My tests turned out to be a bit less conclusive than I’m used to seeing. But it looks like I was able to get almost 50% shots with usable central sharpness even at 1/40 sec. This would be a 3-4 stop advantage from the image stabilization of the lens at 600mm focal length. I also came across test shots where the OS led to images with less sharp outer image areas. Best keep in mind that holding/shooting a combo that weighs almost 2.9kg over an extended period of time is always stressful and leads to increased shake. So it’s better to shoot from a tripod, monopod or any support you can get for the lens when using focal lengths beyond 200mm. Optically, it isn't a bad performer either, especially at the shorter end of the zoom. Unfortunately at 500mm, which is what I feel a lens like this is all about, the results are noticeably softer and the level of colour aberrations may become an issue. Still, for the price if you can live with these flaws this lens could represent excellent value for money.

APO 150-500mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM - SIGMA Corporation

At 300mm there's a very slight drop in sharpness wide open. Stopping down does improve sharpness a little, but on normal pictorial targets you'd be hard pressed to see the difference. A very small amount of chromatic aberration can be detected at the edges of the frame. I’m not sure that I provide any valid perspectives to your question since I haven’t used a DSLR for almost 5 years and I’m not current with the latest lens technologies etc. Also, re the d7100 autofocus accuracy, I hadn't really thought about that. It is something for me to test out though.Although this lens isn't one of Sigma's EX series, they don't appear to have cut any corners with the build quality. Much of the lens barrel is finished in Sigmas matt powder coated finish, which looks very smart when new, but seems to show up marks a little easier than some other lens finishes. Sigma AF 50-500mm 4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM, for 400 EUR more you get an extension of the short end from 150mm to 50mm. The charts above imply that the lens should have a pretty good overall contrast. But it also shows that regarding sharpness it either has a problem outside the DX image-circle on the short end or a general problem with astigmatism at the long end. Let’s see how this theoretical performance translates into real life results in the sharpness test based on Siemens-stars. As with any lens with this range, you can only use MF with a TC, but that's a minor issue. Though no lightweight, it's not as heavy as you might expect, weighing 62.8 oz, much less than Sigma's 120-300 2.8 lens, which weighs 104 oz. I've also used it with a Sigma 1.4X teleconverter, and although focussing becomes super critical, with perseverance it provides stunning images.

Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM APO Specifications Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM APO Specifications

Filter-thread: 95mm, like the Sony 200-600 and Tamron 150-600. The Tamron 150-500 has a 82mm thread, the Sigma 150-600 HSM Sports needs huge 105mm filters. [0] In bright sunlight, the Sigma performed better and the jpegs looked cleaner, although the shadows areas on some images still had a bit of muddiness to them. In good lighting focusing with the Sigma was very fast and accurate. If any Photography Life readers have ever tried to capture a swallow in flight over water…you know exactly how challenging that can be. With a DxOMark score of 11 points and a sharpness score of 6P- Mpix the Sigma doesn’t perform particularly well on APS-C format bodies, and is in no way a reflection on the performance of the Pentax K-3. In fact if we look above at the sharpness map of the Sony mount version on the Sony SLT A-77 (above), we can see the performance is essentially identical. A 150-500mm zoom is clearly for those wanting to grab a subject that is pretty far away. This may be animals in nature or action / sports-shooting. Image stabilization makes it possible to shoot without a tripod or simply relying on a light monopod. And the zoom range makes it easier to adapt to the distance from your target which cannot always be influenced under less than ideal shooting conditions. Just to give you a feeling how far away you can be for capturing the full height of an average person with this lens: from 15m to 50m is the working distance for landscape orientation on an FX-body or portrait-orientation on a DX-body. Alternatives This lens gave me my money's worth and does what I wanted it to do. I use it on my last two trips - Montana and Colorado. Was a good lens for wildlife - on trails and in the car. I left this lens on a second body - and grabbed it off the rear seat when needed. Can't do THAT with the 200-400 or larger prime lens.Finally at 500mm, the resolution of the lens drops off noticeably, although the results are just acceptable at maximum aperture. Cons: In tests of the lense carried out on a tripod and with the lense set at various apertures, it appeared that focussing on my D80 body varied slightly from shot to shot. This may be more a characteristic of the camera's autofocus mechanism than any problem with the Sigma. When the focus was accurate, however, the images produced were very sharp. These charts show the lens-performance at the largest aperture, in this case for f5.0 (at 150mm, resp. f6.3 at 500mm). Higher values are better and the closer the dotted and the continuous lines of each color are together the less astigmatism (= resolution depends on the orientation of the test-pattern) the lens has. The x-axis displays the distance from the optical axis (=center of the sensor) in mm. I’ll show you the real-life performance at 4 mm (center), 13 mm (DX-corner), and 20 mm (FX-corner) on a D800 in a moment.