Sigma Announces the 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Sport Lens for E and L-Mount
Sigma has announced the 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS Sport lens for Sony E-mount and Leica L-mount. It is the company’s first ultra-telephoto zoom lens that Sigma says has been developed from the ground up specifically for full-frame mirrorless cameras.
It offers outstanding levels of performance, functionality, and build quality required for ultra-telephoto shooting in the most demanding situations. Image quality is exceptional, with ultra-high-performance glass capable of delivering ultra-sharp results even on the highest resolution cameras. The lens displays beautiful bokeh throughout its zoom range, and optical aberrations are kept well under control. It can be used with SIGMA’s 1.4× and 2× L-Mount teleconverters, with AF effective up to 1200mm.
Fast and accurate autofocus owing to an AF unit equipped with a high-precision magnetic sensor, combined with an OS (Optical Stabilizer) function effective to approximately 4 stops of image stabilization makes this a highly responsive lens that can handle even the most challenging subjects. It has a Dual Action Zoom system that includes straight and ring zoom, dust, and splash resistant structure, and customizable switches helping photographers and filmmakers adapt quickly and easily to virtually any shooting environment.
Dust and splash resistant structure that stops water drops or dust from getting into the lens, combined with a water and oil repellent coating applied to the front element, gives you peace of mind even in a harsh shooting environment.
The lens features a Dual Action Zoom, which supports both straight zoom and ring zoom, allowing you to change the angle of view in a quick and intuitive way. In addition, there is also a newly incorporated Zoom Torque switch, with which you can change the resistance of the zoom ring and lock it at the wide end, ensuring ease of zoom operation as well as the elimination of zoom creep.
On the lens body, there is a magnesium tripod socket attachable to an Arca Swiss-type clamp. The foot is removable and may be replaced with an optional lens foot (replaceable lens foot type) or mounted on a monopod.
The lens body uses parts made of aluminum and TSC (Thermally Stable Composite), where they are most suitable. TSC is a type of polycarbonate with a thermal expansion rate similar to that of aluminum, ensuring the lens behaves consistently at different temperatures. By taking advantage of its design intended exclusively for mirrorless camera systems, the lens is both robust—an attribute essential for the Sports line of lensesーand compact and lightweight. Compared to the SIGMA 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports, which is also a Sports line lens but designed for SLR cameras, the new lens is lighter by 760g and shorter by 26.6mm.
Based on the latest optical design technology, its lens construction of 25 elements in 15 groups includes a range of special types of high-performance glass that ensures thorough control of different types of aberrations. This helps give images the resolution and clearest detail—not only at the tele end around 600mm, which is critical for an ultra-telephoto zoom but also throughout its entire zoom range—with no compromise. The lens was designed with image quality in the out-of-focus areas in mind as well, with attractive compression and beautiful bokeh for creating eye-catching images that can only be achieved with a long focal length.
Through improvements to the optical and mechanical designs as well as extensive simulated testing, the lens has achieved high resistance to ghosting and flare. This helps ensure sharp and high-contrast images even in strong sunlight or in backlit conditions.
Here some sample pictures:
With an AF actuator controlled by a stepping motor, the lens combines fast and quiet autofocus with excellent tracking of moving objects. Furthermore, a high-precision magnetic sensor enables highly accurate positioning for fast and high-precision AF. This is particularly impressive on an ultra-telephoto lens where the focus lens has to move a significant distance.
The OS function delivers effective image stabilization that offers an advantage of approximately 4 stops, which is ideal for hand-held shooting at slower shutter speeds. It is possible to change the OS settings using the OS switch and Custom Mode switch to best suit the shooting situation. The lens has a Focus Limiter switch offering three-zone AF modification, which helps to speed up AF performance, and on the L-Mount, it is possible to set a custom focusing limit via the SIGMA USB DOCK. The lens also has three AFL buttons to which you can assign various functions on the camera side depending on the model of the camera used.
The 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports lens for Sony E-mount and Leica L-mount will be available in late August for $1,500.
More info on Sigma’s website.
