Evaluation prefaceProduct introduction
Sigma is an excellent lens and camera manufacturer, established in 1961 and has released a lot of excellent products, including a lot of good lenses and bodies, especially Sigma's telephoto lens, Sigma's telephoto lens originated in the late 70s of the 20th century, when the focal length of the lens was mainly concentrated between 135mm and 500mm. In 1989, Sigma introduced the APO 500mm F. 45 lenses, this lens adopts APO (Apochromatic) lens design, with excellent chromatic aberration correction ability and high-quality imaging effect, this lens is widely praised in the field of professional photography. Subsequently, Sigma successively released the Sigma APO 500mm F 45 EX DG HSM, Sigma 500mm F 4 DG OS HSM and other products, it can be said that Sigma has made great achievements in telephoto fixed focus, and today I want to introduce to you Sigma's latest release of a lens: the Sigma 500mm F5 that can be held handheld6 dg dn os | sports。
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os | sports
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports is a super telephoto prime lens designed for mirrorless cameras, with a 500mm focal length and excellent image quality, the lens body is very compact and lightweight. Official data shows that Sigma has succeeded in significantly reducing the size of the lens structure without the use of diffractive optical elements by employing a variety of large-diameter, unique low-dispersion glass elements that are difficult to process. At the same time Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports achieves a high resolution performance that meets the expectations of users for a 500mm prime lens. The lens body is primarily made of TSC (Thermally Stabilized Composite) with micron-level precision, and despite its compact size, it has excellent build quality and weather resistance, including dust- and splash-proof construction. It is believed that the emergence of this lens is also bound to provide a new photographic experience for sports, wildlife, aviation and other fast-action photographers.
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports Parameter Specifications:
Lens specifications: Long prime lens.
Focal length range: 500mm
Lens construction: 20 elements in 14 groups.
Special lenses: 3 FLD, 2 SLD
Nearest focus: 32m
Filter size: 95mm
Aperture range: f 56-f/32
Number of diaphragm blades: 11.
Lens diameter: 1076mm
Lens length: 2346mm（l.6mm（e）
Lens weight: 1370g (LG(e).)
Lens mount: Sony E-mount, L-mount.
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports with Sony Alpha 7R V
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports is part of the Sigma S series
In optical construction, the Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports adopts a structure design of 14 groups of 20 lenses, including 3 FLD lenses and 2 SLD lenses, it is worth noting that this lens does not have aspherical lenses, 3 FLD lenses and 2 SLD lenses can effectively correct aberrations and distortion; In addition, this lens also has built-in OS stabilization, which is a very practical configuration for a telephoto prime lens, allowing users to shoot high-resolution ** or hand-held slow shutter with clear and sharp **. In addition, the lens features 11 aperture blades, a minimum aperture of f 32, a minimum focusing distance of 320cm, and a filter aperture of 95mm.
Appearance details introduced
I had experienced Sigma's 500mm F4 DG OS HSM lens before, and I felt that it was a huge size and a test of arm strength, after all, the weight of 3310g plus the weight of the body, it was really tiring to hold it for a long time. Now let's look at the Sigma 500mm F56 dg dn os |Sports, the overall weight is more than half lighter, and compared to the 500mm F4 DG OS HSM, the aperture is just a stop smaller. Not only is the weight reduced a lot, but at the same time, in terms of volume, the volume of the 500mm F4 DG OS HSM is 1448mm×380.3mm, while the Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |The volume of sports is 1076mm×236.6mm(e), the volume has also been greatly reduced, so it can be easily handheld. The reason for the success of weight reduction is that the lens body of this Sigma lens, including the lens hood, adopts a composite structure of various materials, and optimizes the arrangement of TSC and other materials, making this lens more portable, durable and strong.
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports with Sony Alpha 7R V
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports continues the same workmanship and feel of the previous Sigma S series lenses, and the frosted material of the lens barrel brings a delicate feel and is not easy to leave fingerprints. Moreover, the commonly used focus ring is made of rubber skin, which has uniform damping when rotating.
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports focus ring
and the Sigma 70-200mm f2. that I reviewed earlier8 dg dn os |Sports, Sigma 500mm F56 dg dn os |Sports has also added a manual aperture ring to make it easier for us to quickly set the aperture, and when the polar aperture is shooting, it can ensure that we can achieve a smoother transition when shooting scenes with relatively large lights.
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports designed a manual aperture ring
And on the lens switch lever, the Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |The switch of Sports adopts the design of slide switch, and the number is still relatively large, and it is designed with AF MF's switching lever, focusing limit lever, anti-shake mode switching lever, user-defined function lever, click switch and automatic aperture locking lever, etc., which are still relatively clear in function.
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports function slide lever
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports designed the Click slide switch
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports aperture ring locks slide switch
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |The sports lens barrel is designed with three AFL buttons, the AFL button is a custom button, and the factory default is focus locking, that is, you can lock the focus by holding down the AFL button, and you can also set the button to other functions you need.
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports has designed three AFL buttons
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Each mechanically movable part of the sports lens barrel is equipped with an anti-drip seal. In addition, the lens also comes with a tripod ring and a tripod bracket that can be rotated 360 degrees, and a limit is designed at a full 90° position for users to accurately fix in the ° position, and the tripod holder is also designed to be compatible with the Arcar head and can be removed freely.
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |The sports tripod rest model is TS-151
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports tripod rest
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports tripod rest
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |The Sports is an ultra-long prime lens with a lens filter diameter of 95mm, and the foreground group of the lens can see a very beautiful pale yellow, turquoise, and light purple coating, which is waterproof and oil-resistant. And because this lens does not use a DOE optical diffraction element, it can more effectively suppress flare and ghosting.
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |The sports filter has a diameter of 95mm
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports uses a pure metal mount
And in the bayonet part, the Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |The sports use a pure metal mount with four screws to further enhance the durability of the lens; And there is a sealing ring around the bayonet, which can play the role of waterproof, splash-proof, dust-proof and so on.
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports hood
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports hood
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports This lens is equipped with a round lens hood, and the front of the lens hood is also designed with a shock-absorbing rubber ring, model LH1034-02, which can be convenient for us to temporarily place the camera vertically on the ground, and the appearance after installing the lens hood looks very majestic and generous, and it is worth mentioning that the Sigma 500mm F56 dg dn os |Sports and Sigma 70-200mm f28 dg dn os |The sports lens hood is mounted in the same way, inserting directly into the front of the lens and locking with locking screws on the side, allowing for faster installation and removal.
·500mm resolution real shot
For Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |For a super-telephoto prime lens such as sports, the image quality performance at a longer focusing distance is the most important, because users who use this lens tend to shoot sports and ecological products at a long distance, and if the image quality decreases significantly with the increase of focusing distance, it will undoubtedly reduce the usability of the lens. Here I used the Sony Alpha 7R V as the test body: tripod mounting, stabilization off, aperture priority, RAW+JPEG dual format recording, ISO 100 fixation, diaphragm adjustment and 100% capture of the center and edges of the frame.
The red box is the 100% screenshot area
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |The aperture range of sports is f56-f32, through the actual shooting of screenshots, it can be found that the Sigma lens shows high sharpness and contrast in both the center and the edges when the aperture is wide open. After the aperture is closed until f16, this lens maintains a high quality, and when the aperture is closed to f22, its sharpness will decrease to a certain extent, and when the aperture is closed to f32, its image quality will be further reduced, but if you compare the image quality of the two apertures, you can find that the image quality at the f22 aperture still has a certain degree of usability.
Comprehensive quality: ghost glare dispersion real shooting
As a super-long prime lens, the Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |As Sigma's latest product, Sports has succeeded in significantly reducing the size of the lens structure without the use of diffractive optical elements by employing a variety of large-diameter, unique low-dispersion glass elements that are difficult to process. The use of refractive lenses in its optical system to prevent the characteristic flare and ghosting of diffractive optical elements allows for clear images even in backlit conditions or when light sources are included in the image, but this does not mean that this lens is free of ghosting and flare, and this Sigma 500mm f5. can be found in actual shooting6 dg dn os |There is also a certain amount of ghost flare.
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports ghost glare real shot
In optical construction, the Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports has an optical design of 20 elements in 14 groups, including 3 FLD lenses and 2 SLD lenses, so how well does this lens perform in dispersion control? Before shooting, I guessed that it should perform well, and I will show you through a real-life test below.
Through actual shooting, the Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |The Sports lens controls dispersion very well at wide aperture, as it has a maximum aperture of f56. Even when the aperture is fully open, there will be no purple edge or axial dispersion in theory. So use the Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |The sports lens basically ignores the phenomenon of chromatic aberration.
Comprehensive quality: vignetting distortion real shooting
In the past, for super telephoto lenses, the performance of vignetting did not seem to be so important, because people were more concerned about the content and image quality presented by its viewing angle, and the judging criteria for vignetting were not as strict as those of wide-angle lenses, Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |How does the sports camera perform? Here I actually shot this lens at aperture f56-f16 performance.
Judging from the comparison of actual shooting results, the Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |The sports lens can see a slight vignetting phenomenon when the aperture is wide open, and after closing the aperture by one stop to the second stop, you can find that its vignetting phenomenon will be better controlled.
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports distortion real shot
In the distortion shot, the Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |The distortion performance of this sports lens can be said to be very good, basically the phenomenon of distortion is not visible to the naked eye, if you have to nitpick to describe its distortion, that is, to enlarge it, you will see its very, very slight pincushion distortion. If it's not so strict to observe, basically the Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |There is no need to worry about the distortion of this sports lens at all.
Comprehensive quality: focus and anti-shake and**
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports uses an HLA high-speed linear motor and uses floating focus to achieve a high-speed AF drive, so it can achieve faster, more accurate, and quieter focusing performance. When I was shooting animals and aviation this time, this lens showed extremely stable focusing performance, with fast focusing speed, fast focus tracking speed, and high focusing accuracy, which fully met my shooting in these subjects.
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports focus screen recording
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 1000
* Time: 1 20s ** Compensation: 0 EV White Balance: Auto.
In addition, the Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports also has OS optical image stabilization, which can achieve up to 5. in OS2 mode0 level shutter speed compensation, that is to say, at a focal length of 500mm, the limit can achieve 1 15s fast, shoot a clear picture, of course, the stabilization varies from person to person, so here you can make a reference, take my personal handheld as an example, you can shoot a relatively clear picture at the shutter speed of 1 20s, I think it's quite good.
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports handheld** shooting
Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Sports handheld** shooting
The blessing of image stabilization can not only allow us to better achieve low-speed slow speed shooting, but also has a lot of help in **, the above** are all handheld by me for shooting, plus Sigma HLA high-speed linear motor, Sigma 500mm F56 dg dn os |The overall performance of this sports lens is still very good, and the usability of handheld ** is very high, which means that we can use this lens to shoot **, but also get rid of the tripod very well, so as to achieve ** shooting more flexibly.
Samples and summaries
Let's take a look at my actual use of the Sigma 500mm F56 dg dn os |Sports lens with Sony Alpha 7R V, a high-pixel camera, actually shot some samples, the following samples are full-size samples, and there is no post-cropping, but a slight color correction has been carried out, interested users can click on ** to view the larger picture.
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 1250
* Time: 1 640s **Compensation: 0ev White Balance: Auto.
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 63 ISO sensitivity: 1000
* Time: 1 640s **Compensation: 0ev White Balance: Auto.
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 2000
* Time: 1 1250s ** Compensation: 0ev White Balance: Auto.
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 125
* Time: 1 640s **Compensation: 0ev White Balance: Auto.
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 400
* Time: 1 1000s ** Compensation: 0ev White Balance: Auto.
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 200
* Time: 1 1000s ** Compensation: 0ev White Balance: Auto.
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 5000
* Time: 1 1250s ** Compensation: 0ev White Balance: Auto.
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 4000
* Time: 1 320s **Compensation: 0ev White Balance: Auto.
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 320
* Time: 1 1000s ** Compensation: 0ev White Balance: Auto.
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 100
* Time: 1 500s ** Compensation: 0ev White Balance: Auto.
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 100
* Time: 1 640s **Compensation: 0ev White Balance: Auto.
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 640
* Time: 1 500s ** Compensation: 0ev White Balance: Auto.
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 250
* Time: 1 1000s ** Compensation: 0ev White Balance: Auto.
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 80 ISO sensitivity: 100
* Time: 1 640s ** Compensation: -03EV White Balance: Manual.
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 110 ISO sensitivity: 100
* Time: 25s **Compensation: 0ev White Balance: Auto.
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 80 ISO sensitivity: 320
* Time: 1 800s ** Compensation: 03EV White Balance: Manual.
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 160
* Time: 1 1000s ** Compensation: 0ev White Balance: Auto.
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 125
* Time: 1 1000s ** Compensation: 0ev White Balance: Auto.
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 1000
* Time: 1 500s ** Compensation: 07EV White Balance: Auto (Photographer: Wang Ao).
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 320
* Time: 1 400s ** Compensation: 07EV White Balance: Auto (Photographer: Wang Ao).
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 400
* Time: 1 640s ** Compensation: -07EV White Balance: Auto (Photographer: Wang Ao).
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 125
* Time: 1 400s ** Compensation: 07EV White Balance: Auto (Photographer: Wang Ao).
Focal length: 500mm Aperture: f 56 ISO sensitivity: 1250
* Time: 1 400s ** Compensation: 07EV White Balance: Auto (Photographer: Wang Ao).
Editor's point of view:
Sigma is not the first time to release a 500mm prime lens, but it is the first time in the field of mirrorless, and it is the king of bombs as soon as it is shot, although the maximum aperture is only f56, but it has achieved the ultimate lightweight, handheld shooting or carrying out is basically no pressure, and the lightweight is completely thanks to the Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |According to Sigma's official introduction, this lens uses a unique low dispersion convex element with high aberration correction ability, and can achieve high resolution performance at the center and edges, which is also true through actual shooting. In addition, this lens uses an HLA high-speed linear motor to achieve a very fast, high-precision, and quiet focusing experience. Sigma 500mm f56 dg dn os |Although Sports is a super long fixed focal length lens, it uses the new OS2 algorithm, which can achieve up to 5 stops of image stabilization, whether it is shooting** or shooting**, this lens can bring an extraordinary experience. As of the time of writing and publishing this review article, I don't know the price of this lens, what do you think the ** of this lens should be?