Sigma 5,0-6,3/150-600 DG OS C/AF HSM Contemporary Nikon

I have had this lens for 2/3 weeks now. I have taken over 500 images with it already. And I have to say it is fantastic. Well worth the money. 1st thing I noticed was the size, it's huge. Especially at 600mm. Now I knew it was big, but using it daily I realised how big. And heavy... When I 1st went out with it I thought how can you hand hold it? Now I'm a big bloke, and I felt the size and weight. However, as time has gone by, I don't notice it any more, odd what you get used too. Build is ok, very plastic. But feels sturdy and strong. The lens lock is invaluable, as it prevent lens extending as you walk. I use with a nikon D7200. And I can't quite fit the assembled lens / camera into my lowpro sling bag. I will upload some images of the issue later. If you want to carry around fitted then you need a bag that allows the m to be packed vertically, not horizontal across the bag. Focus is excellent, really fast. And zooming is a bit of a chore, in that you have to twist to zoom then release and twist again to full zoom. Not great if you need to zoom fast. But in general ok. Image quality is far better than my old tamron 70-300mm. (still a great cheap lens by the way). At this time focus at 600mm is slighty soft. So I neeed to tune it to the camera. Looks like another purchase coming up for the sigma tuning thingy. I have bought a gimble for my tripod to help . But all the images except the moon were hand held. And I did take moon shots hand held. the image stabilisation is very good, does seem to pust hand held shots slightly to the right. You can feel the motor working. But its good as you can see. I nearly bought the Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E, I tried it at Jessops (lovely lens) but I don't regret buying the sigma. I wanted the extra reach and boy do I like it. It is a slow lens though so brighter light is preferred unless you are happy with high ISO's. the D7200 is great, but I am noticing the high ISO, (so noise when shooting moon was noticable to me) Great lens, well worth a buy.

I've just bought a "contemporary" version for my Nikon D810. I have only had it for a short while but am mightily impressed with both its image quality and the performance of the optical stabilisation (OS) system. Hand-held shots are completely viable, even at the full 600mm focal length. OS does its job well. Autofocus works well and fast, even in poor light, with very little "hunting". Build quality is good, zoom action is smooth. Image quality is excellent. I have bought a lens dock but in fact I don't think I'll need it as focus is spot-on out of the box. I bought this lens because I am frustrated with the performance of my Nikon 28-300 zoom at its long end, it never seems to be quite long enough and the image quality degrades a bit. Comparing images from the two lenses side by side is a revelation: not only do you get over twice as close but the image quality is also massively better. Downsides? It's heavy, but then it's a large lens with a reasonable maximum aperture so it can't be otherwise. I wouldn't want to lug it around all day though. Incidentally just for fun I tried it with my 1.4x teleconverter. Auto-focus mostly worked but it struggled a bit at longer focal lengths on poor contrast subjects. Maybe worth it for a static subject where you can set focus manually but not usable for anything which would require active focus tracking.

I didn't purchase this lens on a whim, I spent months deliberating whether I should spend this sort of money. I've owned this lens for a while now, and I can conclusively say, it's the best photography related purchase I've made. First of all, this thing is a monster. Its big and heavy. But, don't let that put you off. It's ergonomic, and we'll balanced, so shooting handheld isn't an issue, and with the excellent image stabilisation, even shooting handheld at 600mm generates, gorgeous, crisp, images. The lens arrives very nicely packed, in a outer box, the Sigma branded box, and inside that, a soft, padded lens bag. The lens is really well finished, and feels like a quality product. It has a matte finish, and the focus and zoom rings are chunky, grooved rubber. The lens foot is well made, and quick release plates fit perfectly, despite what I had read on a few places. The slider switches on the lens are excellent, and provide access to a range of settings, including focal distance, image stabilisation mode, focus mode, and custom settings (programed through the USB dock). The lens has a zoom lock, which hard locks at 150mm, and will then soft lock at any other focal length. A nice feature is when soft locked, you can manually override the zoom lock by firmly twisting the zoom ring. Initially I had issues with this lens focus hunting when at the longer focal lengths, and I was shooting against a low contrast background (clear blue sky, no clubs for example). This was user error, as I had the focal distance set to "all". As soon as I set that to 10m - infinity, the auto focus acquired focus incredibly quickly, even on birds in flight. The lens hood that comes with this product is massive but very nicely constructed. Overall, a fantastic lens, that gives you unbelievable reach. I can't understand how sigma can produce such an amazing lens, at such a competitive price. 10/10

A very, very good lens, but for non pro’s, it takes a while to get use to. I’ve taken some of my very best shots with this lens. It’s quite amazing how it can give such a sharp focus from so far away, but you need to be careful with aperture, iso and shutter speed. I tried it with a 1.4x adapter, but had to return that as it was very difficult to get a decent shot. I have a Nikon D7200 and the combination has upped my skill level a lot, which I’m really pleased about. Just take your time and practice with it. You won’t be disappointed.

I'll start off by saying I'm a rank amateur photographer, just a hobbiest really, but felt I needed a telescopic lens purely for animal pictures. I opted for the Sigma lens because A) price wise it was perfect, B) I've already got a Sigma 70-300mm and it is a great lens. I use it with a Nikon 5600, no issues at all. It does have a bit of weight, you'll notice it immediately, but get used to it very quickly. The auto focus is quick and reliable, if you know you're camera, you'll be fine. Everything I've done with it so far has been free hand, it comes with a tripod handle (standard sized fitting) but I've not used it as of yet, it does make a good grip when carrying it around. The pictures I've added are of my first time out with it, picked a good day to practise with a touch of local knowledge and luck, and feel I've done not bad. Basically if I can manage it, anyone can. I've pushed the lens (and arguably my camera) to its absolute limit when taking pictures of deer at sundown, at full 600mm focal length, the pictures came out fine, but there came a point when the limit of f stop and ISO meant I didn't have time on my side, but this is a limit of any lens. The equivalent Nikon lens is around £300 more, so this one is perfect if the Nikon is out of budget. If I've one negative, it is the Sigma warranty. There is a 3 year warranty, but it isn't available for lenses bought via Amazon. When I've attempted to register it, I get an email stating it is not a genuine UK import so the warranty doesn't apply. So if you want the warranty, its an additional £41. I'm not sure if this is something Amazon is aware of and can assist with, but Sigma aren't budging on the matter. Anyway, brilliant lens, definitely worth it if you've any desire to photograph wildlife. At 300mm I was pretty restricted, even when cropping, at 600mm with cropping I'm not chasing an animal and only getting pics of its ass!

I've wanted this particular lens for almost 2 years. Although it's a more budget friendly option compared to the £12,000 prime 600mm lenses it is obviously not a cheap lens by any means. I've only had a chance to use it late in the evening and around the house which is a worst case for this lens. But wow even at 8000 ISO I was still taking perfectly usable photos. And outside with more light, I was at full zoom taking perfectly sharp photos. The auto focus is impressively fast although it's not the fastest. The image quality compares well to my Sigma 105mm Prime Macro lens which is incredibly sharp and fast. The only thing with the 150-600mm is it doesn't perform in low light as well as a prime lens but I wasn't expecting it too nor do I intend to use it like that. The easiest way to sum it up is like this. Yeah a Bugatti Veyon is a nice car but you'd still be happy with something like a Lambo at a much lower cost. No it isn't as good as the Prime Lenses but I can't complain, it is an amazing lens. Only one criticism would be the zoom ring weirdly rotates the opposite direction to most lenses but that's not a big issue. It is big and heavy but you can't criticise it for that. It's big and heavy because it has a long zoom range and brilliant build quality.

Super lens of it's type, image quality is excellent but please bear in mind that a prime lens will always be sharper. Heavy, yes but that aids stability in my book. For those who are wandering whether you can use the lens on a crop sensor camera the answer is a resounding yes, I use it with the Nikon D500 with terrific results when the lens in effect becomes 225-900mm! I would be inclined to wind it back from the maximum zoom, just a tad, sometimes at max' specially in low light I find a very small deterioration in image quality, very small. To help you out further the attached snap of the Robin was taken at 400mm, 1/1000sec to reduce any shake, ISO 2,500 any noise removed in post. Nikon D500. Super lens for the money.

I bought a used one via amazon that has a small amount of lens fungus which was stated in the description so image quality is slightly below that of a new one, reviews of the lens are all on the plus side with the exeption of wide open at F6.3 at 600mm, I bought the usb dock after I bought the lens and spent 2 day's calibrating it through all 16 test point's and the degree of front and back focus varied at all 16 point's quite considerably, since it's been calibrated it's as sharp as a pin and I hand hold the lens on a nikon d800 at 1,000th of a second wide open, from small birds 8 feet away to sheep on the mountains 2 miles away it's a show stopper, if you use the usb dock and update the lenses firmware you'll double the autofocus speed making it extremely fast and reliable and improves image stabilisation, it's great for birds in flight but for day to day use if you're hand holding i'd set a minimum shutter speed of 1,000th of a second at 600mm or you'll lower the rate of keepers, the fact that mine has a small amount of fungus leads me to believe it wouldn't be a good idea to use it in the rain for extended periods, the plastic barrel is great for handling rapid temperature changes but as a general rule if I bring a camera with a zoom lens into the house when it's cold outside I put it in a cool room and extend the lens fully, number one tip, put the lens hood on and keep it on, i'm constantly knocking the end of the lens on gateposts etc while i'm out and the lens hood takes the flack not the front element, well worth the money, the 4 stars for picture quality is only with regard to an uncalibrated lens