Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C, reviewed by jtmiv

SYS it looks spot on to me. Enjoy your new lens.

jm4ever wrote in post #18558411
SYS it looks spot on to me. Enjoy your new lens.

Thanks. Went out for more test shots, and I'm very pleased so far.

Anyone have experience with the new version release in August??? It's available in more mounts but I cannot find out if the lens is improved over the first 2014 version (twice the price)???

Mike

I rented a copy of the first version.....pretty nice lens. I even tried with my Canon 2x extender mark III. Difficult to hand hold and manually focus with the extender.

These are cropped about 20 percent or so, JPEG files, no adjustments.....

I corrected my watermark LMOA....that was so last year....

one more....cropped about 1/2 the frame to change to portrait from a landscape image.

After years of owning the original G1 Tamron 150-600, I tried the G2 and wasn't impressed. Switches were far too easy to move accidentally and the IQ didn't seem any better to me than the G1. So I went down a few rabbit holes, including a Nikon 200-500 (which I hated but the IQ was pretty damn good) and the expensive 500 PF (which I never learned to love but again, the IQ was fantastic).

I missed the versatility of the zoom, so I found a good clean 150-600 Sigma Contemporary from a vendor with a good return policy - expecting to be less than impressed and probably return it. NOPE!

I don't know whether I got a sharp copy or if they are all this good but wow! Wide open at 600, my lens is as sharp as my G1 Tammy at f/8 and as sharp as the 200-500 f/5.6 Nikon. I'm not going to go as far as saying it's as sharp as the 500 PF 5.6 (I'm not sure there is a sharper lens) but it's damn close.

I'm loving the light weight and easy handling. I also love that the switches are intuitive and not easy to move accidentally. This is a keeper for sure. Here are a couple images I grabbed off hand yesterday when birding with a friend.

All these images below were shot wide open. I just leave it at 6.3 now because the IQ is so good.

A few more from today

Your results are consistent with my results on Canon bodies (80D and 70D) with the Canon mount version of the lens.

I purchased this lens back in 2015 when it was released. My copy at that time was significantly softer wide open at 6.3 than 7.1 at 600mm.

Fast forward to today. I had the misfortune last year of having my 2015 copy of the lens stolen. I didn't hesitate much about re-purchasing this lens. To my pleasant surprise, I find the new copy of the lens to be much sharper wide open at 600mm and nearly identical in sharpness between 6.3 and 7.1, and I no longer hesitate to use it wide open.

This lens can really deliver. These are straight out of the camera, uncropped and unsharpened with no corrections at all.