10.11.2016

Updated Review.The Sigma 150-600 Contemporary is a fantastic lens, one which I have owned for over two years now and still delivers great quality images and performance. It is in my opinion the best all round lens out there for wildlife and sports on the move.The reasons for this are as follows.Build QualityThis version is lighter than the 150-600 Sports, a lens which poses no real advantage over the Contemporary other than extra sharpness at 600mm that could be considered nominal.Whilst not as light as Canons 100-400v1/2 it is still light and convenient enough to be carried on the move. However practice is needed to develop strength when holding it up for long periods in excess of 10 minutes.I usually shoot bird displays that are around 45 mins each which for some starting out with this lens can find exhausting. Add a lens handle or shortened monopod and this will significantly help balance and reduce strain when shooting handheld.The construction is a solid part metal frame and plastic construction with a fast and smooth zoom ring. I would say the manual focus ring is a bit stiff and unaccurate. Not something that is useful for manual focusing but is fast enough to pull back tracking quickly if lost when shooting at full zoom so AF can refocus.Image QualityThe Sigma lacks a stop of light to Canons 100-400v1/2 f4.5-5.6. So some crop sensors will struggle with the Sigma Contemporary in low light. However, for stationary subjects in low light, Sigmas Image Stabilisation or OS works wonders especially when used in aperture priority mode for example.I have used this lens on three cameras to date. Canons 70D, 80D and the 7d mkII. From experience, the 80D works wonders with this lens in terms of image sharpness and performance. It will also deliver well in low light and gives extra clarity and performance when shooting at 600mm due to the 80Ds 24mp sensor. Performs well on the others where the 7dmkii is my personal favorite for speed and accuracy despite the 80d having better low light performance.The lens will also deliver exceptional sharpness especially if it is calibrated with Sigmas USB dock to your specific camera. Results are very surprising. Equal to or perhaps sharper than some prime lenses out there. I do not say that lightly.Sometimes this lens struggles in certain types of light conditions and distance where some subject suffer from muddy background blur due to the 6.3 aperture at full zoom.Tracking Performance.Overall the tracking on this lens is excellent producing very sharp images. However, it originally needed a firmware update to improve an otherwise mediocre performance. After the update, the improvements were very noticeable. I should image two years down the line that this update is provided as standard so the need for a USB dock isn't needed for a firmware update.Certain camera algorithms track differently so will affect the lenses performance at certain zoom lengths and ranges. As I have mentioned the Canon 80D had the best overall performance with this lens even at full 600mm where it rarely had to hunt to track subjects at distance. It also seemed to be sharp and accurate with this camera body straight out of the box. For wildlife photographers on a budget, I cannot recommend this combination enough.Auto focus is fairly quiet but noticable compared to Canons near silent 100-400v1/2.In terms of speed, when coupled with the 7d mkii, focus tracking is very fast even with custom modes off. In fact the Sigmas custom mode for fast tracking can be too much.Image Stabilisation OSOS 1 is perhaps the best mode for shooting general photography in Aperture Priority and low light situations. Overall a good performance but would say Canons IS found in the 100-400v1/2 has a better smoothness.OS2 is mainly designed for video work which involves vertical panning. Again this delivers a decent performance.VerdictAfter using this lens for over 2 years I have found it to be one of the most versatile and useful to date. For wildlife and sport photographers this lens is an absolute must especially for the price and additional USB dock which provides additional focus tuning that is a step above that found on the onboard focus tune systems on cameras.Some might fine this lens a bit difficult to manage because of its size and weight but personally I think its case of getting used to it and its positives should not be ignored.Despite its 5.6 to 6.3 aperture it can perform well in some low light situations using OS and will perform much better on full frame cameras where motion stop photography is more achievable. Certainly with higher resolution crop sensor cameras, this lens will be able to deliver in low light and tracking capabilities.Should Sigma ever release an f 4-5.6 version of this lens in future with an improved manual focus ring, it'll potentially be the best wildlife lens money can buy.

11.7.2016

I think this lens is awesome. Like so many others I debated for months whether to purchase Canon 100-400II or the Tamron 150-600. The 100-400II is a bit of a stretch money-wise and I certainly couldn't afford a 300mm F2.8 :( (Apparently the 300mm is great even with extenders)I searched all the usual reviews and forums and decided there was little difference between the Sport and Contemporary lenses so in the interests of best value I opted for the Contemporary and I can't believe, having seen the results, that the Sport can be any better.Anyways, back to the review.The lens weighs in at around 2KG and as I mostly hand hold I do find it gets a little tiresome after a few hours - I'm 50!:)It's easy enough to hold for each individual shot, it's just carting the thing around in your hand all the time looking for that shot that gets a little wearisome but it's a discomfort that I'm more than happy to put up with for the results I get.Zooming from 150 out to 600 is managed in one movement so no complaints there.I've no problem managing the manual focus ring although I do note that it's a lot narrower than the Sport version, but again, not a problem at all.I'm just a novice but I'm more than happy with my images and consider them to be plenty sharp. I also have a Canon 300mm F4 and 400mm F5.6 and will happily replace them both with this single lens. It's sharper than both and while some 'photographers' will tell us that sharpness isn't everything and I understand what they're getting at, when it comes to wildlife I want sharpness! :) For me, the auto-focus is snappy, no problem acquiring focus and it's as fast as I've ever needed it to be.At 600mm the sharpness drops a little but it's still good in my opinion and I shoot plenty of shots at 600mm and wide-open at F6.3 - most of the time, with birds in trees etc I find you need as much light as possible and I'd rather shot F6.3 and get great shots than shoot at lower shutter speeds for a marginal image improvement at F8 say. So it's good that the performance is really decent 600mm F6.3.There's also a handy soft lock to lock the lens at each of the focal lengths marked on the side, 180,200,250,300,400 and 500 with a hard lock at 150 and 600mm. The soft lock stops the lens moving but allows easy manual override.Comes supplied with the Sigma case offering done in the usual rectangular design, plenty of padding and very good quality.I recommend if you have any Sigma lenses investing in the dock - I did as I have a couple of Sigmas but I haven't had to make any adjustments for this lens at all.It offers truely remarkable value for money. This lens is on my 7DII body more than any other I enjoy shooting with it so much.It's extremely well built and balances ok on the camera body.Okay, that covers the good points for me. However there is one little caveat - the image stabilisation, as Sigma call OS.Whilst I've been able to get sharp shots at 1/60s @ 600mm hand held I'm not quite sure how! Because, unlike my Tamrons which have a 'spooky' VC (their version of OS) which seems to suspend time and freeze the world, the Sigma allows the image to move around, sometimes irritically at 600mm. Strangely it all seems to come together so something must be working but it's a lot harder to frame the shot exactly as you want it just because it's difficult to hold the image still at such long focal lengths. Okay I know I could use a tripod but I like to walk around with the lens in my hand and I'm not saying OS doesn't work, it clearly does, but it would be better if the image was frozen a little as with the Tammys.In summary, I find the big Sigma to work well on both APSC and full frame bodies - try it, I can't imagine you being disappointed.Thanks

8.12.2018

For the money, this is a pretty amazing lens. While heavy, compared to virtually anything else with 500 or 600 mm focal length it's pretty light and as a consequence, given the excellent image stabilisation, it's certainly possible to use hand-held in reasonably good light. But unless you've got quite strong arms - or something to lean on - I'd strongly recommend using a monopod. This will be a lot lighter to lug around than a tripod although obviously the latter will get you the best shots, and is especially recommended if you're staying in one place such as a hide.As many have pointed out, with its unspectacular maximum aperture the lens isn't great in low light (a wider maximum aperture would make it much heavier and much more expensive)and ideally it should be paired with a camera body that has really good low light autofocus ability and relatively low noise at high ISO values. If you're not used to using a supertelephoto lens - and it is quite a steep learning curve - you're going to find that smaller targets that are some distance away are hard to achieve good focus on using autofocus, especially if there is something else slightly further or nearer to potentially focus on such as water, branches etc. This isn't a shortcoming of the lens, more a question of technique and the quality of your camera's autofocus system. In particular, if you're photographing relatively distant birds on water that aren't moving around much, you'll get the best shots on a tripod using either manual focus or the manual override setting (where you can use autofocus and then fine-tune) using the camera's magnified on-screen view rather than the viewfinder where it can be difficult to see if you have optimum focus. While this isn't a criticism of the lens, it's worth knowing so that you don't think there's something wrong with it at longer distances when closer shots with autofocus are so sharp. And of course even with perfect focus, as your subject gets further away there is inevitably a law of diminishing returns with regard to detail and any subsequent cropping or sharpening will bring out any noise in the image.From an aesthetic point of view, the background blur (bokeh) of areas of the frame that are out of focus is not very attractive when the background is near to the subject - e.g. if you're shooting a duck floating on water, the duck may look fine but the water behind and in front of it less so. On the other hand, if the background is some metres behind the subject then the blur looks fine to me. The sharpness when you get a good focus on something is really spectacular - a small bird 5 or 10 metres away will show every filament of its feathers. The focus limiting switch, with three positions of full range, closest focus to 10 metres and 10 metres to infinity is really useful, - if you're trying to shoot a bird through gaps in branches or reeds or alternatively one perched on a branch quite nearby you can avoid the autofocus locking onto the foreground or background respectively and waste a lot less time hunting for focus.Obviously this lens is far from cheap in absolute terms, but compared to anything better it's a huge bargain and I would strongly recommend it for shooting birds in your garden or a park, at least as practice for using it in more challenging environments. As an example of what you can achieve when the subject is quite near, the shot of the robin is from about 6 or 7 metres away.

26.11.2016

First impressions. First of all the description does not mention that the 'kit' includes a lens case for the main lens and teleconverter plus various straps and bits for running this without a tripod adaptor, the only extras you may need are a UV filter (useless on digital cameras I know but it protects the front element) and possibly Sigma's USB dock. I may get the other only if someone proves that a firmware upgrade will make the teleconverter autofocus on my EOS 60D.Neither the description or photos give any idea of what a big lump of kit this is, I do own a few big telephotos and was expecting a bigish lens, up to now I have been using either a Mirror 500mm f8 or my old faithful Paragon 500mm f8 both are quite chunky but this is bigger than both,it has to be as it lets in an awful lot of light through that 95mm apperture. I have attached a photo of mine with my Canon EOS 60D for scale, this is without the lens hood! Although lighter than the sport model this still tips the scales at just under 2kg thats about 3x the weight of my current camera and 2x it's planned ugrade (EOS6DMkII or 5D MkIII) it is possible to shoot this free hand. Attached is an airliner at altiude taken from my porch, which would be an insane shot with one of my old manual 500mm s but the Image stabilisation, big apperture and fast f stop actuall make this a viable option (briefly) but for a day out birding or aircraft spotting a monopod or tripod will be essential, that or a gym membership to build those arms.Optically I cant find much to fault but I've only had the lens a day and not tried it out on a long wildlife session, astro photography or anything, I did take a punt at Venus setting today and found no evidence of chromatic aberration, but it's hard to tell on such an object at the best of time, I will report when I've had a few days in the field with it. Attached are photos of a TV Ariel with the EOS 60D (ISO800 f8) at 150 and 600mm respectively.2/12/2016 A week in I have used the lens in some fairly grey weather for birding and done some astrophotography. It's performing well in the dim light at 600mm,giving sharp images. For astrophotography it's doing well the zoom lock is good when holding the lens up an angle for long exposure shots on the tripod and the manual focus seems just about fine enough to focus in and then stay on focus. Photo of Orion's sword added 150mm f5 stack of 13 120s images.25/4/2019A couple of years in and the lens is going strong, despite being dropped at Keflavik airport (filter took the brunt of the impact and saved the lens) It's now running on a Canon EOS R. I did get the USB dock which was handy for the firmware upgrade for some of the features on the R but didn't help AF with the teleconverter. The Canon EOS R AF system does work with the teleconverter in good light, the limitation being that you are close to the f8 threshold for focus.The only additional comment I'd make is not to select the 'recommended' Polaroid UV filter as a protector for the front element, they work (I've lost two) but in use I've found they make the lens seem a bit soft on focus no matter what I did with lens calibration. I now use the Sigma 95mm protection filter which is quite a sturdy lump but matched to the lens optics and IMO a lot sharper. You're paying £750+ for a lens with some quality optics why are you going to put a £10 filter in front of it?

31.3.2017

A brilliant lens. I am a wildlife photographer, not professional but do like to have good kit. I use the Canon 7d Mk2 and previously used the Canon 100-400mm f/5.6 Mk1 L series followed by the Canon 400mm f/5.6 L series.I wanted a lens with extra reach, but also so I could zoom out for something that was closer. I looked around and heard of this lens and the sport version.I chose this over the sport version because it is lighter and obviously cheaper - but it does not mean lesser quality.I received it today and had a brief look at the instructions which were straight forward once you found the English part of them.I like the fact that if you chose to take the tripod collar off,

24.3.2019

Naturally this is a big and heavy lens, and with the tripod mount it works extremely well in all lighting conditions as you would expect. The image quality is excellent and I've attached a photo of a robin with some zoomed in insets to give you an idea. If you look carefully you can see the reflection of my house against the blue sky in the Robins Eye. It's that sharp. However, it doesn't stop there. That image was taken hand held at the full 600mm zoom. Yes, the light was good, and I'm using a Canon 6D at 1000 ISO, but to me at least that is pretty impressive. The autofocus was almost instant and spot on. Being a big telephoto, you are having to be at least 2-3 meters from the subject for focus!

4.3.2019

I use it on a Canon 750D which is an APS-C sensor camera so you have to multiply the focal range by 1.6, which is brutal (240-960mm) and if you put on the 1.4 teleconverter it's even more brutal (336 -1344mm !! !!) You don't have to leave the house to take nature photos you can see everything from inside with this focal range :). I saw on some pages and reviews that the famous Sigma focus problem can occur with this lens so i ordered a sigma usb dock too, but luckily it wasn't needed. Surprisingly, even with this high focus range the focus is very fast and relatively quiet and it's accurate. With teleconverter there could be focus problems on some cameras,

8.8.2019

I have had this lens for 2/3 weeks now. I have taken over 500 images with it already. And I have to say it is fantastic. Well worth the money.1st thing I noticed was the size, it's huge. Especially at 600mm. Now I knew it was big, but using it daily I realised how big. And heavy... When I 1st went out with it I thought how can you hand hold it? Now I'm a big bloke, and I felt the size and weight. However, as time has gone by, I don't notice it any more, odd what you get used too.Build is ok, very plastic. But feels sturdy and strong. The lens lock is invaluable, as it prevent lens extending as you walk. I use with a nikon D7200. And I can't quite fit the assembled lens / camera into my lowpro sling bag.

2.4.2016

Like some others on here, for a very long time I was mulling over whether to buy the Canon 100-400 Mk II, the Sigma 150-600 S or the Sigma 150-600 C. As I shoot mainly birds and wildlife handheld, I was ideally looking for something with a manageable weight for sustained periods of time. Sadly the Sigma Sports was ruled out at a whopping 3KG! That left the Contemporary and the Canon Mk II but I was ultimately swayed by the £1000 saving and 200mm extra reach of the C - and I'm so happy with my choice.I had my reservations with this lens, I was expecting subpar quality from a third party distributor but I'm relieved to say I couldn't have been more wrong. It's built like a tank,

21.2.2017

I absolutelty love this lens. Great sharp images from a heck of a distance.I have two art lenses that needed a lot of microadjustments to get working but this was great right out of the box. It is huge but feels like a good weight in your hands (not uneven). I have it on 80d so the aps-c crop means its really a 240mm to 960mm, It puts you rigtht in the trees with the birds. Added to the 1.4 tele and its a whooping 336mm to 1344mm. Which is nearly enough to fill a frame with the moon.I was expecting low light to be an issue, given that the crop factor applies to both the focal length and appertue but having shot on several over cast days its perfectly usuable, even with the 1.4 tele,

6.11.2016

I didn't purchase this lens on a whim, I spent months deliberating whether I should spend this sort of money. I've owned this lens for a while now, and I can conclusively say, it's the best photography related purchase I've made.First of all, this thing is a monster. Its big and heavy. But, don't let that put you off. It's ergonomic, and we'll balanced, so shooting handheld isn't an issue, and with the excellent image stabilisation, even shooting handheld at 600mm generates, gorgeous, crisp, images.The lens arrives very nicely packed, in a outer box, the Sigma branded box, and inside that, a soft, padded lens bag.The lens is really well finished, and feels like a quality product. It has a matte finish,

22.2.2018

Fantastic lens, great build quality and the vibration reduction works well, I have gotten sharp images at 600mm at just 1/100th shutter.I primarily shoot at 600mm and F8 were the lens is astonishingly sharp on my D7100.You will hear a lot of conjecture in this field about the Sport version having better optics or better auto focusing, likewise you will hear similar things about the NIKKOR 200-500 or Tamron's 150-600mm. I did my research on this by examining as many images as possible taken with various combinations and I came to the conclusion that the Tamron is always playing catch up to the Sigma and Nikon. There is not much discernible difference between the Sigma C and the Nikon in terms of image quality,

8.11.2015

Arrived yesterday so just initial thoughts.I pondered long and hard, read review upon review and professional field tests too before buying.It is my most expensive lens and my first none Canon purchase so I was concerned not to mess upReveiws are like statistics in the sense you can read into them what you want. As you read you eliminate options looking for better and the purchase price soars.My choices were the Tamron 150-600, Canon 100-400 Mark 2 or Sigma 150-600 Contemparary.I was tempted by the Canon and the Sigma Sport but dismissed both on price, eventually choosing the Sigma Contemparary.

2.6.2020

I read lots of reviews and watched a few review videos before purchasing this lens but was still a bit unsure about the weight and also how well it would work on my crop sensor bodies including with an EOS M6 and EOS M mount adaptor. It is indeed relatively heavy compared to say a 70mm-300mm but that's obviously the nature of lenses with this zoom range and by all accounts it's a fair bit lighter than the sport version. So far the quality of the images have been great - even hand held shots - at an appropriate shutter speed. I had also read comments that when purchased from Amazon.co.uk the lens isn't covered by the Sigma extended 3 year warranty so I checked this with Sigma before opening and

1.7.2016

Thought long and hard before this purchase. Read the reviews. Pondered over the Sport version (lost out on weight and price), the Canon 100-400 (couldn't afford it!) and the Tamron 150-600 (very close call). In the end I went for the Contemporary version and added the USB Dock mount.So far absolutely no regrets. After spending 4hrs in a hide taking birds I can say it more that fulfilled expectations producing beautiful sharp images once I remembered to activate the OS!!!The OS really does its job. The lens can be used handheld at 600mm at 1/60th and still give sharp images. But not for long! This lens is heavy. When attached to my 70D the combined weight is 2.5kg.

Sigma 150-600mm f/5.0-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary - Reviews

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