Sigma 150-600mm 5-6.3 Contemporary DG OS HSM Lens for Sigma

I needed a long lens for wildlife in Yellowstone and this turned out to be perfect. It’s sharp and not too heavy. I’m glad I didn’t opt for the more expensive version. A great investment for my needs.

The lens covers a focal range from 150mm to 600mm, which is incredibly versatile. On my Canon 7D, the 1.6x crop factor effectively makes it 240mm to 960mm, giving exceptional reach. For example, at 600mm, you can clearly see details on faraway objects.Key features include a Zoom Lock, which locks the zoom at specific marked positions, and a Focus Range Limiter, allowing you to restrict the focus distance for faster performance. Autofocus is fast and reliable, and the Manual Override mode lets you fine-tune focus when needed.Image Stabilization (OS) offers two modes: Mode 1 for handheld shots and Mode 2 for panning or tracking fast-moving subjects. It’s lightweight for a lens in this range, thanks to its aluminum and composite build. The rotating tripod collar adds convenience for tripod use.The aperture ranges from f/5 at 150mm to f/6.3 at 600mm. While it’s not as bright as an f/2.8 lens, the tradeoff is the incredible focal range and excellent stabilization at a price that’s hard to beat.Conclusion: This lens delivers excellent image quality, versatility, and advanced features. While it’s not a bright f/2.8 or part of Canon’s L-series, it’s perfect for wildlife and sports photography at a fraction of the price. I’d rate it 5 out of 5 stars—a fantastic value for the money!

First off, I'll say I'm an advanced enthusiast not into pixel peeping. But this lens is great! I got it primarily for some random nature walks and the 2 airshows I attend each year. Optically, it's very sharp in the middle all focal lengths but definitely visibly falls off in the corners as I'm using it on a full-frame Canon 6D. Not deal breaking but the outer edges are noticeably less sharp without pixel peeping. Color rendition is very good, similar to my Canon L lenses, but probably just a bit less saturated/dull. Focus speed is very good, I haven't missed any shots because of it yet. If you use the focus distance limiting switches, it's even faster because it limits the focus hunting. I haven't done any high speed tracking/panning with it yet, but that's not a super strength of the Canon 6D to begin with. Build quality is excellent for the price. Zoom and focus rings have good tension, no rough spots throughout the range. All the parts fit together nicely, no play or wiggle while zooming. The first part of the body (last 2" near the mount) is metal, the rest is thermally stable plastic as is pretty much the norm these days for non-professional grade lenses. The tripod foot is also removeable and the lens includes a nice silicone ring to protect the foot mounts when removed. It's also worth noting the lens comes with a nice padded, Sigma labeled bag with a strap to store/transport the lens. This is a nice touch and saved me a few bucks since any third party lens case big enough to hold this size lens is at least $40. Weight could definitely be an issue for some. At 4.25lbs its my heaviest lens by far. I use a Black Rapid RS-5 sling strap and it makes it relatively easy to carry, but a standard neck strap wouldn't work for anything more than a short stint. For days at the airshow, I plan on using my monopod. As a matter of habit and good practice I always put a B+W UV MRC filter on all my lenses. So just a warning that at 95mm, that size filter cost more than 10% of the lens' cost! I waffled between this lens and the twice as expensive Sport model. From the few online reviews available, the only real "cons" to this lens verses the sport is slightly lower optical clarity (but I'm not a pixel peeper as previously noted), slightly slower focus (could be an issue, but I'm no pro to begin with), and lack of the tank-like build quality and weather sealing. So given these 3 cons, the only one that would really affect my personal use is build quality and I couldn't justify another thousand dollars for that. The other obvious comparison for this lens is the similarly priced Tamron 150-600. So the following is what swayed me to the Sigma: I'll say that I generally prefer Sigma to Tamron for third party lenses (though I do own Tamron's excellent new SP 15-30mm F2.8), I really like the look of Sigma's new Global Vision lens line (personal preference), the Sigma included a nice padded case, and the final one up over the Tamron is Sigma's USB dock. And lastly, to cover the USB dock. This lens has two "Custom" mode positions, and I made C1 a setting to prioritize speed in it's focus and OS and C2 a setting to prioritize accuracy in its focus and OS.Update 11-16-2015: I still stand by this lens, it really is great. Added some pics from the Great New England Airshow. It was a cloudy, hazy, summer day and the lens still captured some pretty good color saturation. Pics taken with my Canon 6D, all handheld, really shows off the len's OS. Most pics were keepers (or at least good enough) given the fairly high-speed tracking.

Update May 2016: Recent firmware patches have improved the autofocus performance.UPDATE Jan. 2016: I did indeed buy the docking station and there has been one firmware released that made auto-focus do a better job for me!This is one very shiny toy. It took a while for me to post this review because at first I was not sure if maybe it had a focus problem. After three weeks it is clear that it is operator error and learning curve. I will post some sample pics.My camera: Canon 70D - This is a cropped sensor camera although the lens is compatible with full frames - not sure how it performs on those.On a nice bright day you can indeed hand hold this although it is a bit of a beast. To demonstrate this, every picture I have uploaded were taken hand-held. If you are going to use a tripod you will need a real one, not one of the little plastic bargain brands. Picture of my camera with this lens (taken from my cell phone camera) included.This lens works great but you have to keep track of all the settings and remember which ones you have set. For example there are two types of optical stabilization and you have to remember to shut it OFF when on a tripod or it will mess things up a bit. To decrease your focus time you have a switch that can be set to 2.9-10m or 10m-infinity. Autofocus can go full auto, full manual, or auto with manual override. Many of my initial blown pics were because I had something set in the wrong place.One potentially awesome thing that I have not had time to try yet is that you can buy a $60 docking station that will let you burn custom settings and microfocus adjustments in to the lens as well as update its firmware. It lets you set priority on motor speed vs smoothness, Set custom focal range limits to speed up focus if you know the range you will be shooting at, make 16 separate microfocus adjustments to fine tune your autofocus.... 4 distances x 4 focal lengths. I will let you go look that up though as I have not tried it myself.It goes by the name of: Sigma 878101 USB Dock Lens Firmware for Canon Lenses (Black)So far this lens has done a great job for me. However I AM NOT A PIXEL PEEPER. Photoshop and Lightroom exist for a reason :) If you are that kind of OCD photographer you need to wait for another person's review.Yes it is not fully weather sealed like the $2000 "sport" model and yes it is made out of plastic (the "S" model is all metal I think). But it feels quite well made and solid, and there are many other things I would rather spend that extra $1000 on. The focus and the zoom feel very smooth and easy to control.Nice Things:They did not "nickel and dime" you on the extras. It comes with a nice padded case with a strap, a strap for the lens, and a lens hood.Technically, in spite of what Sigma says I was able to use my non-sigma (Tamron for Canon mounts) x1.4x tele-converter but regardless of lighting auto-foucs went down the pipes when I did.There is a hard lock at 150mm by means of a switch so when you are moving around gravity will not make the lens extend if it is pointing downwards.One weird thing. As of May 1 you can not just download the documentation for this thing from the web. So if you don't do well at keeping track of flyers, you need to call Sigma tech support and they will e-mail you the PDF.I will try to add more details as I think of them, but for now here are some pictures I have managed (only post-processing is crop, image reduction, and enhancing exposure/color if light was low)