[Music] Hi I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here with My review of The Long awaited Sigma 70-200 mm f2.8 DG DN sport lens all of Us I think expected this lens to come Years ago and in fact after I reviewed Their 24 to 70 mimer f2.8 uh art series Lens I thought that surely within a few Months I would be looking at this lens As well but Sigma has taken their time And it's been about three years since That point and I think that there are Certain refinements that they needed to Make in their technology before they Felt like they could release a lens like This and most particularly when it comes To their autofocus Motors so they've Taken their time and I think that they Have largely perfected this lens and so It arrives delivering GM levels of build Features autofocus and Optical Performance and not a price tag that is A good thousand plus cheaper than the Sony lens somewhere in between $1500 and $600 us so that final price point has Not yet been announced at the time of This review but the question is is is That enough to LeapFrog the competition On Sony E and Le L the two platforms This will be released on at the moment Well the answer is a little bit Complicated but we'll work to answer That question right after a word from Our sponsor
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Throughout the lens itself and it's made Of high-end materials it's actually a Mix of materials including magnesium Alloy there are carbon fiber injected Plastics at some point and then there Are a few what they call thermally Stable composits or engineered Plastics As a part of the design their goal here Obviously is to shave some weight Because the 2019 sport series lens that Was released for EF and Nikon F mounts It was by far the heaviest lens largest And heaviest lens in the class that Really doesn't fly on mirrorless and so Clear really they had to work to reduce That size somewhat and so they have They've shaved off 455 G but Unfortunately the lens still comes in at 1345 G or 47.4 o you see the target has shifted During that time and the new Sony GM Lens is significantly lighter at 1,045 G so we're talking about 330 G Less the Tamron 70 to 180 mm G2 lens of Course is smaller and lighter still it Comes in only 855 G and as you can see From these photos there is a significant Difference between the size of the sigma And the Tamron lenses it's almost as if They aren't even quite in the same class Of lens now to be fair this the Tamron Does have 20 mm less focal length but Even when compared to the G Master lens The sigma is a little bit larger as
We're going to see in a moment but also Significantly more heavy now part of That is the fact that it does have a Really great level of build for which I'm thankful but it's also limited by The fact that you know for example here It has an integrated tripod collar and Foot it's well executed in that we do Have the detents at the cardal positions So it allows you to easily line it up at Those spots everything works fine but we Don't have a tripod foot that can be Removed toolless you have to use Allen Keys to remove it and the tripod collar Itself you can't remove it at all and so You're left with a little bit more Weight and bulk whereas the tamron's not Even designed around having a tripod Collar now that brings its own set of Issues but when it comes to traveling Light the Tamron clearly is in another Class now one of the things that I am Appreciative of of the sigma as opposed To the G Master lens is that the Included tripod foot here is Arcus swis Compatible which is always an advantage In my book this is an internally zooming Lens and so the length is going to stay Constant the lens is 90.6 mm in diameter Or 3 3.6 in giving us back to the common 77 mm front filter thread instead of the 82 mm front filter thread we saw on the Last 70 to 200 sport lens it is 205 mm In length or 8.1 in and so that makes it
About 3 mm wider in diameter than the GM Lens and about 5 mm Longer now we have a different type of Design here for the lens Hood the lens Hood itself as sigal Lin's Hood tend to Be is very nice it has some of those Carbon fiber injected Plastics here and So and then it has that rubberized front Surface end I appreciate that but it's Not a bayonet style but rather the Tension knob style which in my opinion Is a little bit more fidgety in both Mounting and particularly in unmounting The lens so I don't prefer that point But the kind of weird thing is is that Obviously it doesn't bayonet on the end Of the lens and extend out further so it Does help to shorten the overall length With the hood attached a little bit but There is an overlap here at the back of 3 to 4 mm where it actually overlaps Onto the zoom ring itself it's just a Little bit of a odd look almost looks Like you've reversed the lens hood for Storage and also of course you do lose Just a little bit of room there although The the zoom ring is wide enough I think To accommodate that still it's a little Bit of it's a different reproach than I've ever seen before and frankly I find It a little bit odd as noted this is an Extremely featur lens and in some ways It is the most featur zoom lens that Sigma has ever released we have got
Basically all the things you could ask For we've got the focus hold buttons That are replicated in three different Positions and so that you know whatever Position you're shooting in you're going To have one of those near to hand we Have a bank of switches including an AF MF switch we have a focus limiter that Is designed around the 3 meter position And so that means you can either do full You can do uh minimum to 3 m or you can Do 3 m to Infinity to speed up autofocus I didn't really reach for it all that Often because frankly autofocus is super Fast even without it there is a twoos Switch for the OS three if you include Off but then there's a one and a two one Being standard two being the panning Option underneath that there is a custom Switch now here is where we have the First differentiation between the Sony E-mount that I'm reviewing and the Leica L on Leica L you have a few more options You can program some different functions Into that custom switch using a lens Dock no such dock exists on Sony for Some reason and so you are stuck with The default positions that are assigned Into it and what that actually works out To be is a couple of more uh modes for The OS system and so in custom one Position if you turn that on you have The most emphasis on stabilizing the Viewfinder which is going to be handy
For video capture for example and then If you go into the C2 position you Actually have where there's little Empasis on stabilizing image in the Viewfinder and stability is only done at The moment of capture gives you really Good uh capture results but it also Gives you a lot of flexibility if you're Trying to track erratic movement and That could be a preferred position for That but unfortunately they're not Really custom in the sense you can't Change them at least on Sony but Obviously there's a lot of functions There now speaking about that OS system This is sigma's new os2 that they Released initially with the 60 to 600 mm Sport and with their new Focus algor Algorithms and improvements to the System you can actually get up to 7.5 Stops on the wide end and about 5.5 Stops on the telephoto in that makes This top class when it comes to the Performance of the OS system and it is One area where I will say that this is Clearly better than the at least the Tamron Lens which I felt was just the The um they call it VC on Tamron it just Wasn't as well executed as what I see Here by Sigma this is the first Sigma Zoom to have an aperture ring and so It's the first kind of very narrow ring That you come to and they gave it all of The features if you have it in a default
Mode it has the clicks or detents at the 1/3 stop positions all the way from f2.8 To F22 you can go past that into an Automatic mode but then you also have an Iris lock and so you can either lock Into the aperture ring but if you don't Like using an aperture ring no problem You can also lock yourself out of the Aperture ring and do all of your Aperture control from with in the camera And so you're you have no real Disadvantage here for having that Aperture ring you also down below this Bank of switches you do have a final one That's not all that accessible but it Doesn't really need to be and that is The option for de clicking the aperture And so then you can smoothly rack Through that's particularly useful for Video capture if you want to do aperture Racking so in essence you have all the Features that the GM lens has here on The Sigma lens you're really not having Any kind of trade-offs when it comes to The actual feature and performance set When it as compared to the very Expensive G Master Mark I lens now Beyond that we have got a manual focus Ring that is well executed it is the Middle ring here it is uh nicely damped It moves well there's no visible steps Or anything like that and I will note That ergonomically I think it's well Executed in that the tripod foot can fit
Into your palm for stabilizing the lens And that leaves at least for me my thumb And my middle fingle finger there where I can do very easy manual focus Adjustments and I appreciate that as Noted up front we have the zoom ring I've already noted the kind of the hood Interesting things there this being an Internally zooming lens the zoom action Is smooth though a little bit heavier Than some of some other zooms that are Internally like that but I do have one Minor complaint and that is the fact That for all Sigma lenses they focus and Zoom in the opposite direction not only Of Sony lenses but of every other lens That I test on the Sony platform and so It's only Sigma lenses that go from left To right instead of from right to left And so if you're accustomed to shooting With other lenses you will have you know Muscle memory moments when you're Wanting to go you know zoom and you're Going in the opposite direction of what You actually want to do or focus and Wanting to head towards minimum instead Of infinity and you'll do the opposite Because these uh their directions are Reversed compared to other lenses now Unfortunately here is where we get to One of the other Sony limitations on L Mount you have the options of using a 1.4 and a two times teleconverter with This lens but on Sony Sony artificially
Limits competition by not allowing Non-sony lenses to use teleconverters so For those of you that are curious yes I Did I was able to physically mount a Sony 1.4 times teleconverter on there I Could turn the the camera on however There's no apture reporting and unlike In the DSLR days even if you didn't have Autofocus you could at least manual Focus because manual was a direct Focus But in the mirrorless era and focus by Wire unfortunately that's not true and So I can move the manual focus ring but No Focus takes place because it requires The input from the manual focus ring to Run through the Focus motor which it's Not going to do with the teleconverter Attached so the byproduct is you can Look through the viewfinder and that's About all you can do if you need to Manually F you need to focus at all it's Just not going to happen with the T Converter so in other words it's just Not compatible and so that is one Artificial limitation that we have here This lens you're not going to be able to Use teleconverters at least on Sony Minimum Focus distance here varies as Most modern zooms do but you get your Highest magnification on the 200 mm end You can focus as closely as 1 meter or a Little over 3 ft and your magnification Level is 0.19 times so that's useful but It does lag by behind both the Sony GM
And the Tamron G2 lenses in terms of the Magnification level outside of those Exceptions some of which are not sigma's Fault we have a lens that is GM level in Terms of the build the features and the Overall handling of the lens it's a Still a little bit you know heavier than What I would like it to be relative to The competition but frankly it is still Lighter than what most similar lenses Were back in the DSLR days so it's not Going to kill anybody carrying it around I either now when it comes to the Autofocus this is an area I think that Is the primary reason why Sigma waited For a while they earlier this year Released their first lens with their new HLA which responds for high response Linear actuator in other words High-powered linear motor their first Lens equipped with that type of focus System which they didn't have previously On mirrorless in this case we've Actually got dual HLA Motors and so that Allows for even faster autofocus Response and my focus speed test I found That Focus was near instant and I Actually you can see the the test back And forth inside and outside a little Bit of slow down and lower light Conditions inside but still very fast But in real world use what I found is That in that first kind of uh Focus Acquisition where you sometimes expect
It to take a little while to get there That Focus was was pretty much instant And I noticed how just very very Responsive the focus system was is you Didn't have to wait for energy to spool Up it just immediately leaped to Wherever you needed it to be so that's Great obviously in a sport oriented lens That the focus system is reactive it's Very quiet in operation and I found that Accuracy was very good I found eye Tracking was very effective as you can See stays locked on the eye and that Translates into real world use for Example when I did a portrait session Using the 70 to 200 I found that every Image in the entire portrait series was Perfectly focused even when we Introduced sunglasses into the Arrangement I shot through foreground Obstacles all of those things autofocus Remained perfect throughout and so Obviously Sigma is really refining the Autofocus process and that helps a lot For something like this it is also Reactive enough that I felt like it Could keep up with action unfortunately Winter has come early this year which Limits some of my subjects but I did get Nala to move around for the series not As fast as what I would like but she is A cat and as a byproduct I you can see That autofocus was effective at staying Locked on her eye I wanted something a
Little bit faster and so this morning I Asked my son if I could uh just uh shoot A burst while he was riding off on his Ebike to school the ebike accelerates Really fast and it moves at about 28 mph And so it's moving along quickly and it Gives me a little bit more of a a Slightly more challenging uh subject Unfortunately it began to snow quite Heavily when he was taking off for School and so as you can see in this Sequence Focus did a good job but did a Good job documenting his misery as he Began to ride to school this morning but Byproduct is is that I have seen enough To see that this folk system is going to Keep up with action now again we run Into one of those Sony based negatives Here and that is I did those action Sequences on my Alpha 1 which on a with A Sony lens can do a burst rate up to 30 Frames per second with this Sigma or any Other third party lens that is Artificially Limited at 15 frames per Second it's still fast obviously but You're not unleash unlocking the Peak Performance and if you've spent a lot of Money on an A9 series or an alpha 1 Camera uh you may want to be able to Achieve that Peak burst rate if if Desired and so obviously that's going to Again steer you towards a Sony instead When it came to the video side of things Uh everything good to report Here video
Focus pools were smooth and confident as You can see there is very low Focus Breathing so no issues with that my hand Test was mostly good with just one Interaction where it went to the Background rather than coming to the Foreground to my hand but for the most Part again the transitions were all good And confident there in general the Autofocus performance is fantastic on This lens and really the only Limitations there are ones that Sony is Has imposed and by the way those Limitations are not going to be there if You're shooting on an Elm L Mount camera Because it is a first-party lens Technically on El Mount so finally let's Go to the optical performance here this Is a lens with 20 elements in 15 groups Including 11 exotic elements Sigma took Their time with this lens and it shows You can see if you look at this MTF Chart comparison back to the 2019 sport Lens that this lens is clearly improved All across the frame and in particular In the corners it shows an extremely Strong Corner performance uh even at F2.8 on either the telephoto and then Excuse me on the wide and in particular On the telephoto ends so let's dive in In detail and see if that Optical Performance holds up to what the MTF Chart suggest in real life use so let's Start by taking a look at vignette and
Distortion at the 70 mm wide end we can See that there is a little bit of a ping Cushion Distortion pattern and a little Bit of vignette in the corner going to Also see even with a manual correction It cleans up really nicely that Correction is just a minus three for the Distortion very linear and clears well And then vignette is just a plus 27 so About a stop in the corner and that Clears up nicely as well now at 135 mm You can see that the pin cushion Distortion is just a little bit more Exaggerated but once again it is nicely Linear and it cleans up well with a plus Seven and then with a or excuse me a Minus 7 for the Distortion and then a Plus 26 so just a little bit less for The vignette at in the middle of the Zoom range At 200 mm we can see that we have a Similar type uh pin cushion Distortion Pattern and again vignette is actually a Little bit lighter and so it corrects Once again really easily a minus 8 so Just a hair more of that Distortion but A little bit less of the vignette with a Plus 21 to correct so overall that's a Really really mild amount of vignette And Distortion so no real issue at all We can see taking a look at longitudinal Chromatic aberration that there is a Really clean transition position both Before and after the plane of focus
Nothing to worry about there you can see Very little fringing before after the Plane of focus here's a great Opportunity for some of that Longitudinal chromatic aberration so we Can see that in these water droplets Very very neutral there and then as we Look towards the background here some of These out of focus bokh highlights we Can see again that there's just nothing There there's no real fringing anywhere That I look and so that's a really well Controlled performance likewise when it Comes the lateral comatic aberration Near the edge of the frame you can see There's no correction enabled here but You can see those transitions from black To white they're all perfectly smooth no Fringing around them so a really Fantastic job of controlling aberrations So we'll take a look at resolution in Contrast starting at 70 mm f2.8 once Again this is on a Sony a7r Mark 5 and So that is a 61 megapixels of resolution I'm showing these results at 200% so This is the torture test but we can see In the middle of the frame no problem Great contrast great detail there looks Fantastic if we slide over to the mid Frame similarly it looks really really Excellent panning down here we can see Even right off into the corners that's a Great looking result there also if we Just jog around for a moment taking a
Look at centering we can see that There's good sharpness on the left Bottom up at the left top it looks great And then ultimately over at the right Top all around everywhere we look detail Is really great so for a bit of Perspective here is the recent Tamron 70 To 180 mm G2 lens and so under similar Circumstances we can see in the middle Of the frame Tamron has a little bit More contrast and detail there mostly in The contrast area um it really pops There in the midf frame excuse me in the Center of the frame in the mid-frame the Results are more similar and I would say That the sigma is giving us at least Equal levels of contrast and down into The corners uh they're very very similar With the Tamron showing just a little Bit more contrast but the sigma showing A similar amount of detail so both Really really strong performances I Would give just a very slight Edge to The Tamron there at 70 mm wide open so With such a sharp lens wide open Stopping down doesn't give you as much Of an improvement but we can see here Between f/2.8 and then at F4 there is a Very Mild improvement in contrast in the Center of the frame in the midf frame You can definitely see just a little bit More that's there and then if we pop Down to the bottom the uh The Edge or Corner performance is a little bit more
Noticeable particularly on the contrast End you can see the brights look a lot Brighter thus the Shadows look dark Darker and the textures just pop a Little bit more one area you can Definitely see that is here on Winston's Face you can just see that there's just A better delineation between the shadows And the light areas on his face Now from F4 to f5.6 in the mid-frame There's really not a whole lot more to Gain there we've hit pretty much our Peak Performance and here in the Mid-frame I would say no progress but in The corners you can see that the corners Just pop and that this is now one of the Best corner performances I would say That I have seen detail just looks Really really fantastic so for some real World perspective this is at 100% Magnification a little bit more normal But we can see that everywhere we look From side to side detail and contrast Just looks fabulous and so on the right Side as well and so in real world Performance you can see this lens really Really delivers the detail so at f8 You're going to hit the limit before Defraction starts to show up and so Particularly on a high resolution body Like we're testing here so you can see That f8 looks really fantastic but by F22 which is the minimum aperture all Across this Zoom range you're going to
Find find that defraction has really Softened the image so I would use f8 and F11 being kind of the Practical limits So from 70 mm to 100 mm we can see if we Zoom into the center of the frame that The center is roughly similar maybe just A hair more contrast at 70 mm in the Mid-frame area here we can see it's just Very slightly softer than what we saw at 70 mm and into the corners they're Roughly similar but you can see overall That maybe there's just a little bit Less contrast to be had there in my test This was actually the weakest area of The zoom range but you can see here's F2.8 that again it's the performance is Still really good everywhere you look in The frame and so even at its weakest This lens is really sharp if we stop it Down a little bit you can see here that The detail is just fabulous and you know There's there's nothing to complain About there it just holds up really Really well so if 100 mm represents the Weakest area of the zoom range around 135 mm is what I would say is the Strongest you can see in the middle of The frame that is just popping the Detail and the contrast there is just Fabulous and that's true if we look here In the mid-frame if we look down into The corners it's just really strong Everywhere that we look and this Zone Here you can just see that the all that
Detail all the little dots of ink that Are there making that up it's all just Super Sharp even at f/2.8 now from 135 Mm to 170 mm we're going to see that There is a similar level of performance Just I would say a percentage or two Less at a 175 M or 170 mm range in the Mid-frame it looks every bit as good I Would say looking over at this side I Mean they both look really fantastic and As we go down to this area there's just A little bit more contrast near the edge Of the frame at 13 35 mm but you can see It's really really close so even more Importantly we see that that 170 mm Performance is essentially the same at 200 mm and the results now are pretty Close to identical uh very similar level Of performance so there's no real drop Off with this lens it's not like it Falls apart at the end of the range as Some telephoto Zooms in the past have Done but we can see that right up to the Edge of the frame the performance is Really strong and we've got basically The same level of performance that we Had at 170 millim maybe just a you know A percentage behind it 135 mm being the Peak but it really holds its own after That if you stop it down a little bit to F4 there on the right side you can see That there is just a tiny bit of boost In terms of contrast and detail uh in The mid-frame it's very subtle it's not
Significant so I mean there's there's Very mild improvements to be had if you Stop The Lens down but it's already Giving you close to Peak Performance Right at f2.8 again for a perspective Now the Tamron doesn't go to 180 mm it Goes or excuse me it doesn't go to 200 Millim it Peaks at 180 millim so we'll Compare just the end of the zoom ranges You can see in the center of the frame a Similar performance maybe just a tiny Bit more contrast for the Tamron Lens in The mid-frame they are about equal and Then off into the corners I would Slightly favor the sigma there you can See it's just a little bit more detail a Little bit better contrast and so a you Know there's some give and take across The frame but both of these lenses are Exceptional performers I'll give you a Secondary episode where I do a more Detailed comparison between these two Lenses in the future now we can see that You get your stronger magnification Level at 200 mm as comp as compared to 70 mm but one thing we can see is in Both cases you really get a really Strong performance up close I mean There's great detail and contrast so This lens is going to be very useful if You put an extension tube in front of it You really could have a nice macro lens For the simple reason that it really Does uh resolve those fine details up
Close it doesn't lose its ability to Resolve when it's at a closer Focus Distance so for example on this shot you Know at uh the closest Focus distance You can see just the very very fine Details that are being rendered in the Edge of the leaf that's just a really Really impressive up close performance Now if we back off here you can see that Obviously if you get up close and use 200 mm you have the ability to really Compress a background to where it Disappears alt together in this case uh We can see again it's a fairly favorable Ratio I mean we've got some objects that Are right Beyond there these Beach Leaves but as we move towards the Background we can see that everything is Really strongly defocused when we get up Close to it now uh if you move a little Bit further away you get a little bit More edges I zoom lenses are rarely as Good as the best prime lenses when it Comes to something like this but despite This being a really distracting Background I actually think it looks Really good you can see that all the Lines of contrast look great and then The transition zone there's nothing That's really bad there likewise here You can see that from the snow uh snow Bokeh here you can see that we Definitely do get some of that lemon Shape a little bit of a swirl towards
The edges but overall I think the bokeh Quality it looks quite good and Obviously it's a great mix of the detail And contrast and then a soft background That makes this a very nice portrait Lens which is obviously one of the main Applications here so you can see it Delivers stunning detail on the subject Even at f2.8 but we can see that in both The foreground and then in the Background the Boke looks nice here's Another shot here and so you can see Once again detail is fantastic and the Bouh is very very nice now unfortunately My review period fell during a sequence Of nothing but gray days and so I Couldn't use the Sun for a flare test so I used a really bright Spotlight and put It right there in the frame so what you Can see is that wide open no issues at All stopping down to F1 you can see a Little bit of a ghosting pattern that Shows up there nothing severe however And here's a few other areas right up in The corner which a lot of times is a Place it will IND doce some flare wide Open no problem and just a little bit of Ghosting pattern here um with it sto Down a bit overall I would say that Flare resistance is quite good a really Strong Optical performance from top to Bottom so in conclusion we can see that This lens really does deliver I think Sigma has done a fantastic job uh
Because this lens it really is a strong Performer in basically every area there Really are no Optical flaws autofocus Was excellent and as we've already Discussed all the various build and Feature set it is there's everything There that you could hope to be on a Lens like this I would say that on a Level Playing Field it is a near equal Of the GM lens the GM lens having even More Focus Motors and having first-party Algorithms might Focus just a little bit Better but outside of that I would say That this lens is every bit as good as The GM lens but unfortunately it's not a Level Playing Field the inability to use Teleconverters uh the limiting of the Burst rate to a lower 15 frames per Second are going to be factors at least For some Photographers and there are some that Will look at the heavier weight and Larger size and if they want to travel Light they'll choose the Tamron instead Both of these are really really good Choices in fact all three of them are Exceptional choices but the sigma I Think does a great job of hitting the Middle ground here and it really Provides some clear-cut options on the Sony platform where I'm testing you've Got the Tamron if you want to go smaller Lighter and cheaper it retails at about $1,300 right now you've got the Sigma if
You want basically GM level performance But you don't want to spend GM money and So they're at about between 15 to $1600 you've got a great option there And then of course if cost is No Object And you want the absolute best the G Master is still very slightly that with A little bit of help by tilting the Playing field a little bit but it is an Exceptional lens that I really loved Using and I do appreciate the slightly Smaller lighter form factor of the Sony Lens which is a noticeable difference From the sigma but the reality is is That all three lenses are exceptional And frankly I think that you can choose An option that best suits your needs and Know that you have gotten a great lens And you're really not giving up much I'm Dustin Abbott and if you look in the Description down below you can find Linkage to my full text review uh you Can also find linkage to an image Gallery there along with buying links uh If you haven't already please like And Subscribe thanks for watching have a Great day and let the light In
