Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary Review
Sigma introduced a pair of Sigma telephoto zoom lenses at the most recently held Photokina. These comprised of the Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM in two versions, namely Contemporary and Sports. While the Sports version does spell out a lot of impressive quality, let us take a look at the Contemporary version.
Build and design
The Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary is the lighter among the two 150-600mm lenses and resembles the Sports version in terms of construction. It is built of a combination of metal and “Thermally Stable Composite” plastic. The latter has plastic-like metal qualities. The color of the lens is matte black and it looks sleek. The build is solid and well built.
Despite being the lighter lens, it still weighs above 4 pounds and is thus, heavy and large. When retracted, the length of the lens is 10 inches and when extended fully, it increases by about 3 inches. This makes it difficult for handheld shooting for a long period of time. The tripod mount provided with the Contemporary version is also a bit small when compared to the Sports version. A longer one would have certainly aided in handling.
There is a rubber gasket on the mount and the front element features oil and water repellent coatings. However, it isn’t fully weather sealed like the Sports version and only there for the lens mount.
The optical construction consists of 20 elements in 14 groups. This includes one FLD and three SLD glass elements, along with a 9 blade circular diaphragm aperture.
Sharpness
The Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM is a sharp lens that is capable of producing quality images. Photos tend to be sharper at shorter focal lengths but they are good even at longer focal lengths.
On a full frame camera and at 150mm, there is good sharpness displayed by the lens, especially in the center. The corners show some softness but that isn’t too much either. Even at other focal lengths (200mm, 300mm, 400mm, 500mm and 600mm), the sharpness pattern is similar to that seen at 150mm. at 500 and 600mm, there is noticeable decrease in sharpness but the image quality isn’t bad though.
Chromatic Aberration
Chromatic aberration is pretty well controlled in the Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM when using a full frame camera. The strongest CA appears at 150mm and then at small apertures in the 500-600mm range. The least amount of CA is noticed at 300mm and the corner CA picks up a little from here when zoomed.
Shading/Vignetting
Vignetting is very minimal when using this lens. Practically, it is almost non-existent across most apertures and focal lengths and mainly on sub-frame cameras. However, it does show strongly on full-frame shooters.
At 150mm wide-open, strong vignetting is observed around the corners. Stopping down can be useful in minimizing shading for all focal lengths.
Distortion
Considering the telephoto lens it is, much distortion wasn’t expected. The lens keeps up with this trend, showing very minimal barrel distortion for all focal lengths for both sub frame and full frame shooters.
Autofocus
The Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM lens makes use of Hyper Sonic Motor for quiet and fast focusing. The lens does focus very accurately and quickly.
The Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary is a great lens that offers a bang for the buck. Photos taken with are great, more so for sub frame cameras and it is versatile as well when compared to other manufacturers.
The Sigma 150-600mm DG OS HSM Contemporary is available at our camera shop in Singapore now.