Customer Reviews

Sigma 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM SLD Ultra Telephoto Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital DSLR Camera

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Just received the lens. Using with a Cannon EOS XTi.

Pros
- Sturdy feel to the lens
- Impressive focal length range.
- Good picture quality throughout the range (speaking as a non-pro)
- OS pretty good. Taking acceptable quality hand-held shots at full extension in bright sun.

Cons
- Autofocus not working out-of-the-box. Of note that this lens was NOT in the serial number range specified by SIGMA's customer alert.
- Very poor response time on queries to SIGMA's tech service.
- Some (minor) vignetting noticable at longer focal lengths.
- Does not work with my TAMRON teleconverter even though this TC does function with my Cannon lens.
- Heavy

Returning the lense for replacement through AMAZON due to the autofocus issue. Will see how well the next one does.

UPDATE:
Received replacement lense from AMAZON with working autofocus. Took it out today for extensive testing and am well pleased so far. Focal range is impressive and am getting good shots throughout the range. OS function gives reasonable good shots even when hand held at 500MM. Normally use with a monopod however.

Tempted to upgrade my rating from 2 to 4 stars however will leave it at 3 for time being. Issues:
- Continued poor SIGMA customer service. My email requesting Tech assistance after first lens' failure is now 5 days old with no response from SIGMA. In same period I returned original lens to AMAZON, got a replacement and tested it (kudos to AMAZON Customer Service). Had similar poor response experience with SIGMA when I was originally researching the lens.
- Some residual caution about reliability of the autofocus function. Seems to be a fairly common issue with this lense. I'll withhold judgement until I have a bit more field experience with the lens.

NEW UPDATE:
Took lens overseas for several weeks of heavy-duty use. Still pleased. A few (minor) comments:
- Autofocus still working however does tend to have difficulty in finding the perfect focus point for "busy" background. Tend to use manual focusing a bit more than I would like.
- Range for this lens is impressive as previously indicated. Great for wildlife photography. The 50MM low end is however not quite good enough for those wide/scenic shots. Find myself carrying a good point-and-shoot camera to get those scenic vistas as too much trouble to keep changing lenses.
- Never did get a response from SIGMA tech service. Academic now - however can't help wondering if they really exist. Not looking forward to dealing with SIGMA if the lens ever needs maintenance.

I've had this lens for a few days and am very pleased with it. Given the fact that it's covering such a wide range, I didn't expect it to have very high IQ, yet I am pleasantly surprised. I measured it against my super sharp Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII with TC-17, both @ 340mm f/6.3 and f/8, and the IQ is about the same on a D300s, even though on a full frame D3s, the 70-200mm + TC-17 is slightly sharper. This is quite remarkable, because 70-200 f/2.8 VRII is one of the best lenses Nikon has ever made, and it can produce better pictures at 100mm than the highly regarded Tokina 100mm macro lens I own, and even when shooting macros, the 70-200 + TC-17 + Canon 500D combo is comparable to the Tokina 100mm.

Image color is great, with vivid contrast. I had a few bird shots at fully extended 500mm and they turned out to be great pictures. CA is minimum too, only slightly visible when fully zoomed in, and no worse than my 70-200+1.7 combo. Focus is fast, even though it has always been a challenge for me when shooting sports and moving animals. Build is very solid. It's about the same length as the Nikon 70-200mm VRII without the hood, and about 20% wider. Maybe I am already used to the 70-200mm, this lens is not as heavy as I expected, maybe just a little heavier, and certainly handheldable. The OS certainly helps, and I can shoot handheld 500mm at 1/30sec with good image quality. The OS can be turned to 'off', '1', or '2'. When not shooting at high shutter speed, I used '1' only and I suppose '2' is for shooting from moving car on a bumpy road. I haven't tried manual focus yet. Zoom in and out is a little tight, and that might be the only negative I can find with this lens so far. It's not hard to get used to it, so not a big deal, and you can be sure that lens creeping will never be a problem, even though it still comes with a zoom lock.

Overall, I am extremely happy with this purchase. With an unmatched covering range of 50 to 500mm, it is a great lens for shooting kids sports, which is the main reason I bought this lens. With the high IQ, it's also a great lens for shooting birds. I think it's well worth the money.

After buying this week I have to say I love the lens. I've only been out three times with it and have taken about 200 frames but have been really impressed with the results. The optical stabiliser really does allow you to shoot hand held at least 4 stops slower than usual and still get sharp images, even at 500mm. There are two optical stability settings, one as a general on setting, and the other for shooting moving subjects.

It is relatively heavy but easily manageable. Today I spent the day shooting an AVP tournament at Hermosa Beach and it was fine.

If you're looking for a large zoom lens to add to your arsenal then I highly recommend this lens. I can see it being a fantastic asset for wildlife photography and I have already enjoyed its huge range capturing sports action such as surfing and volleyball.

I also have sigma's 18-50mm f2.8 lens which I've used for over a year. The construction on both is very solid and the images they produce are brilliant. Plus they retail around half the price of a Nikon or Canon equivalent. You can't argue with the value they provide.

If you're wondering if you should buy this lens, go for it. You won't be disappointed.

I have loaded some photos here if interested:
[...]

Rented this lens for my son and nikon 500mm f4 for myself for yellowstone photo vacation. Honestly the 50-500 was considerably more useful. OS seemed to be better or at least equal to nikon vr, only slightly less sharp, contrast and colors are also very good. Size difference is huge and he was able to get shots before i could manuver the huge nikon lens. Autofocus was snappy and acurate, he was able to get spot on pictures of golden eagles at 500mm in flight free hand held. I grabbed his camera to jump into a riverbottom and get pictures of a bull moose, that's when i realized just how good this lens seems to be. 6.3 is a little dim but with ISO performance getting better less of an issue. I've always had issues with non-nikon lenses hunting but didn't experience it or at least it was small enough it didn't leave an impression. Distortion seems aceptable and after i review the photos a bit i will likely purchase one.

It's been a bit shy of a full week and I have taken over 1000 shots (I posted a few shots under the Nikon mount page for this product at various focal length- green frog, house wren, butterfly, male cardinal vivid, and woodpecker). The performance of this lens is hard to beat. I tested it side by side with the Sigma 150-500mm model, because that lens is a much less costly option and offers the range I need. But the 50-500mm pictures were superior and the AF of the 50-500mm is much faster and accurate. I used a Nikon D90. My main driver in getting this lens is that I want to take shots of birds and wildlife at a distance that my capable Tamron 18-270mm zoom was just not up to the task. This lens does let you do such wildlife photography quite capably. While the 50-500mm can be handheld, because of optical stabilization,in my opinion, if you plan to get sharp pictures of small animals that are at a distance on a consistent basis you need a good steady tripod. Otherwise, you will be frustrated more often than not if you expect to take sharp enough pictures. But if you have plenty of light and are taking shots of things at a close distance, handheld is doable (see the cardinal on a perch shot), but the lens is heavy. And why would you want such a bulky lens when a shorter focal length will suffice. Bokeh is excellent on this lens.

My lens was defective- on a few occasions it caused the shutter of the camera to freeze and gave the camera an error message. I contacted Sigma and they said this problem had not been reported. This is not the AF issue Sigma announced in June. Another reviewer here noted a similar issue to mine. Using the replacement lens for the past six days, I have not encountered any problems. Ironically, the serial number of the first lens i bought did not fall within the range of those Sigma issued the advisory on. The second lens does fall within the range of s/n with potential AF issues. Sigma told me that if there was an AF issue it would show off the box. My len's AF is very accurate. Hunting is rare.

While $1600 is a lot of money, it is a fraction of the cost of a much faster Nikon lens of lesser range (but with superb optics). There is no point to compare such a Nikon lens, because that is on another league. The bottom line is that this Sigma seems a very capable lens for the price. I rated it at 4 stars because of the defect of the first lens, but on the second lens performance/price ratio justifies 5 stars. The lens comes with a well padded case and a lens strap, which is the preferred way to carry the lens with the camera attached. It also has a three year warranty.

I have received this lens on June 23th and brought it with me on a trip to Santa Inez Valley on the 26th and later to Sedona on July 3th. Despite the impressive size I have not had significant problems with portability but since I mostly shoot handheld I have developed some shoulder pain the first day. I would expect this to improve over time with continued use. The problem is that I did not get to use the lens as much as I would have liked. After about a 100 shots on the 23th the lens caused an Error message flashing on the top LCD display of my Nikon D90. The first time it happened after I turned the camera on to take a shot. The error message would flash with camera on or off, and taking the battery out would not reset the camera to operable conditions. Pushing the shutter button would have no consequences. I mounted my Nikon 18-200mm VR lens on and the error message kept flashing; however, pushing the shutter button would restore the camera to normal.
I tried the Sigma lens again on July 3th and it caused the problem while shooting. I pushed the shutter button and it went down only half of the way and Err started flashing. I was trying OS 2 at the time while riding along in a car. I was not able to see through the viewfinder, which suggests a mirror or shutter freeze. Later in the day I tried it again and after a few shots I got the Err message again. Sigma indicated an attachment issue and would like a tech to take a look at the lens. I am returning the lens to Amazon.com for a replacement. I hope I will have more luck with the new one because I really like the lens. Per Amazon customer service representative request, I am including a link to a video that recorded the last incident with the lens: [...]
I am rating 4 stars as I could not truly review the lens as well as I could have without the issue and I would not like to skew the ratings with a partial review. Other than the issue described the lens performed very well in terms of sharpness and color rendition. OS was not as good as I would have liked but that could be due to personal error in dealing with an hefty lens. Only time will tell if I get a better copy.

UPDATE 8/12/10: Amazon shipped a replacement on July 6. I did not have a chance to use the new lens heavily until a week ago, when I took it on a 5-days long trip. I shot 521 pictures. Before that I used it mostly for tests with and without a tripod (birds, newspaper, etc.) and for less than 50 shots. Well, here it goes: towards the end of my trip I did experience the ERR issue again. It happened only once and exactly as previously described. I had to twist the lens to release it and then twist it on again for the ERR to disapper. While the first lens's serial number was in the recalled list, the new lens is supposed to be *safe*. There was nothing done on my part that could have triggered the issue. I am starting believing that this massive lens is not adequate for small frame cameras such as the Nikon D90, particularly when hand-held. While I like the lens I am concerned that continue use might damage my camera. Would love to hear if others with small-frame cameras have experienced the same issue as Hernandez and me.

Love the lens
Love the price
Hate the thought of getting it repaired 2 weeks after it arrived.
The auto focus has completly failed.

Sigma shows no waranty for the seriel number shipped from Amazon????
Out of pocket repair $$$$$$???????

When I get the bill I will re update.

I finally convinced my wife to upgrade from her Canon 70-300 IS USM to the Canon 100-400 IS USM I've been using for nine years. I expected to just get another 100-400 but found this Sigma 50-500 OS HSM and decided to give it a try.

First impression is the "velvety" matte-black finish that is quite different from the "white" Canon 100-400. It seems to be solidly built, zoom is slightly stiff, focus is fast and quiet, OS kicks in and out with a slight click.

The Sigma is on my 7D, have used it two days now for bird photos for a total of 474 shots. Though it is heavier than the 100-400, it is not so much heavier that I notice it in the field. The biggest "change" is having to get used to the "twist-to-zoom" rather than the "push-me-pull-you" of the 100-400. Again, not much of a deal because I shoot at full zoom most of the time anyway.

I use single center spot for focusing. Even so, as the 100-400 focus tended to hunt when trying to "pull" birds out of thicket clutter, I usually turned of auto-focus in such conditions. Ditto this Sigma; no habit change required as the switches on the two are similarly located and the focus ring rotates in the same direction.

The only "issue" I've encountered so far is inadvertently moving the OS switch to "off" and the zoom switch to "lock" because both have a very short throw and protrude enough that they are too vulnerable to being moved.

So far, my results for accuracy and speed of focus plus quality of photos are similar enough to what I've experienced with the 100-400 that it seems like business as usual. I have no reason to expect this Sigma 50-500 won't be as durable as the Canon 100-400 which has served us well for nine years and is still performing as well as when new.

The Sigma 50-500 does not disappoint. I received mine and instantly went shooting. All of the shots taken with this lens are sharp and vivid. I'm extremely satisfied with this lens. It does well the job for which it was purchased: close up shots of stuff that's far, far away or sometimes close or flowers or sometimes a building or a tree that's not quite close, but maybe is farther. Yeah, it does a lot of stuff.

Used with Canon 7D.

Pros:
-Fully usable at every focal length from 50-500.
-Very effective Optical Stabilization (OS)--the lens can be easily handheld for shots at 1/30s. It kicks in very quickly and works extremely quietly. Not silent, but no one farther than a foot from you will hear it.
-Smooth action to extend focal length and to focus.
-Very close focusing: under 2 feet at the minimum.
-Works as a macro: magnification is 1:3.1 which is plenty for getting gorgeous closeups of flowers or eyes or whatever your fancy. Sharp as a tack.
-Focuses accurately (if slowly). Every shot that the camera indicated was accurately focused was indeed. The errors were either due to the user (me) or subject error (some critters move quickly).
My Canon 70-300 and 70-200 both needed constant fiddling with Micro Adjustment to get the focus right. I sold the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens for Canon EOS SLR Cameras but am going to keep the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L II IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras for the fact that it's still a 2.8 and built like a tank.
-Balanced and easily removed/attached tripod collar. When the camera (Canon 7D) is mounted the lens and camera can easily stand on this foot. No fear of tipping over.
-Camera/lens can stay up if rested vertically on the hood. Very stable due to the crazy diameter of the hood petals and their flatness. Makes it easy to park on a table or ground without worrying about scratching anything except the hood.
-Instant manual focus override. It works.

Neutrals:
-Slow to focus. Yes, at 500mm it's not a very fast focusing lens, but consider the amount of glass and the $1600 price tag. Sometimes it hunts and gets nothing, but if there's enough light it usually focuses pretty well. Using different focusing modes helps. It's not an action lens, for sure. Depending on the subject and the focusing mode I can get focus in under 1/10s. Light and focal length play a role. The important thing is that it's an obvious condition and can easily be accounted for. When it focuses it's always spot on so you can trust your results.
-6.3 is slow. Forget about using this lens when the light's gone. Or bring your own lights. But this is obvious. The lens has a max aperture of 6.3 at longer focal lengths. This is not a negative, it is a fact of this lens.
-Heavy. Yeah. It gets old balancing a nearly 5lb lens. Bring a monopod if you'll be shooting all day. A tripod is good for this lens, but given the weight and focal length you'd need a very, very sturdy one (ideally with a Gimbal head) or you'll just get vibration since it's supported at only one point.

Negatives:
-Weather Sealing. I know it's not in the price range of an L series lens, but most people spending $1600 would spend a few bucks more to have the lens sealed up. Or at least with a rubber boot between the camera and the lens. I'm curious how much extra cost and weight some weather sealing would add to this lens. Given that it's the ONLY 50-500 lens I'd be willing to pay significantly more for weather sealing.

I"m going to add some sample shots to help illustrate the quality of the lens and what it's capable of.

I loved my new lens. Everything was working well until about a week ago. I picked up the camera, turned it on and NOTHING! Moved the lens to a different camera body, still nothing. Tried a different lens on the original body and it worked fine. So disappointed! I've shipped the lens back to Primotronix at my expense. I'll update when I get results.

Update: Well, I shipped the lens back at my expense. They received it on Monday, May 9th. They assured me that they would be shipping my new lens Tuesday or Wednesday and I would receive it by Saturday, May 14th. Did not happen so I called on Monday, May 16th and was assured the lens would be shipped that day and I would receive a tracking number. I finally received the tracking number at 6:00pm on Tuesday, May 17th. I FINALLY received my lens through the USPS on Friday, May 19th.

Unfortunately, my new lens has a problem with the AF and all my pictures are blurry. So, here we go again. I called on Tuesday, May 31st and was assured I would receive a return authorization number on that day. Well, it's Wednesday, June 1st and I have yet to receive my return authorization number. When I called this evening at 6:25pm the message informed me that they were closed and that their regular hours are 10am - 7pm. Hmmmm....... So, here I am with my unusable lens.