Photography News | Issue 42 | absolutephoto.com
75 First tests
Sigma500mmf/4DGOSHSM £6000
Specs
A long telephoto lens is essential if you want frame-filling images of aircraft, nature or sports subjects and there is plenty of choice, although no option is cheap. Generally, telephoto zooms are cheaper and lighter than telephoto primes, primarily because zooms have more modest maximum apertures and may be less capable optically. When it comes to primes, the makers push the optical design boat out so not only are they designed to give the best performance but have impressively fast maximum apertures too. That explains why prime telephotos are expensive. This Sigma 500mm f/4 DG OS HSM is £5999.99 so you have to be a dedicated nature or sports shooter with deep pockets to even think about buying it, but compared with its Canon and Nikon rivals it is a bargain, being around £2400 cheaper. That saving is enough for the latest high-resolution camera body or to indulge yourself in a nice trip to test out your shiny new lens. The Sigma 500mm lens is a significant piece of glass weighing in at 3.3kg and measuring 38cm. It’s not a lens you tote around on the off- chance of bagging a good shot. For comparison Sigma’s 150-600mm f/5- 6.3 DGOS HSMSports is a mere 2.8kg and measures 29cm. Despite its heft it is a handholdable lens, but not for long and only if you have to. I tried handholding only to test the lens’s OS and I got sharp shots at 1/60sec but got plenty of blurred ones too. The problem with handholding is not just the big risk of camera shake but accurate framing too isn’t easy as the lens waves around under the strain. This is obviously depends on the user’s physiology but I found I was wobbling around even after a few seconds, but I’m not a regular long lens user – and weak! Seasoned sports pros might be used to the weight and might prefer the freedom of handholding but for most people, a support is essential. I used it with a Novo MP20 monopod, a Gitzo Systematic tripod with a gimbal head. The substantial tripod foot makes for a good carrying handle and can
Price £5999.99 Format 35mm, APS-C Mount Canon, Nikon, Sigma Construction 16 elements in 11 groups Special lens elements 2x FLD elements, 1x SLD glass element Coatings
Sigma Super multi-layer coating, water- and oil-repelling coating on front element Filter size
46mm rear fitting Aperture range F/4-32 Diaphragm 9 blades Internal focus Yes Manual focus
be click-stopped or left free-running. Sadly, Sigma didn’t make this foot Arca Swiss compatible which would been the obvious thing to do, so gimbal/ball head users will need an extra plate but there are two bushes to ensure a secure attachment – one bush is 3/8in so you might need an adaptor. An optional Arca Swiss- compatible foot is available, the TS-81 and that costs £180. The gimbal head I tried was a Nest NT-530Hand I also used aWimberley Sidekick on Arca Swiss and Benro ball heads. With the Sidekick the lens was slightly off the tripod’s central axis but not enough to risk the combo toppling over sideways. No such issue with the gimbal and on this the lens proved very useable, giving good access to controls, great manoeuvrability and stability. I fitted the lens on a Nikon D810 and while its AF is capable it is not designedas anaction-shootingcamera so its AF tracking skills are less good than, say, the D5. Nevertheless, Sigma’s HSM is impressively quick, responsive and effectively silent. The memory function is useful and with four recall buttons around the barrel, easy to use. Sigma’s USB Dock, priced at £39.99, lets you update lens firmware, use the lens’s custom functions and also make fine adjustments to the focus and OS system. Full-time manual focus override is available and the smooth action of the
Yes, full-time override an AF mode. MO (manual override) modes allows manual focusing even during continuous focusing. Memory and preset AF modes available Minimum focus 3.5m Focus limiter Yes, full, 10m to infinity, 3.5-10m Maximummagnification 1:6.5 Distance scale Yes, feet and metres Depth-of-field scale No Image stabiliser Yes, Sigma OS, two modes. Mode 1 for general subjects, mode 2 for motorsports and subjects requiring panning Tripod collar Yes, optional TS-81 has Arca Swiss foot £180 Lens hood Supplied, LH1388-01 Weather-sealed Dust and splash proof Dimensions 144.8x380mm Weight 3.31kg Contact sigma-imaging-uk.com
you want to get maximum blur in the background, f/4 delivers impressive image quality. There is some vignetting at f/4 but stop down to f/5.6 and that goes and image sharpness goes up a significant notch. If you have the light or ISO performance to let you use f/5.6 it is worth going for. F/8 is even better especially at the edges and this and f/11 are the lens’s best two apertures for overall image quality. By f/22 and f/32 diffraction softens quality, but I can’t imagine many people using this lens at such small apertures. WC
focus barrel means AF fine-tuning is quick. If the lens is resting on a beanbag you just need to ensure the focus barrel is clear. The huge front element means a screw-in filter is not an option and should you want to use filters, these screw onto a removable slot holder. A standard protection filter is supplied and that should be left in place. The whole point of a fast aperture telephoto lens is that it delivers great results at its wider values and this 500mm certainly delivers on that count. When the light gets low or
Original image
F/4
F/5.6
Verdict
If you want a fast prime 500mm telephoto your options are limited and expensive. With that in mind, Canon and Nikon users need to check out this Sigma because its build quality, AF skills and optical quality are first rate and it’s very good value in its market. If you get one, just make sure your technique and supporting accessories let you make the most of this lens’s potential.
F/8
F/11
F/22
F/16
Above This set of images was taken on a calm, sunny day with the Sigma 500mm f/4 mounted on a Nest NT-530H gimbal head on a Benro carbon- fibre tripod. Shutter release was done using 3sec shutter delay and a remote release. The camera used was a Nikon D810 and the resulting Raws were processed in Lightroomwith default sharpening applied.
Pros Great value, build quality, excellent sharpness at f/4 Cons Standard tripod foot not Arca Swiss compatible
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