SIGMA 150600MM F/5-6.3 DG OS HSM | S

Sigma’s ‘Sports’ lens is quite a handful. It’s a heavyweight contender in every way and packs a real punch at a competitive price

Sigma makes a relatively lightweight ‘Contemporary’ 150-600mm lens, but the ‘Sports’ edition goes large on build quality and performance, as well as physical size. Indeed, it weighs in at just under 3kg, making it quite a handful and half a kilo heavier than the Nikon, which is the second heftiest in the group. It’s actually slightly shorter than the Sony lens, but that one doesn’t physically extend at longer zoom settings.

Tricked-up features include dual, switchable autofocus modes, giving priority to either autofocus or manual override. In the latter, you can switch to manual focusing simply by twisting the focus ring, even in continuous autofocus mode and regardless of whether the autofocus system has first locked onto the subject. There are also dual stabilisation modes for static and panning shooting, and a two-position autofocus range limiter switch that can lock out the short or long end of the range.

Two switchable ‘Custom’ modes are also featured, which you can set up with Sigma’s optional USB Dock (£39/$59). These enable you to alter autofocus speed, fine-tune the autofocus for specific camera bodies, and adjust how much the stabilisation effect is visible in the viewfinder. The zoom ring can be locked at any position that has a focal length marked on the barrel, and there are several in total.

The build quality is excellent, with the lens being based around a metal barrel and hood, and the construction including an extensive set of weather seals. The optical path incorporates three SLD (Special Low Dispersion) elements and two top-performance FLD (‘Fluorite’ Low Dispersion) elements. Sharpness drops off a little at the long end of the zoom range but is very good overall, while colour fringing, distortion, ghosting and flare are all well controlled.

All in all, this is a great lens for using with Canon and Nikon DLSRs, as well as for mirrorless cameras via a mount adapter.

There’s plenty of high-tech trickery

A WEALTH OF ONBOARD CONTROL OPTIONS AND CUSTOMISABLE MODES MAKE THIS A LENS YOU CAN TAILOR TO YOUR PRECISE REQUIREMENTS