The latest lens release from Sigma is a long zoom, one that’s well-suited for snapping shots of distant action, and is built to handle the perils of outdoor use. The 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports offers full-frame coverage, blazingly fast autofocus, and optics tuned to take advantage of high-resolution mirrorless cameras.
Sigma is bringing it to market in two mounts. The E-mount version is available for Sony mirrorless cameras, while the L-mount works with cameras from Leica, Panasonic, and Sigma itself. The optics cover full-frame sensors, and the lens can work with APS-C sensor models, too
Made for Mirrorless
The 150-600mm is part of Sigma’s Sports line, a designation it reserves for its fastest focusing, most sturdily built lenses. Sigma has wrapped a complex optical formula—25 glass elements arranged in 15 groups—in an all-weather housing. The barrel is a mix of aluminum and a quality composite, one that Sigma promises is thermally stable for use in cold and hot environments alike.
It’s a hefty lens, but sized down when compared with the 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG HSM OS Sports, a 2014 release for SLR systems. The older zoom comes in at 6.3 pounds, but the new made-for-mirrorless optics cut things down significantly, to just 4.6 pounds, about the same as the competing Sony FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS, one of the only big zooms with an internal zoom design.
Sigma goes with the more common telescoping zoom here. The 150-600mm Sports is about 10.5 inches long at the 150mm position and around 15.5 inches at the 600mm setting. The lens includes weather protection in its design and ships with a hood and soft cover to protect the lens. The front element has a full array of anti-glare and protective coatings, including anti-smudge fluorine. It supports 95mm filters.
The zoom action has two levels of tension, set by a toggle switch. The smooth setting allows for easy zoom, either push-pull or with a twist of the ring. Switching to the tight setting offers more resistance, so it takes some effort to adjust the zoom. The switch itself is a little tight, so it takes some effort to adjust—we’re working with an early sample of the lens, so we’ll wait and see if that’s the case with a final copy.
It’s good to have adjustable tension, even if the switch is a little bit of a pain. For wildlife you’ll want to keep the lens set at 600mm most of the time, but if you’re using the lens for a football or soccer match the quicker, smooth action is better for framing up action shots.
The lens also has a zoom lock, but you can only engage it at 150mm. This is a change from the SLR version, a lens that could lock in at several marked focal lengths. I didn’t miss it—with the tension set to tight the lens doesn’t creep downward, at least with a factory-fresh copy of the lens. If you love the feature, the Tamron 150-500mm for Sony systems has it—it uses a simple, clutch to lock the zoom at any focal length, but doesn’t offer adjustable tension.
Handles Like a Dream
It handles well, too. I used it with the full-frame Sony a7R IV in the field, exclusively handheld. The zoom ring is positioned forward, where you naturally cradle the lens, with three function buttons just behind it. They’re especially useful if you split the focus function away from your shutter release.
There’s an integrated tripod collar and foot. Detents lock the collar in at right angles, and the foot can slide right into a tripod with an Arca-Swiss dovetail hood, like the Peak Design Travel Tripod. It also has a standard tripod thread, so you can mount it to a cross-body sling strap, and there are strap lugs on the lens itself if you prefer a simple shoulder strap.
The lens is stabilized, and it includes a toggle switch to swap between modes for static shots and for times when you’re panning along with your subject. It’s rated for 4-stops of stabilization at 600mm.
Autofocus is deadly quick. I had no problem tracking birds in flight at a local wildlife preserve. A focus limiter is included to help out your camera’s autofocus system—you can restrict autofocus to subjects nearer or further than 33 feet (10m) from the camera, or turn the limiter off and let the lens look for focus across its entire range.
The lens also has a good macro capability. It does its best at 180mm, focusing to about 22 inches for 1:2.9 magnification. You can get some decent close-up shots at longer focal lengths too—I backed up and zoomed in to focus on the big hornet pictured above.
L-Mount and E-Mount
There are a couple features exclusive to L-mount. Support for teleconverters is one, and the ability to fine-tune performance with Sigma’s lens dock is the other. Teleconverters are a big deal if you want a lens that can zoom to 840mm or 1,200mm, but do sap quite a bit of light. The dock lets you change how quickly focus responds and set custom focus limit distances.
It’s an important lens for L-mount owners, the first pro-quality zoom with this kind of reach and construction. Sony owners have a couple of alternatives to mull, the Sony 200-600mm (with support for Sony’s teleconverters) for $1,999, and the shorter zooming Tamron 150-500mm for $1,399.
Sigma is selling the 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports for a very reasonable $1,499, and expects to start delivering orders at the end of the month. We’ve been working with an early sample ahead of the announcement, and are waiting on a final copy to finish testing—check back soon for a full review.
