The Sigma 20-200mm F3.5-6.3 DG Contemporary ($999) is the first all-in-one zoom lens for full-frame cameras to start at an ultra-wide angle of view. The 20mm starting point makes it more useful for cityscape, architectural, and landscape pictures, and it zooms in close enough to get good photos of neighborhood critters and field sports. Autofocus is fast, the lens focuses close for macro pictures, and it includes full weather sealing for comfortable use outdoors. The 20-200mm sacrifices a little bit of light gathering compared with the brighter Tamron 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 Di III RXD, but its wider starting point and faster focus motor are enough to earn it our Editors' Choice award for all-in-one zoom lenses.

Design: The Widest All-in-One Yet

Most standard zoom lenses start at either 24mm or 28mm, moderately wide angles that are ideal for day-to-day photography and slice-of-life images. The 20-200mm F3.5-6.3 DG starts with a broader angle of view, so it can capture more of a scene, giving it a leg up for images of architecture, landscapes, and other scenes where you want to bring an immersive sense of scale to an image. Like other superzooms, the 20-200mm makes a trade-off versus shorter zooming lenses: Its narrow aperture isn't as good for use in dim light and doesn't blur backgrounds with the same power as shorter zooms like the Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 Di III VXD G2 and Sigma 28-70mm F2.8 DG DN Contemporary.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Despite its head-turning zoom range and full-frame optics, the 20-200mm is surprisingly compact. The lens measures 4.6 by 3.0 inches (HD) at the 20mm position, and is 7.4 by 3 inches at 200mm. It weighs about 1.2 pounds, which is in line with the Tamron 28-200mm and 28-300mm F4-7.1 Di III VC VXD, though heavier than the featherweight Lumix S 28-200mm F4-7.1 Macro O.I.S. (14.6 ounces). The Tamron lenses are exclusively available for E-mount systems, while the Lumix S 28-200mm is only made for L-mount cameras.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The 20-200mm omits optical stabilization, though it falls short of being a serious drawback because almost every compatible camera includes in-body image stabilization (IBIS). I tested the zoom with a stabilized Sony a7R IV and had no problem getting crisp handheld exposures at 1/2-second exposure times at wide angles. I did notice some shake in the viewfinder when zoomed in to 200mm, as well as when focusing close for macro images, however. If you prefer a stabilized superzoom, the Tamron 28-300mm, Lumix S 28-200mm, and Sony FE 24-240mm F3.5-5.6 OSS all include it.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Sigma uses its thermally stable composite (TSC) polycarbonate for the exterior, a proven material with the strength of aluminum. The 20-200mm is fully weather sealed; Sigma tells me that it's as resistant to the elements as its premium 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN Art lens, and includes smudge-resistant fluorine protection on its front element.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Sigma makes the 20-200mm for L-mount cameras from Leica, Panasonic, and Sigma itself, as well as for Sony's popular E-mount mirrorless system. Aside from the connection point, the lenses are physically identical. The E-mount edition is restricted to 15fps continuous focus drive with a9 and a1 series bodies, while the L-mount has no such limitation. I'll qualify that as a quibble, however, as I don't expect that photogs who use Sony's flagship cameras will look to the 20-200mm as a tool for sports photography, and affordable Sony cameras don't support drive speeds faster than 15fps.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The L-mount edition also works with the Sigma UD-11 USB Dock, though with this lens, the dock is only useful for changing focus settings and updating firmware. For the Sony edition, you can update firmware via the camera body. Both versions are bundled with a soft pouch, front and rear caps, and a lens hood.

Controls: Covers the Basics, and Only the Basics

The on-barrel controls are nearly as basic as it gets, but I don't count that as a bad thing. The lens includes discrete rings to set its zoom and manually adjust focus, along with an AF/MF toggle switch and a zoom lock that keeps the lens set at 20mm. The lock switch feels like overkill; the telescoping zoom is light enough that it doesn't creep out when hanging at your side, but I won't begrudge Sigma for including it.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The zoom ring is a little tighter than I expected, so I have to apply some torque to get it started moving. The manual focus ring is quite good. It has enough resistance for precise focus, but turns easily enough with just a fingertip. While I expect most creators will use autofocus with this lens, its manual focus experience is excellent.

Focus: Linear Motor for Instant Drive

The 20-200mm focuses faster than any superzoom I've used. Its high-response linear actuator (HLA) focus motor snaps between near and far-off subjects in an instant, even with the a7R IV's autofocus system, which isn't as speedy as more recent Sony and L-mount cameras.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

The zoom focuses close too. It is good enough for half-size (1:2) magnification when focused as close as possible from 28-85mm, and 1:3.3 at 200mm. You'll have to get pretty close to an object to capture it at 1:2. At 28mm, you'll have to put the front glass just an inch or so from the subject to get macro images, close enough that you must remove the hood and make an effort to avoid casting a shadow on the scene. The working distance at 200mm is more reasonable, roughly 18 inches from the front glass, or more precisely, 25.6 inches from the sensor plane.

Image Quality: As Good As You'll Get With a Superzoom

I tested the 20-200mm with the 60MP Sony a7R IV and Imatest software to check its resolving power and distortion. The pair put up very good to excellent resolution, depending on the focal length, using my standard center-weighted analysis.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

At 20mm, the zoom scores in the excellent to outstanding range at the center of the frame (4,800-5,000 lines from f/3.5-8), but soft edges and corners drag the average results down to the very good portion of our scale (4,000-4,400 lines). The lens is simply soft around the edges at 20mm, a trait that most all-in-one zooms show at the widest angle.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Edge sharpness is only a real-world concern at 20mm, however. You only have to zoom in a little bit to see more uniform performance and stopped-down apertures. At 28mm, the lens is excellent to outstanding at the center, and scores in the very good to excellent range on average (4,300-4,700 lines from f/4-8). I see similar results at 50mm f/5-11 (3,900-4,300 lines), 100mm f/6.3-11 (4,400-4,600 lines), and 200mm f/6.3-11 (4,300-4,600 lines).

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

These are good figures for an all-in-one zoom, especially one matched with a demanding, pixel-rich sensor. No, the 20-200mm isn't as much of an optical marvel as the Sony FE 20-70mm F4 G or Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN Art II.

The 20-200mm relies heavily on in-camera corrections to capture images without visible geometric distortion and a modest vignette. It's important to make sure they are enabled in-camera for JPGs, and to apply a lens correction profile when using your camera for Raw images. Without corrections, the zoom shows complex mustache distortion at 20mm and significant pincushion distortion from 50-200mm, both extreme enough that even an untrained eye will notice.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Adobe has not yet released a Lightroom profile for the lens, but Sigma provided it for review, and it works well with Raw format images. With the profile applied, there's no sign of distortion in photos, and edge brightness is on level with the center, just as with camera-processed JPGs. Almost every modern lens relies on digital corrections to some extent; the 20-200mm just leans on them more heavily than shorter zooms or prime optics. I don't see this as a bad thing, as I have no doubt that it would be impossible to make a 20-200mm that's this small and light without them.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Outside the lab, I took a look at the flare resistance, sunstar rendition, and bokeh. The 20-200mm does a very good job of suppressing flare. I made a few images with the sun just in or out of frame and couldn't spot any noticeable lost of contrast or blobs of false color in photos. I'm also happy with the sunstars, an effect that pops up when using the lens at its narrowest f-stops (f/16-40). At 20mm f/22, the lens draws crisp, multi-point starbursts around bright points of light. Understand that pictures show soft detail when you set the aperture so small due to optical diffraction, an effect that scatters light particles as they pass through a tiny opening. Sunstars are created by diffraction, so you can't have one without the other.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)

Bokeh and narrow aperture zooms aren't closely associated, but you can still get some softened backgrounds with the 20-200mm, especially when zoomed in or focusing close. In most instances, you'll still be able to make out what's in the background, so you'll want to take some care to frame images to avoid distracting background elements. Again, if you like to make photos with blurred-out backgrounds, a wide aperture zoom or prime lens is a more appropriate tool.

(Credit: Jim Fisher)