Customer Reviews

Sigma 135-400mm f/4.5-5.6 APO DG SLD Telephoto Zoom Lens for Olympus and Panasonic Digital SLR Cameras

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this as an open box return from Amazon. I found the lens to be soft and to have an odd color cast. I ended up returning it to Amazon as it was just not up to my standards that I am used to. I have owned other Sigma lenses that were fine (10-20mm and 70-300mm for Nikon).

It could have been because it was a return but, unfortunately, Sigma has discontinued this lens so I had little choice but to try for a non-new one.

As far as sharpness vs. cost is was a good lens, we ended up returning it for one main reason, the zoom ring was so loose if you pointed the lens downward it would rotate on its own. granted you aren't going to be shooting strait down but if you move positions and tilt the lens down during repositioning the lens will not maintain the same zoom focal length.

Well, I bought this lens and it is good for the money. It is very hard to find lens so it will be more of a collectors item later on.

That said, the lens focus is pretty fast and accurate. 400mm 800mm at F5.6 is super nice. The lens does suffer creep when pointed down. It is much less heavy than the Sigma 50-500 lens. Focus is faster as well.

It is a little soft at f5.6 at 400mm but punch down to 6.3 or more and it gets sharp.

I am giving it 5 stars because nothing really competes with this lens at price or peformance.

Pros:
Light weight, fairly sharp, Cheap


Cons:
Lens Creep

Maybe I expected too much.
The lens comes perfectly packed and gives a solid feeling. But as owner of all different four-third Olympus stuff, that's what I expected in the first place. The lens "falls" out to its 400mm extension by itself, as soon as You tilt it. I did not like that simple fact. The zoom to max. moves opposite to my other lenses, another minor fact I disliked.
And last minor subject, I did not find a way to dismount the tripod holder. When I add my "fast-release" for my Manfrotto head, the lens does not really fit into the transporting-case" anymore.
The quality of the picture is the most important reason I bought the lens for, so that is the most important reason I judge it not so good. I like making pictures of birds. I knew that the lens would go to 6.3, but hoped my E-3 would take care of that. Actually the view-finder is quite dark, and adding a converter makes it even worse. I disliked the results of the lens together with my new EC-20 converter.
I compared the 400mm distance against the 50-200 + EC-20 and like that result better, even though this combination needs an F-stop of 7 against the 6.3 of the Sigma.
I do not blame this lens to be bad, it might be me not able to stop it down correctly. I will be trying further, but first impression is just that this is really lower quality then the Olympus 4:3 quality I am used to.

wow great sharpness at 135 and 400mm 200mm a little softer in focus.
great price on a supurb lens. heavy but understandable for a 800mm equivalent lens.able to manually focus in low light.

Was looking for a long lens for a reasonable price for my E-510 and found here. Was originally looking at the Sigma 50-500mm but didn't see the big advantage for twice as much money.

First use of the lens was a local little league game with amazing results. Would definitely recommend this lens.