One of the Sigma’s most recent offerings, the Sigma 120-400mm Optically Stabilized f/4.5-5.6 lens is a nature lover’s dream. The question is, does it deliver all that it promises? Photopurity spent some quality time with this latest superzoom from Sigma and have put together our initial thoughts in a somewhat unordered rambling review.
The Sigma 120-400 comes with its own carrying case and included lens hood, cap and tripod collar. Before getting into the impressions we formed with this lens, lets cover the technical details:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
As you can see from the specs, this lens is huge! You simply cannot overestimate how big this lens is when connected to your camera. Even when fully retracted the lens protrudes out over 8 inches from your camera and its beefy diameter makes it feel like a miniature cannon (not the camera manufacturer but the kind that are used to shoot cannonballs) attached to your camera. On a side note, Sigma lists the lens diameter as 3.6 inches however my own rather imprecise measurements seems to indicate that at its thickest point the diameter was over 4 inches. The lens weighs in at 61 oz and believe me, after carrying this baby around for a short while you will feel it. This lens would be unpleasant to heft around all day every day however most consumers that would be considering this lens are aware of the weight and size issues and have a specific purpose for this lens. I just wanted to call out the weight and size in case someone out there might be thinking that this lens is along the same lines as their Canon 70-300 IS USM.
Ergonomics
When you’re talking about a lens of this size its pretty difficult to discuss the ergonomics. It is what it is. Its a big lens for people who need a big zoom. The lens comes with an included tripod collar. The collar is a well designed easily added or removed with a very sturdy feel. The collar has grooves designed into it to make it a little more comfortable to hold with your hand. The zoom ring is a little stiff but that will certainly ease up with use. The sigma has a manual focus ring that you can grab at any time to adjust, this works very well and is a nice smooth action as you would expect. The lens also features a very nice lock switch that will keep the lens locked in a certain position which can be very handy to combat lens creep if that particular problem bothers you. The OS switch will be covered in the Image Stabilization section of this review.
Finish
Overall the fit and finish on the Sigma is excellent which you expect from a EX branded lens. Granted I didn’t get to spend the kind of time to really see just how scratch resistant it is and how it bears up to daily abuse but judging from what I saw and felt, the lens will do just fine. There should be no worries about the quality of construction, the lens is extremely solid and well pieced together.
Image Quality
Here’s the biggest piece of a lens right here. Who cares if a lens looks and feels good, who cares what range it has, who cares whether it has image stabilization? What really matters first and foremost is image quality. Naturally, the most important quality of a lens is the most subjective. What appeals to one person may not appeal to another, still there’s enough common ground to give a lens a rating on its performance. The Sigma 120-400 is second to none that I’ve tested on either Canon or Nikon cameras. The contrast is flawless, well saturated and the images it produced were very sharp (see section on Sharpness). In fact I was quite impressed when I pulled up the first batch of images on my pc. I was expecting some pretty good results and the fact that I was still impressed when I saw them in full 21 megapixel glory was a very good sign indeed.
Image Stabilization
Sigma offers their own flavor of Image Stabilization known as OS (Optical Stabilization). Almost all of the varying lens manufacturers are now offering their own versions of image stabilization. Nikon calls theirs VR (vibration reduction), Canon pioneered it and thus calls it IS, Tamron is now offering VC (vibration compensation) on select lens and the most recent news states that Tokina is looking to at some form of stabilization to their own 80-400mm zoom. When utilizing a zoom of this range (extending out to 400mm) some form of Image stabilization is almost a “must.” That’s my own personal opinion but I would wholeheartedly recommend finding a lens with some form of IS, VR, VC, OS. Without compensation for the camera shake you’ll have to pull off extremely high shutter speeds (1/500th) just to get a sharp picture.
With the Sigma 120-400 I was extremely impressed with the OS performance. The Sigma comes with two types of OS, the first type is the standard stabilization which allows you to handhold at slower speeds than you would normally expect to be able to pull off. The second mode is to be used strictly for panning shots so that it allows the background to blur while keeping your subject clear. I’m not a panning type of photographer, I prefer to stop action so I’m sorry to say I really didn’t spend much time on this type of OS. It seemed to work fairly effectively though in my limited use.
So how much of a reduction in stops does the Sigma OS give you? Well, at 400mm (which is where you’ll likely need the OS the most), I was able to pretty consistently get clear shots at 1/60th of a second. That’s impressive. I was able to get *some* clear shots down to even 1/15th of a second but that’s pretty spotty so I wouldn’t recommend going below 1/60th. At 1/60th of a second I was even able to use this lens indoors on static or very slow moving subjects. That was a nice benefit I hadn’t anticipated with this lens.
AF Speed
The Sigma 120-400 EX features a HSM focus motor which means two things. First, the focusing is extremely quiet. Second, that its extremely fast. I really like that kind of combination. For those more familar with Canon products HSM is Sigma’s own equivalent of USM. I found that focusing from infinity was extremely fast but I didn’t stop watch it. I’ll just say that from my experience I found at no time where I was thinking to myself, “I wish this thing was faster.” The Sigma had no problems keeping up with my two beagles as they chased each other around the backyard waging their own style of suburban warfare. If it can keep up with those two then it can probably keep up with most sports or Bird in Flight style shots.
Just on a side note I’ll say that the camera is more important than the lens’ AF in those type of situations, I’ve found situations where one lens just wasn’t performing very well and then I’d try it on another camera body (usually with a higher quality AF system) and find a vast improvement in the performance.
Sharpness
A hot button among photographer’s today is the sharpness of a lens. Go to any public digital camera or lens forum and you’ll see dozens of threads regarding a lens perceived sharpness or lack of sharpness. So how does the Sigma perform? I tested the Sigma on a Canon 5d Mark II which boasts a 21 megapixel sensor which is probably one of the most demanding sensors on the market right now. I was extremely impressed with the sharpness of the pictures I received from the Sigma at any f stop. From f/4.5 I received very sharp and usuable pictures at 120mm, zooming in to 400mm at f/5.6 also gave me good results. As with any lens you’ll benefit from stopping down to f/8 but its not *required* like it is with some lens. The good thing about the Sigma is with the OS you probably will be able to stop down to f/8 or f/11 and still get sharp clear results (depending on what your shooting).
Conclusion
The Sigma 120-400mm OS EX DG f/4.5-5.6 is a beast of a lens but its a beast that delivers superb results. If you are aware of what it means to tote this lens around then I can recommend whole heartedly that its an excellent buy. You get great results from every aspect of the lens, sharpness, image quality, image stabilization. Even though the MSRP on the lens is $1350 you can usually pick it up for slightly under $1000. Check out www.adorama.com or www.bhphotovideo.com for a great deal on lenses. Compared to its likely competition the Sigma faces the following:
1. Canon 100-400mm IS
2. Sigma 80-400 OS
3. Tokina 80-400 Non-IS
4. Tamron 200-500
5. Sigma 150-500 OS
6. Sigma 50-500 Non-IS
What is interesting about that list is that out of 6 competitors, 3 of them are Sigmas. Sigma does long zooms very well and it shows. Of the competition the best is probably the Canon 100-400mm, however, at under $1000 I think the Sigma 120-400 delivers more bang for your buck than Canon’s own offering of the 100-400mm. If you have the money and really think you’ll need the minimal quality the Canon offers then by all means go ahead and enjoy your purchase but most photographers will enjoy the same results for a few hundred less.
This review is the first one of the 120-400 Sigma that totally agrees with my excellent results with the same combo. I noted falloff in the corners of course wide open but overall it is a fine piece of glass.When someone complains about a AF that is hunting or is slow…I think..hmm. likely the camera body. I also use the same Canon 5D mk2 and the combo is fantastic. I built from an old Vivitar flash grip a heavy but perfect anatomical device to fit on the tripod mount of this lens and can consistently shoot at 1/25th of a second at 400 mm using the OS. I am not exaggerating. It is worth finding one of those bakelite grips and stripping off the junk, make a threaded shaft for it and bolt it to this lens. It works a treat together if you have some muscles to hold the whole combo up, that is. In any case the only thing that I noted with this lens is that it is somewhat flare prone in back lighted circumstances such as very brightly lighted objects against a black background resulted in a pleasant dreamlike quality but obviously one must call this a flaw but one that is unavoidable with all the elements in this monster. It is a gem of a lens and my experience with it surpasses my less than enthusiastic tryout with the 100-400 Canon which is frankly outdated now.