Pros & Cons
-
- Very sharp.
- Large aperture.
- Super telephoto reach.
- Optical stabilization.
- No visible distortion.
- Sturdy, dust- and splash-resistant design.
- Costs less than the competition.
- Available for multiple camera systems.
-
- Huge.
- Heavy.
Sigma 500mm F4 DG OS HSM Sports Specs
| 35mm Equivalent (Wide) | 500 |
| Dimensions | 15 by 5.7 inches |
| Lens Mount | Canon EF |
| Lens Mount | Nikon F |
| Lens Mount | Sigma SA |
| Stabilization | Optical |
| Type | Lens |
| Weight | 7.3 |
At $5,999, the Sigma 500mm F4 DG OS HSM Sports seems like an extravagantly priced lens. That is until you check out the competition: the $8,999 Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM and the $10,299 Nikon AF-S Nikkor 500mm f/4E FL ED VR. The Sigma suddenly becomes a great value proposition in the super telephoto lens space. For significantly less than the competition you get a lens that's exceptionally sharp, superbly constructed, and ridiculously heavy. Its performance and price earn it Editors' Choice honors, but make sure you set aside some money for a visit to the chiropractor.
It's Huge
The 500mm F4 ($5,999.00 at Amazon) is big, which is the nature of the beast when it comes to telephoto lenses. But it's exceptionally big. Without the hood mounted, it's 15.0 by 5.7 inches (HD) and 7.3 pounds. Adding the hood increases the height by about 6.5 inches, so the lens will extend from your camera mount by almost two feet. The hood is light and tough—it's made with carbon fiber. The lens itself features a metal barrel, and is fully sealed to protect from dust and splashes. Sigma sells the lens for Canon, Nikon, and Sigma SLR systems.
You can get a lighter lens that reaches 500mm, of course. The Sigma 150-600mm DG f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary is a featherweight in comparison, at 4.3 pounds. But its not nearly as bright when you've reached the 500mm mark, capturing less than half the light as the 500mm F4. That's a big concern, especially if you plan on pairing the lens with a teleconverter, which extends reach but cuts light-gathering capability.
The Sigma is less expensive than the current 500mm f/4 options from Canon and Nikon, but it should be noted that it's the heftiest of the three. The Canon is a little lighter at 7 pounds, and about 6 inches shorter. The Nikon lens is about the same size as the Canon, and the lightest of the three at 6.8 pounds. But it's a $10,000 lens; that's a big premium to pay to save half a pound.
If you can live with 400mm, and you shoot with Canon, there is one other option out there. The EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM ($6,899) is a viable alternative. It's 9.2 by 5.0 inches and just 4.6 pounds. You lose some telephoto reach, and it's not quite as sharp at f/4 as the Sigma, but it's much, much easier to carry.
There's a reason I've spent a good amount of time talking about the weight of the lens. If you're a nature photographer, it's a big ask to hike with such a massive optic when there are lighter alternatives available. If you're more of a handheld shooter, it does't take long before you feel the burn of supporting seven pounds of lens. And if you're using a tripod, it's got to have a sturdy set of legs, preferably with a gimbal head, in order to support this much glass.
Controls and Features
The 500mm is rife with buttons and controls. At the base of the lens, near the mount, you'll find a Beep control switch, which will silence your SLR's focus confirmation beep, along with a switch and button to control the function of the four buttons that ring the front barrel of the lens. You can set them to pause autofocus operation, or to move to a preset focus distance. Use the Set button, just below the switch, when you're in the Preset mode to set that distance.
The filter access port is also at the base of the lens. The 500mm's front element doesn't support screw-in filters—they'd be absurdly priced due to its size. Instead the lens supports 46mm filters; they screw into the holder. It works fine for most types of optical filters, but if you want to use a circular polarizing filter, which must be turned in order to adjust its effect, you'll need to buy a separate accessory, the $300 RCP-11.
Moving from the rear element to the front, the next thing you'll see is the tripod collar. It's permanently attached and can rotate 360 degrees. A switch at its base toggles the detents, positioned every 90 degrees, and there are two loops so you can attach a strap directly to the lens. The foot itself is large and boasts dual tripod mounts—one for the standard quarter-inch design used by almost every camera system today, and another larger three-eighth-inch thread you find on older large format film equipment.
The vast bank of control switches is next. It sits on the left side of the barrel, in line with the focus distance scale, visible from the top. Switches adjust focus settings—you have the option of full autofocus, autofocus with manual override, or full-time manual focus, along with a focus limiter that sets you to close focus only (3.5 to 10 meters), long distance only (10 meters to infinity), or the full range of focus.
Similar Products
Our Current Picks for The Best Canon EF SLR Lenses for 2021
There's also a switch to adjust image stabilization settings—the 1 position is used for standard shots when the camera isn't moving, while 2 is better used when you're panning to track a moving subject. You can also turn stabilization off completely using this switch.
Finally there's the Custom switch, which lets you access the custom performance profiles that can be configured using the optional USB Dock accessory. The dock lets you customize aspects of performance such as focus speed—by default the lens is tuned to deliver a balanced emphasis on focus lock and speed, but you can put a priority on acquisition speed over accuracy, or vice versa. The dock can also be used to adjust focus calibration if needed. Our sample focused perfectly fine out of the box with both of the cameras we tested it with, the Canon EOS 7D Mark II and EOS 5DS R.
The manual focus ring, covered in hard rubber with ribs for easy gripping, is next up. It's about three inches long and turns comfortably, requiring about 180 degrees to move from the minimum 11.5-foot (3.5-meter) focus distance to infinity. The 500mm certainly isn't a macro lens, but because its angle of view is so narrow, it projects objects at 1:6.5 life-size when set to its shortest focus distance.
Image Quality
I tested the 500mm F4 using Imatest and the 50MP Canon EOS 5DS R. At f/4 the lens records 3,948 lines per picture height, with performance that is almost dead even from edge to edge. It's a very strong result, even for a high-resolution camera—sharper than the 3,576 lines delivered by the EF 400mm DO.
At f/5.6 the lens records a little bit less on the Imatest score, 3,830 lines, not enough of a difference that you'd notice. Conversely, at f/5.6 the svelte Canon EF 400mm DO bridges the gap with the Sigma, notching a 3,900-line score.
See How We Test Digital Cameras
Diffraction sets in early with a 50MP image sensor, so we start to see a drop in resolution at f/8, to a still-strong 3,593 lines. If you're shooting with a more typical camera like the 1D-X Mark II or 5D Mark IV, or even the 36MP Nikon D810, we wouldn't expect to see this drop. But none of those will put up as absurdly high sharpness scores as the 5DS R ($3,699.00 at Amazon) .
We see about the same score at f/11 and f/16, where the lens hovers around 3,300 lines. Regardless of which full-frame body you use, you should avoid f/22, as the aperture is narrow to the point where image quality suffers, dropping to a good, but not great, 2,656 lines. At the minimum f/32 setting you only get 1,806 lines on the 5DS, which is not a lot of detail on such a high-resolution image sensor.
There's no distortion, which is the expected result for a telephoto prime. There is some corner dimness at wider apertures when paired with a full-frame camera. At f/4 the lens shows a -2.3EV drop at the corners and -1.5EV at the sides of the frame, giving photos a slight vignette. It's cut to a more reasonable -1.1EV at the corners, just outside our -1EV tolerance, at f/5.6, and is negligible at narrower apertures.
Conclusions
There is almost nothing to complain about when it comes to a performance perspective, and while it costs just under $6,000, the Sigma 500mm F4 DG OS HSM Sports is actually a strong value proposition compared with competing lenses from Canon and Nikon. For your money you get incredible telephoto reach with an aperture that's bright enough to use effectively with a teleconverter, rock solid construction, and a tripod collar and other design elements you need to make using such a big, heavy lens practical. Sideline shooters who don't care about carrying it on long hikes will appreciate everything the 500mm Sports delivers.
If you're a frequent backpacker, you may be swayed by the lighter, pricier, and slightly shorter Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM. I certainly give it some preference, simply because I like to shoot handheld and often find myself out in the woods, as opposed to working an NFL game. But the 400mm is not a 500mm, and for some photographers the extra reach is the difference between getting a shot and not. Like the Canon 400mm, we're naming the Sigma an Editors' Choice winner. They're both excellent lenses, and you'll know best which of the two fits your needs.
Best Lens Picks
- The Best Fujifilm Lenses for 2020
- The Best Leica M Lenses for 2020
- The Best Micro Four Thirds Lenses for 2020
- The Best Pentax SLR Lenses for 2020
- More Lens Reviews
- More from Sigma