Reviewed: Sigma 50-500mm F/4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM

Verdict: This lens has a huge focal range, image stabilisation and fantastic image quality. It can be mounted onto a range of cameras and is great for general shooting and panning. At 1970g, it is very heavy though and be mindful that it’s not weather resistant.

With a mighty 10x zoom, the 50-500mm offers the most comprehensive focal range of any lens in our test. It’s suited to both full-frame and APS-C DSLRs, and when paired with a DX format Nikon provides an effective focal range of 75-750mm. It’s available in mounts for Sigma, Canon, Nikon, Sony and Pentax cameras. The lens features Sigma’s Optical Stabilisation (OS) system, which lets you shoot with shutter speeds up to 4 stops slower without the blur of camera shake, and has settings for both general shooting and panning.

SIGMA'S 50-500MM FEATURES FULL-TIME MANUAL OVERRIDE

Housed within the barrel are 22 elements in 16 groups, and four SLD (Special Low Dispersion) elements work to reduce chromatic aberration. To set the focus, the HSM (Hyper Sonic Motor) works speedily and in near-silence, with full-time manual override. In our tests the lens was pleasingly sharp across the entire frame, even at the wider aperture settings. We did detect some chromatic aberration and pin-cushion distortion, but this is easy to remedy when processing.

Specification

Minimum aperture: f/22

Elements: 22/16

Filter size: 95mm

Minimum focus distance: 0.5-1.8m

DxH: 104x219mm

Weight: 1970g

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Kirk Schwarz is a tech-addicted photographer with over a decade's experience; Kirk’s used to putting new gear through extreme field testing. He's previously written for Practical Photography.