Photography News Issue 66

Photography News | Issue 66 | photographynews.co.uk

First tests

60mm

150mm

250mm

400mm

600mm

F/4.5

F/5.3

F/5.6

F/6

F/6.3

F/5

F/5.6

F/8

F/7.1

F/5.6

F/8

F/11

F/8

F/11

F/16

F/11

F/16

F/20

F/16

F/22

F/27

F/29

F/30

F/32

reactivate it with whatever button you use to focus on the camera. Conversely, you can override the AF with the manual focus ring in AF mode, but it will return to AF as soon as you stop moving the ring. Though the manual override is useful, I had no problems at all focusing with the lens in AF mode,

across a range of subjects from wildlife to aircraft, landscape scenes and florals. The AF is very fast and accurate. The lens did a great job of keeping subjects locked on in continuous AF, and only began to hunt in the usual problem areas of low contrast or low light. Focus can be improved using the focus limiter switch. This allows 60cm to 6m, 6m to infinity, or Full. In practice, for sports and action subjects I mostly used the 6m to infinity setting as it’ll cut foreground targets like fences or people in large hats out of the focusing range. On a lens like the 60-600mm image stabilisation is vital at the longer focal lengths, and thankfully Sigma’s Optical Stabilisation works really well. There’s the usual split in modes: OS1 gives a general calming of vibration in all directions; OS2 takes panning into consideration; and there’s also an off setting, though arguably that’s not going to get much use. Cycling between on and off, the claimed four-stop advantage was clear. At 600mm I was comfortably shooting at about 1/60sec, and getting mostly sharp images, depending on my own technique. Without OS, none were sharp at that shutter speed. Arguably, you should be still be taking steps to shoot with a shutter speed around the reciprocal of the focal length even with OS turned on, though for panning work it obviously needs to be lower. KS

Verdict

Sigma’s 60-600mm Sport provides a genuinely unique focal range, and though there’s a cost, mostly in weight, it’s a brilliant tool for all-round photography. Using a model like this reminds you that fast lenses aren’t the be all and end all. The variable aperture is offset by huge versatility, and shooting a moving subject at f/7.1 at 600mm actually gives you a better chance of focusing correctly due to the increased depth-of-field, albeit you may need to bump up the ISO a few stops to compensate in terms of shutter speed. The usefulness of the focal range can’t be overstated, and combined with very good image quality, if your handling is up to it, it’s a brilliant choice for sporting events, airshows, and varied wildlife subjects. You can go a day without changing lenses and not compromise on quality. The main downside is the weight, but that is partly accounted for by excellent build, and if you’re taking only one lens, 2.7kg is not an issue. An excellent lens, and well worth the price.

Pros Zoom range, image quality, focusing, build Cons Size and weight, some handling issues