Nikon Reviews

I love this lens. It is very fast and extremely sharp. However, after getting the lens I had to send it to Sigma in NJ for a software adjustment so that it would not freeze on my F100. Seems that after about three minutes of HSM focusing on F100s the Sigma lens freezes. It can be unfrozen by turning the power on the camera off and on, but that's a pain. Sigma repaired it very quickly and I now love it. I use a 1.4x Sigma converter with it and very much like the combination.

This lens is big and heavy, but very sturdy in feel and wonderfully bright. I feel it is a great alternative to the Nikon silent wave version with is almost twice as expensive.

I won't repeat what other reviewers have said but I do want to say that this is a wonderfully sharp, bright, and very well built lens.

When I bought the lens and mounted it on my Nikon F100 I found that the AF would lock after a minute or two of use. I phoned Sigma and they said to send it in for a reprogramming. They were very fast with turnaround and the lens now works perfectly. Newer models may be updated by now, but the trouble of sending it off was minimal.

The HSM is very fast and accurate, plus very quiet. I love this lens with my 1.4x and 2.0x Sigma teleconverters. In my opinion, a real bargain when it comes to well made fast zooms.

Having used the Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX HSM lens for portrature and wildlife work in Costa Rica recently, I can highly recommend this lens. The lens is very strong and well built, extremely fast, silent, and sharp. There are times when the lens will hunt a little bit when focusing, but this is not enough of a problem to cause you to miss a shot or cause a problem. The ability to imediately manualy focus the lens without having to switch to manual focus is not only a great convenience, it is absolutely a necesity when photoghaphing wildlife in the jungle, or even through the brush or in a tree in your own backyard. If your camera should focus on the foreground clutter instead of the desired subject matter, all one has to do is to rotate the focusing ring to focus on the subject, and shoot. I have found this lens to be extremely sharp and acurate over the entire frame area. The F2.8 light gathering ability is excelent, alowing you to add the Sigma APO 2X EX teleconverter to have a fully auto 140-400 F5.6 lens as well for little more money. Using this combination as well I have noticed no decrease in sharpness of image quality, although focusing may be slightly slower. In continuous focus mode this combination still had no trouble keeping up with birds in flight, although a tripod would be highly recomended. A nice feature is the tripod mount which can be used to grip and hold the lens and camera while shooting, or in less than a second can be detatched from the lens if so prefered. The camera can also be rotated a full 360 degrees within the tripod mount instead of the stndard 90 degrees of most other brands of lenses. The lens comes complete with with end caps, a padded soft side storage case, and even a lens hood, specialy designed to eliminate vigneting- at no extra charge. Although normaly dedicated to Nikor lenses, after inspecting and using this lens I found it to be equal in quality and better designed (in my opnion) in some areas than the Nikor 80-200 F2.8 silent wave lens. It is also smaller and lighter than the Nikor lens, a big plus in all day use, in or out of the jungle. On top of everything else I was able to purchase the Sigma lens for...less than the Nikor lens. A great lens at a great price.

I shot the illustrations for an antique price guide with this lens and got compliments on the slides from the publisher, so it definitely gives proffesional quality results. These days I prefer working with a longer macro lens, so you can get a little more working distance between you and the subject, but that is a matter of taste, and the longer lenses cost more.

This is my current favorite lens and the one that resides most often upon my camera. It certainly is the sharpest lens that I own. I use it for ordinary photography as well as for macro photography. As I shoot plant life with the macro capability, I don't mind the short working distance (distance from front element of the lens to subject, about 2 inches), as the plants don't run away when you close in on them. If you want to shoot bugs, etc, you probably want a longer focal length macro (longer focal length=larger working distance). The lens is capable of life-size reproductions without accessories, a definite plus over the Canon made 50mm macro lens.
This lens makes a great general purpose normal lens, as the very high optical quality for the macro uses leads to excellent sharpness and freedom from abberations at distance. The only drawback to the lens is its rather slow (for a 50mm prime lens) maximum aperature of F/2.8. As I usually shoot in sunlight or with high-speed films (or both!), this has never been a problem for me, but others may prefer a faster maximum aperature.
I've shot with this lens with all its aperatures from wide open to F/45 and found, in my subjective eyeball test (I look at prints and slides), that the optical performance varries very little over the aperature range, being uniformly excellent.
Overall, a fine lens for an even finer price.

Similar considerations apply to Canon, so here is what I said about the 500mm f4.5 Sigma vs similar glass from Nikon:

The Sigma gets decent reviews, but for the same price you can get a brand-new 400mm f3.5 Nikkor (or a used 500mm f4P Nikkor). THese are sharper, faster, and (IMPORTANT!) better-built. Add a TC-14b teleconverter for about 10% more and you also have a 560mm f5 (or 700mm f5.6) that is sharper than the Sigma. A used 400mm f3.5 Nikkor is maybe $1500 to $2000 (this is the choice most people should make, but be sure you can return it if it's a clinker).

A BIGGIE: The resale value of the Nikkor is much better. I could (but never will) sell my Nikkors (bought used) for more than I paid after using them for years.

The only "advantage" of the Sigma is Autofocus, which may not work all that well if other reviewers' comments or my experience with a Sigma 400mm f5.6 are any indication. However, if you are a high-end sports freak or flying bird weenie, you already own high-end AF gear, or will be frustrated until you do. Most other subjects don't need AF. Indeed, in a recent butterfly hunt in a wildflower plot, I got consistently better slides in manual mode than an experienced friend with new Nikon AF gear. It's pretty tricky to get the AF to focus on the butterfly's head instead of its back wing or the flower petals.

Also, the 500mm Sigma weighs almost 7 lb, more than the far more versatile Nikkor + TC-14b combination. (A 400mm f2.8 AF Nikkor weighs 14 lb! What price AF?)

Bottom line: Buy the good stuff -- you get better performance and save money (because of resale value).

I am a wildlife photographer in South Africa and I briefly owned both the Nikon and Canon versions of this lens. I used the lens on a Nikon F100 body and found that it did not autofocus properly, due to presumably software conflict between the lens and the body. I swopped it for the Canon version, but it had the same problem when used with the EOS 3. The Nikon version did not autofocus with the Sigma 1.4 and 2.0 APO extenders. The Canon version did focus with the Sigma 1.4 extender, but not with the 2.0. THe lens has exceptionally good optics, and resolution, contrast and colour saturation is excellent. The build-quality is not bad, but not up to the same standard as the equivalent Canon lens. The large tripod mount is very handy, and the lens is very well balanced when used on a tripod. THe lens is very well priced, but unless Sigma ensures that it functions perfectly with the latest top end Canon and Nikon SLR's, it will not be an option for pro's or serious amateurs.

Sigma 50-500mm F4-6.3 EX RF HSM is a new addition to Sigma family of EX grade lenses. EX stands for "excellence" and is the high end of the manufacturing line. It means that the build quality of this lens is very good. You are not likely to end up with front glass falling out as it happens on some consumer-grade products. The quality of optics is rated "good" in its category of the wide-range zooms by www.photozone.de. However, this "good" is bordering with "average", so don't expect crisp sharpness of the prime lenses especially at wide open aperture at 500mm. The lens is heavy and very big. People will definitely notice it when you carry it around. Hood, case and the tripod collar should come with the lens, which is a plus. Filters, though, may be quite expensive. The lens has no image stabilizer which make a tripod or a monopod necessary when you shoot for slide film. However, for digital or for 4x6 prints it may be okay. The big plus is that you don't have to change lenses when a different focal length is needed. Another big plus is its price. Nobody can beat Sigma in that. I recommend this lens for those who cannot afford long focal primes or for those who prefer the convenience of all-in-one.

This is was my first Sigma EX HSM lens. The 50-500mm was just too good to pass up for the price. While I've had other Sigma lens I purchased them mostly for the price. The quality was OK/acceptable. But these EX HSM (Hyper Sonic Motor) lens are the finest quality lens I've ever put my hands on! They are mostly metal vs mostly plastic. They are smooth as silk and extremely FAST focus. They seem not to seach back and forth as much for the focal point--they lock on almost immediately. This lens makes brilliant true color shots and works great with my Nikon D100. With the digital camera 1.4x factor this lens is like having a 70-700 on a film camera. The only note is the lens is HEAVY like as in 4lbs! You really can't imagine it until you mount it on the camera and shoot--you'll need a mono/tripod for using the 500mm. The lens comes with a beautiful case and a high-tech lens shade. You'll never buy anything but a Sigma HSM lens again. Too bad they don't make the HSM for all their models.

I love this lens. It is very good for indoor photography , because the relatively wide angle it covers lets you take in what is happening in an enclosed space, and the speed lets you hand hold your camera without a flash. It autofocuses quickly, and is plenty sharp. Because it's wide angle, the depth of field at large F-stops isn't hideously narrow. Well worth the money.