Do You Need the Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS?
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If reports are credible, the Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS lens will be coming soon. This will be the version of the lens they created for DSLRs, but it will be for mirrorless. That’s annotated by the DN moniker in the lens naming. If you’re confused about Sigma lens names, you can check out our Sigma Prime Lens guide right here. We’ve tested the Contemporary and Sports versions for DLSRs (pictured in this blog post) a while back, and they had some problems back then. We can predict that it will come in Sony FE and Leica L mounts, though there’s also a possibility for more mounts.
Digital Camera World makes a slight allusion that it may be available for Canon RF and Nikon Z mounts in the future. But that could also be my reading deeper into it. So take that with a grain of salt.
The Phoblographer has tested the most lenses of any photo publication around, with now well over 700 real-world lens reviews under our belt. And we’ve arguably tested the most Sigma lenses in the past decade. Considering what we’ve always known, here’s what we think we can expect with the Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS.
There Will Be a Sports and Contemporary Version
Sigma has been known to deliver sports and contemporary versions of many zoom lenses. They understand that folks who shoot higher-end material will want it. But they also know that passionate photographers who do it as a hobby will reach for them. The Contemporary will claim weather resistance, but that will pretty much just be at the mount and nowhere else. The Sports version will go all out in weather sealing. Expect the Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports to feel like mounting a steel pipe to your camera.
The Image Quality Will Be Pretty Darn Good
One thing that I think folks really can’t always fault Sigma on is image quality. They’re consistently excellent. We’ve seen them cut corners before to meet a price demand, and that can happen here too. The Contemporary lens will most likely be at a very low price point, and they’ll cut corners in some way or another.
Don’t believe us? Take a look at our Sigma 85mm f1.4 DG DN Art lens review. They totally cut corners somewhere.
The Autofocus Will Really Hold it Back From Being Very Useful
It’s no secret that Sigma’s autofocus is awful in comparison. Anyone that says otherwise hasn’t tested modern lenses, and I’d make a bold statement to say is a fervent fanboy. If you’re considering it on the Sony FE system, I’d say forget about it. You’re far better off reaching for a Tamron lens instead. They’re more affordable, all-weather sealed, lightweight, and have good enough image quality. More importantly, they focus incredibly fast. That’s because Sony owns part of Tamron. So the two work closely together.
On the L mount, Sigma lenses are often slower than Panasonic and Leica at times in head-to-head battles. We’ve been criticized by Sigma for saying this before, but we’ve seen similar results on Imaging Resource and other websites. Surely more than two publications that have been around for over a decade can’t be making this up.
Because of the Weight, You’re Going to Feel Like Taking Photos Will be Like Working Out
An excellent friend of mine and I went out for a photo walk in Central Park a few months ago. They used a Sigma telephoto zoom on a Sony camera. And they felt that it was super heavy. Specifically, they said that it felt like they were working out every time they went out to go shoot. This isn’t uncommon at all with many Sigma lenses. And if that’s the case, why would you shoot with a lens that you don’t want to bring around with you? It’ll just end up staying in your camera bag the entire time. That, to me, is nonsensical.
By the way, it’s not all bad. When Sigma uses metal in its construction, I often applaud them. I think that more lenses need to be made with metal for environmental concerns. Modern cameras are bound to produce a ton of e-waste. And it’s not like lightweight, metal, and weather sealing isn’t possible. Olympus did it. Leica has also made lightweight metal lenses. So too has Zeiss. What’s more, they’re all-weather sealed.
In the End, the Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS Will be Cheap
Sigma’s strategy is to pack as much image quality into as affordable a lens as they possibly can. Weather sealing/build quality varies. And autofocus will sometimes feel like you’re better off manually focusing the lens instead.