible to look at how this lens handles compared with longer focal length glass in the super telephoto range (which I will do later in this post.)
Photo Copyright Scott Bourne
The first thing I noticed about the Sports Lens is the build quality. It is absolutely superb. One look and you will realize it’s not a cheaply made piece of gear. It’s made mostly of metal and offers dust and splash-proof construction. It also has a water & oil repellent coating on the front and rear glass elements. I like the lens foot which is nice and long and will provide better support than lens feet I’ve seen on telephoto lenses from the Canon/Nikon. The build quality on this lens meets or exceeds my expectations for a pro lens in every single way.
The bad news is this great build quality translates to a heavy 6.25 pounds. It’s not out of line for a lens in this class, not at all in fact, but it is still heavy. Unless you are Godzilla, plan on using this beast mounted to a gimbal head on a tripod with a beefy set of legs.
Photo Copyright Scott Bourne
Next I tested the weather sealing, image stabilizer and other handling features…
I tested the water resistance by shooting for two days in the light rain at Bosque. Never once did the rain bother the lens so weather resistance – check.
The Sigma also features an effective optical stabilizer that works when shooting vertically or horizontally. I found it to be effective to not quite three stops. (Note that the OIS on my Fuji camera is a solid four stops.) The zoom lock switch is a nice touch that keeps the lens from extending (creeping) when you don’t want it to. The Sigma close-focuses to an impressive 8.5 feet – just as the manufacturer’s literature indicates. (Always test that stuff for yourself. If your results are way off the manufacturer’s guidelines, you might have a bad copy of the lens.) If you use an extension tube you can cut that close focus distance in half.
No more front/back focus
I constantly read about front/back focus issues in the camera forums. Well that’s not a problem for this baby. The Sports Lens features compatibility with a USB dock. (Sold separately.) Sigma has developed special software (SIGMA Optimization Pro – Mac or Windows) that can update the lens firmware (yes you can do that) and adjust parameters such as focus. In addition, the lenses from the Sports line have customizable AF speed, focus limiter, OS function and full-time manual focus function. The “Custom Mode Switch” is the device for further customization on the dedicated lenses. Why don’t all telephoto lenses come with this capability? It is simply brilliant and would be one reason I would select this lens over its competition. Using the USB dock you can make sure the lens achieves critical focus every time. This may be one of my favorite features about the Sports Lens.
Photo Copyright Scott Bourne
One disadvantage of a $2000 lens at this focal length is that it is slow. At f/6.3 (600mm) it will not win the bokeh award, but it’s also reasonable given the price and Sigma’s attempt to keep the lens as small as possible. The good news is that it is sharp, even wide open. And frankly, bokeh is relatively pleasing to my eye, even at f/6,3.
Performance
I found the 150-600 Sports Lens to be sharp at all focal lengths, particularly around f/8. One thing I found interesting was that the lens performed nearly at its best at 600 mm. This is unusual as most big telephoto zooms perform best at the shorter focal lengths. At every focal length, but especially at 600 mm the big Sigma exhibited very well controlled CA. It had very minimal vignetting on a crop sensor camera (I made a few shots on a D7200) but there is vignetting at 600mm on a FF camera. This can be controlled in post and depending on your shooting style, and depending on your post processing skills, as well as your tolerance for working in post…the amount of vignetting isn’t horrible. This is to be expected in a zoom lens costing less than $2000 and offering this long focal length. All you have to do if you use Lightroom is use the automated lens correction on import and the vignetting is gone – instantly. I personally see it as a non-issue.
As for AF – This lens focused very quickly and efficiently. In fact when it comes to auto-focus on a high-end camera body the Sigma focuses as fast as any Canon/Nikon lens in the focal range. One thing I never figured out was why when using the focus limiter (a switch that forces the lens to look for focus through its entire focusing range or a smaller range – designed to speed up focus acquisition) AF actually slowed down. I didn’t try setting it using the USB puc but it was the only quirk I saw with this lens in more than a week of testing.
The zoom action is stiff, but not too stiff. You can choose to either zoom in and out with the twist of a ring or grab the front rubber zoom grip and push / pull the zoom action. I’ve very rarely seen this feature on a zoom lens, and even more rarely seen it done so well.
Photo Copyright Scott Bourne
Comparison
Comparing the image quality from this lens and a Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 600mm f/4G ED Vibration Reduction lens isn’t really fair. The Nikon is faster, is a prime and is $7400 more expensive. But I will compare them for this reason. While the Nikon 600 prime is clearly superb and wins the image quality battle between the two lenses – here’s what you need to know. It isn’t $7400 better! When you’re working with lenses in this focal length, your technique needs to be flawless to get flawless results. I would argue that a person with great technique can get about 90-95% of the way to the image quality of the Nikon prime which means the Sigma is a real bargain by comparison.
(Note: I also made a few shots with the Nikon 200-500 lens and found that the Sigma performed as well or better and had more reach – the Nikon 200-500 is however less expensive.)
I also compared IQ on this lens with the IQ on the similar Tamron. The Tamron in this focal range is a good lens, but not up to snuff against the Sigma.
Photo Copyright Scott Bourne
Conclusion
If you want to shoot wildlife, birds sports or anything that requires a long focal length, and you don’t want to drop 10 grand (or more,) this is your lens. Few things in life seem worth their price to me these days. This lens excels in the value department at $1999. It’s so good that I had to double check my results. I am utterly stunned that a lens which costs this little, can deliver so much. I pretty much love everything about it – especially given the relatively low price, but there are two caveats in my recommendation of this lens.
- It may not be the best partner for a very high resolution camera like the Nikon D810 or the Canon 5DSR. These cameras demand the very highest quality glass. You may not notice the difference but I would. After pricing something like a Canon 600 f/4 IS lens you may need to take out a home loan if those hi-res cameras are that important to you.
- Also, just owning a long lens, even a good one, doesn’t guarantee good results. You really need to practice using such big, heavy glass to get the hang of it. Technique, a super strong tripod and for movement, a gimbal head, should all be considered part of the package when you’re deciding on a lens of this focal length. When you’re zoomed out to 600mm every mistake you make is amplified so keep that in mind. You might want to rent the lens first and test it to see how you like it. Me? I love it!
Assuming you know what you’re getting into, this Sigma 150-600 Sports lens is a very solid choice. For the money – It’s easily the best lens in the segment.
Highly recommended.
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