Hi I'm Dustin Abbott this is a lens that At least on paper is a lens that I have Seen so many people ask for over the Last five or so years this is a Reasonably priced about $3,000 which is half the price of Sigma's previous F4 version of this lens It's a high per forming lightweight 500 Mm F5.6 prime lens the sigma 500 mm f5.6 Dnos sport lens uses basically all of Sigma's latest Technologies to produce What is a really fantastic telephoto Lens there are a few unfortunate Realities that we will detail that are Beyond their control but if you take Those things out of the equation this is A package that Sigma has really done a Great job of executing so is this the Lens that you've been w waiting for well Let's find out all of my thoughts as we Come back right after a word from our Sponsor today's episode is brought to You by the Phantom duffle a new unique Convertible duffel bag that starts as a Compact packable case that easily fits Into your luggage or carry-on bag but Then converts into a 35 L duffel the Exterior is made of 1680d ballistic Nylon which is tough and weatherproof The interior has a high visibility Reflective finish that allows you to Easily see what's inside even in a dim Hotel room
A large foam pouch on the side has a Cable pass through to allow for charging And the removable straps use a fidlock System to easily and securely connect Them I've been using it for the gym and It has room for my water bottle a change Of clothes a basketball my massive shoes A towel and a charger for my cell phone Visit store. phanom wallet.com to check It out and use code dustin2 for 20% off When you're ready to check out so Obviously one of the huge reasons why People are interested in a lens with a a Long focal length 500 mm and then a Slightly smaller maximum apture of just F5.6 is that the size of the lens Radically changes this lens is much Shorter and much much lighter than Sigma's previous 500 mm F4 lens and just To give you an idea of the weight it Weighs in at at 1365 G in Sony emount Version there's also a like a el Mount Version so that's about 48 o to give you Some comparison sigma's own 150 600 mm Sport weighs uh 2100 G making it 53% Heavier the Sony 200 to 600 is about 5 G Heavier than that so roughly the same Sigma's own 60 to 600 mm sport which in My opinion is the superior lens it Weighs 2500 gam so it is nearly 60% Heavier than what this lens is so what That means is that if you're someone Who's looking for a telephoto lens that You can take out and you can use
Handheld I would say that most most People are going to be capable of doing That with this lens it really is uh Quite lightweight and it's going to Basically hit you with the same kind of Roughly weight um kind of cost that a Typical 70 to 200 mm f2.8 lens will Which is to say it's heavy you'll notice It but it's certainly manageable even For longer periods of time likewise this Lens is considerably shorter than the Competing telephoto zooms you can see Here from the shot that it is dwarfed by The Sony uh 200 to 600 mm l lens this Prime lens from Sigma is 236.50 mm or 9.3 in in length and that Compares to 3177 millim or 12 1/2 in for the Sony Lens it is 107.6 mm or 4.2 in in Diameter and can you can see it has a Fairly large front filter thread of 95 Millimeters now you'll also note that While there is that flare out to that Large front element that lets lots of Light in you'll also see that the actual Barrel of the lens itself is quite Compact speaking of that Barrel this Lens is made of a combination of Different materials including magnesium Alloy and then what Sigma calls TSC or Thermally stable composits essentially High-end engineered Plastics very nice Build quality and I will note that the Lens Hood itself is lightweight because
They have used carbon fiber infused Plastics for that it does have that Rubber rubberized contact point at the Front which I think is really great for A lot of reasons number one it's going To do a better job of absorbing uh Energy if you happen to bump into Something accidentally but also when you Have that nice rubberized stable Point Makes it very natural to be able to put The lens you stand it upright like this Without ever doing any kind of damage to Anything and so uh nice execution there I'm not really convinced that this whole You having to use a tension knob to Attach that as opposed to bayonet style Is an improvement but that's what Sigma Does on their large telephotos by the Way this lens also does come with a very Nice nylon padded case that has a Carrying strap for it if to help you With convenience for that now inside the Lens it is Thoroughly weather sealed From the gasket to all the various rings And switches buttons along the way Everything is sealed this is sports Series which gets sigma's highest degree Of build quality along with weather Ceiling designed to be used Outdoors This is also an extremely featur l it Has three different function buttons Focus hold buttons at three different Positions so if you're holding it Vertically in different positions you
Have one that is you know easy to get to Also in a first for one of their Telephoto lenses we have an aperture Ring here in the front and that apture Ring does fall in a good position where It falls easy to hand Sigma is really Doing a great job with giving you Options when it comes to controlling Apture when they're so equipped and so We have the option to either click or Declick the aperture here we have an Iris lock that'll allow you to either Lock in or out of the manual aperture Ring if you're not a manual aperture Ring at all no problem put it in a mode Engage that Iris lock and it will stay There likewise if you don't want to Advertently pump into auto mode just Keep it locked into the manual aperture Area so that's great the actual uh Manual focus ring is nice and wide has a Little bit of a bevel in it it's like Ergonomically contoured Falls easily to The hand and has a nice damp to it so That is great as well we have a bank of Four switches that comes next there's an Ammf switch there's a three position Focus limiter and then there that Followed by an OS control so you have a Mode one which is your standard mode Mode two which is kind of panning for Tracking action and then below that we Also have a custom button that gives you Two different custom options now here's
Where the the path diverges for Sony and Leica users for Sony users there is no Um you know lens station that's Available or a a USB dock that's Available and so as a byproduct you are Going to have to just stick with the Functions that are already assigned to These buttons so what they end up being Is just two additional modes for the the Optical stabilizer and so what that Allows you to do is to have more of a You know focus on stabilizing the Viewfinder which by the way seems to Work pretty well for video I could get The most stable handh helding results Using that and then the C2 position is More of a Dynamic to where you basically Are only getting stabilization at the Moment you pull the pull the trigger you You hit the shutter and outside of that It's allowing you to detract maybe more Erratic action so you have a variety of Options there for what those for for Optical stabilizer now on the Leica Front you do have access to a a lens Station or lens Dock and so through that You can assign different values to those Custom buttons a little bit more Flexibility for Leica users on that Front now speaking about that Optical Stabilizer this is sigma's os2 which Uses their most recent algorithms it is Definitely an improved stabilizer over What we saw in previous lenses they
First debuted this with the 60 to 600 Sport and so what I am finding with this Is while it's rated for five stops I was Able to get I would say closer to six Stops and you can see in this shot that At just um 1/8 of a second I was able to Get a stable result and I was able to Get that maybe about 30 35% of the time And that's six St s uh at that point now Again another Divergent is when it comes To the ability to use teleconverters El Mount Shooters will be able to use the 1.4 time and two times teleconverters From Sigma unfortunately on Sigma that Remains an area that is restricted by Sony so at this point no teleconverter Support on something like my camera that I'm using here and by the way no um Sony's own telecon converters don't work The one final thing to talk about when It comes to the build is that the tripod OD collar and foot here in the when it Comes to the actual tripod foot it is ARCA compatible which I love means I can Go right onto a tripod with it you have A tension knob here that will allow you To rotate it and you do have clicks at The Cardinal positions and so that is Great for that now when it comes to the Actual removability the collar itself Cannot be removed the foot from Basically this Junction on can be Removed though you will have to use the Included Allen keys to do that it is not
A toolless op operation one other thing That you might note is that if you like To carry it by a tripod um foot there's Not a ton of room in between the foot And the barrel of the lens it's it's Fairly close and so that may not work For everyone overall however this is a Beautifully built lens that is just as Featur as really any of the Sony GM Equivalent lenses so high marks when it Comes to that so let's talk autofocus This is gotten sigma's newest autofocus System which they call HLA which which Is high response linear actuator so Basically a high-powered linear motor it Is very fast and very quiet and as you Can see here I was able to make Transitions from near to far uh nice and Snappy that's all great the one area Where I did notice any kind of slowdown Which is typical of any long telephoto Like this is that in some situations if You're completely defocused it takes a Moment to actually get the lens because You can't see anything and the point of View is or the angle of view is so Narrow can take a little bit to get kind Of to it hard Edge to where autofocus Will engage so you know can mess around For a split second with that that's a Pretty rare case study however for the Most part I found that autofocus was Fast Snappy and delivered very good Accuracy now for some reason Sigma
Persists in always releasing their new Telephotos right in the dead of winter Which is difficult for someone like Myself because there's not a whole lot Moving out there when it's extremely Cold in Ontario Canada where I live and So I went out and got skunked on three Or four occasions trying to find some Some birds moving around something and Unfortunately I was unable to do that And a lot of times I use a dog breeder Nearby and unfortunately she was sick During my review period so that did not Work out I did take it to the gym to try To track some um pickup basketball now 500 mm is too long for basketball court Type action you need more space in that It's probably better for you more like Stadium type Sports and so it's it's too Tight for that even when I was back up Against the wall in the Fieldhouse Probably 35 ft from the beginning of the Court and I started someone down near The end far end of the basketball court They still were just barely they weren't I didn't have enough room to frame both Their head and their feet in that shot It's just a very long focal length so it Wasn't great for that and then also f5.6 In that kind of lighting is not Fantastic of shooting at you know ISO 6400 and still only getting like one two 200th of a second which isn't really Fast enough so that's not a great case
Study for it however you can see here That tracking was fairly good I did note One dip away where for about five shots It out of the burst of it was nearly 90 Shots in the burst it swung away for a Moment and then came back and so I did Find just in shooting other shots that For the most part my tracking was really Good I would say that my I would say I Have a lot of experience with the Sony 200 to 600 mm G lens which I own and I Would say that I don't think it's still 100% there but it's very close and you Know moving ahead I think that it'll Probably get better still when it comes To that the one limitation that is a Sony imp post limitation like the you Know the limitation on telecon Converters is that on Sports cameras Like the alpha 1 which I was using for Those tests I'm limited to 15 frames per Second as opposed to the 30 frames per Second that the camera is capable of and And so obviously that's going to be even More dramatic on the new A9 Mark iiiii And that's a limitation that Sony has Imposed on unfortunately all third party Lenses again not sigma's fault but it is A reality that you have to consider now There is no such limitation on like a l Mount but unfortunately there's not Really any amazing Sports cameras on L Mount probably the S5 Mark II at the Moment is about as good as it gets and
So no the limitation not there but Neither is there the cameras that can Really deliver everything that this lens Is capable of they don't really exist on El Mount either now on the video side of Things I found that the video AF was Good you know good Focus transitions Confident there is some noticeable Focus Breathing um that's in large part due to Just being such a long focal length but Uh again video AF worked well autofocus System is very very good probably as Good as what I've seen from any third Party lens I would still say that Sony's Top telephotos are just a little bit Better so how about image quality I will Give you a detailed image quality Breakdown and some comparisons in that Uh image quality breakdown that comes at The end of the video you can jump ahead To that if you so desire it's the uh Mark is linked in the description down Below but here is a quick break down an Overview of that Optical formula 20 Elements in 14 groups that's three lld Elements two sld elements as a part of That makeup I found that there was Basically zero Distortion nothing that I Could measure as far as dist abortion And vignette was incredibly low uh it Only gave me I used a plus 25 to correct So not even quite I would say a full Stop uh vignette in the corners this is One area where it's definitely better
Than any of the competing zoom lenses Typically by 500 mm the zooms have some Pin cushion Distortion and considerably More vignette than what you see here I Also found that there was no either Longitudinal or lateral comatic Aberration no fringing that I saw in any Of my shots extremely well controlled And even for example in this shot of Frost crystals that are formed on Something with bright light coming right Through it there's just no fringing There so that is an amazing performance And when it comes to sharpness even at F5.6 it is pretty close to Perfect all Across the frame and and you can see the Breakdown later on but it is notably Sharper than either the sigma 60 to 600 Which I think is sigma's best um and Then it's even better than the Sony 200 To 600 mm which is an impressive Performance comparing f5.6 to f8 I would Say there is the mildest of gains at f8 After f8 whatever gains might be there Offset by the defraction that starts on Higher resolution bodies I tested for Resolution on the a7r mark 5 which is 61 Megapixels and so after that I mean you Can go all the way down to F32 but You're going to have a remarkably Softened image by then due to the Effects of defraction so I would say Shoot at f8 if you can and um you know As a kind of a top limit f11 being your
Your upper limit if you're on a high Resolution body but you don't really Need to stop down for more performance Basically almost all performance is Available right at F5.6 now minimum Focus distance is not Amazing here it's 3.2 M and so that Means that our maximum magnification you Can't get S particularly close to Anything and maximum magnification is Only 0.17 times so that is way less than The Zooms in particular sigma's own 60 600 mm which is really really strong at 200 mm is where you get a maximum Magnification of like 0.44 times or Something very high much higher than This so don't buy it to be a kind of a Um a long-distance macro lens that's not Its strength I would say that the bouqu Quality is nicer than the equivalent Zooms at this focal length it's just a Little bit smoother and creamier in my Opinion and it's certainly capable of Producing some really beautiful looking Images with very nice color great Contrast lots of detail it's fantastic Optically it even has good flare Resistance so you know the amount of Times that you're pointing this at the Sun or some kind of bright light are Probably going to be more rare because Again angle of view is so narrow but at The same time it does really perform Well optically there's nothing to
Complain about there isn't really any Flaw that I can point to it's a very Very strong lens Optically so in conclusion this is a Near Flawless lens in its actual Performance I would say that the Sony Tellies have just a little bit better of A focus advantage and they tend to use You know dual even quad Motors to get Maximum performance so I would say There's just a little bit more there Than what we've got here but this is Probably going to be good enough for Just about anyone and just about any Kind of circumstance unfortunately on Sony it is held back by those two major Sony imposed thirdparty limitations no Teleconverters and a lower burst rate You're not going to be able to get Around that that's just the reality of The game now on El Mount front it is Primarily held back by the fact that This is an amazing lens that really Doesn't have an amazing Sports camera to Pair it with on L Mount that hopefully Will change in the future and that will Make this lens a really compelling buy There the final consideration is that This lens is fantastic its performance And it's a little bit better than the Best zoom lenses that cover this right Now but it also cost about $1,000 more Than either the 60 to 600 from sport From Sigma or or Sony's own 200 to 600
Um G lens and so you're going to have to You know decide whether or not that Extra bitter performance and the more Compact size and lighter weight is worth Uh the the trade-off and of additional $1,000 but I will also say that this is A lens that definitely fills a need and A niche that have existed for a long Time on both Sony and Leica El Mount Fronts and this is a lens that people Have been asking for now we'll see if They're going to go out and buy it I'm Dustin Abbott and you'll stay tuned I Can give you the full image quality Breakdown but if you want more Information you can find buying links in The description down below and also Linkage to both my full text review and Also to an image gallery if you want to See more from it and now without further Ado let's dive into our detailed image Quality Breakdown okay let's start by taking a Look at venue yet in Distortion you'll Be excused if you don't see much Difference between the image on the left And the image on the right you can see That there is so little Distortion that I didn't see anything worth correcting And vignette is actually so low that I Only used a plus 25 to correct for it And so there's very moderately less Vignette that shows up there but really There is almost nothing to correct for
When it comes to vignette and Distortion This is an area where it definitely Exceeds all of the zoom lenses that Cover 500 mm that I've tested now this Image really shows how well uh Longitudinal chromatic aberration are Controlled that's the fringing before And after the plane of focus so you can See both before and after PL of focus Here and we can see that even with these You know the they're just Frost ice Crystals that have formed with the sun Coming very directionally through them Lots of potential for fringing here and You can just see that there is nothing To be seen it's really really well Controlled likewise in this image where We would see maybe some lateral itic Aberration you see this house down near The edge of the frame now you can see That there's some heat Shimmer that has Affected textures but you don't see any Fringing if we move up here pan through The trees and we look up here the near The edges of the frame there's just no Lateral chromatic aberration to be seen Just lots of great great detail so That's another impressive performance Now using a 61 megapixel Sony a7r Mark 5 Here uh looking at f5.6 this is 200% Magnification and you can see at this Very high magnific ification level the Detail is just incredible in the center Of the frame looking at the midf frame
If anything in this Zone I would say it Almost looks better extremely extremely Crisp and looking down here into the Corner that sharpness profile just Carries right into the corner and it's Not just that corner if I look up at the Opposite side you can see an identical Result very well centered very very high Performing so to put that in in context Now these these two comparisons were not Shot at the exact same time but under Similar conditions you can see compared To the uh right at near 500 mm on the 60 To 600 mm sport you can see here in the Middle of the frame that the the prime Lens has a clear advantage over the zoom Lens you can see in all of these Textures there's just so much more Contrast and detail likewise if we move Into this Zone that result becomes even More noticeably different the prime just Looks fairly soft by comparison now I Think that the prime does a or excuse me The zoom lens does a fairly good job in The corner of the frame but the prime Lens clearly has more contrast and Detail uh either way and if you look up Here you can see that the textures are Just popping in a way that they don't With the zoom lens so a clear wind for The 500 mm DN over the 60 to 600 millim Now I have consistently found uh Sony's Own 200 to 600 MIM to be really better Than just about anything that I've
Tested for the zoom lenses but you can See that this prime lens from Sigma has A clear advantage over it in the center Of the frame you'll note also to get Equivalent framing I had to zoom into 518 millim these were shot at the same Time to zoom into 518 millim to get Equivalent framing in the mid-frame Again a clear Advantage for the zoom and Excuse me for the prime lens and then Here looking into the corner you can see Once again the prime has the clear Advantage and that's true in both Corners so an easy win there for the Prime lens now taking that into a real World image we can see here as we look At the horse that there is just great Detail and contrast in all of the the Fine hairs and if you look along the Shaggy coat here right on out I mean Look how incredibly sharp it is even Right there just a little bit of Softening here towards the very edge of The frame but it's not far off that's a Fantastic performance now if you compare F5.6 on the left to f8 on the right you Can see that truth be told there really Isn't uh any kind of noticeable Improvement as you stop The Lens down a Bit all things considered things are More similar than different so I see You're getting pretty much maximum Performance wide open there's just not Really any kind of Advantage I can point
To stopping down to f8 now from f8 to F11 you can see that defraction is Taking away just a little bit of the Contrast already and that's only going To increase as you continue to stop Things down if we compare f11 which we Could already was a little bit softer Than f8 and then you know a little bit Softer still from f5.6 and we compare it To the minimum aperture of F32 you can See here that we have lost a lot due to Defraction the lens still looks pretty Fantastic at f11 which does bode well For using even a two times telecon Converter on like a uh L Mount but you Can see that if you go beyond that Defraction on a high resolution body in Particular is really going to soften Image quality now as noted before There's nothing to write home about when It comes to the amount of magnification That's available right under 0.17 times You can see that upclose performance is Good there's no problem there I have no Complaints when it comes to that at its Worst the 60 to 600 millimet produces This amount of magnification and at its Best it can give you this kind of Magnification so and and again if you go Even to 60 millimeters it gives you this Kind of magnification so clearly there's Much more flexibility when it comes to Getting up close and working with the 60 To 600 mm zoom lens this image here I
Think really shows off how nice the Bouquet quality is just really smooth And creamy out of focus background this Shot here again it's a little bit Further away but it shows just how nice The background is likewise in this shot Which is you know maybe a more typical Working distance if you're shooting with Like Wildlife at this point I was Probably about 70 ft away from the horse Here you can see that even at that Distance it's able to blur out a Background really quite nicely and even In this shot where there is a really Complicated background that is right Beyond the horse you can see that there Is a little bit of jitteriness there but Not bad and then you look beyond that And you can see that the background Looks really soft and creamy so I would Say bouquet quality is definitely going To Trump what we're going to see from Any of the comparative zoom lenses one Final thing we'll look at is flare Resistance again you're not going to be Pointing this lens at into a bright Light Source very often but what I saw Was a continued holding up of contrast And in various positions you can see There's no weird ghosting artifacts or Um just big veiling impact it holds up And basically all the metrics that I can Test this lens passes all the tests with Flying colors and as always thanks to
Those of you who have stuck around to The very end thanks for watching have a Great day and let the light In For
