Sigma 150-500mm Zoom lense - F5-6.3 DG OS HSM

Every now and then, Tudor offer me a lense to test and report on. This time, it was a 150-500mm zoom lense.

The lense arrived via courier and I couldn't wait to test it out but had to wait till I got to the bush to finally haul it out of it's box and fit it to my Canon. I decided to try it out on my 40D first but soon decided that as the 40D has a small CCD and one has to multiply the lense size by 1,6 it soon became apparent that this was going to be a

l-o-n-g range lense for this model Canon. A better lense for these model cameras is perhaps the Sigma 50-500mm.

However, my 5D mk2 was a very different story indeed...

Taking the lense out of the box, my first impression was that the lense felt very solid and the weighting was just right. Attached to my camera, it felt really nice, well balanced and looked the part. The all black finish is well finished - Sigma have done their homework and are producing quality lenses.

I was able to use the lense in Welgevonden Game park and it produced some really nice, sharp pics. As I mentioned, on a full frame camera the range of 150-500mm is ideal. I was happy with the results.

Handling the camera/lense combination felt right, the balance was good and the zoom function (thank goodness) was a twist motion and not push/pull.

My only complaint with the lense is the OS (Optical Stabilizer)feature. The people on the game viewing vehicle had the giggles each time I took a pic as OS would kick in and make a (admittedly small) buzzing sound. It is not a big problem, more a case of "I am alive and working" kind of sound.

Other than that, a great lense. My only request - can I please keep the demo unit??

I would recommend this lense to any amateur (and even the more serious) wildlife, sports and aviation photographer . It is certainly a good value for money piece of kit. I believe the selling price is around R12,500 which is well priced.

The feathery pic on the left taken with the sun behind the "fronds". Although the fronds are very fine, the Sigma 150-500mm lense caught the moment very well. Zoomed to 136mm.

The "two headed" Zebra/s was taken early morning and came out nice and sharp (although the low rez pic perhaps doesn't show that very well). Zoomed to 370mm.

The bird (not sure what kind other than LBJ) was sitting on the bush quite far away and I zoomed right in (500mm) and it was just moving when I clicked. Next to his head you can see a bug of some sort.

All three pics were taken hand held.

The following is taken from the Sigma website:

Specs:

Website address: http://www.sigmaphoto.com/shop/150-500mm-f5-63-apo-dg-os-hsm-sigma