The successor to the long-lived and legendary Bigma, the new Sigma APO 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM provides the widest zoom range of any supertelephoto lens we stock (or know of).

The new OS (Optical Stabilizer) function offers the use of shutter speeds approximately 4 stops slower than would otherwise be possible, making this now a reasonable lens to shoot hand-held — if you’re reasonably strong. It also focuses as close as 20 inches (at 200mm), allowing you to use it for pseudo-macro shots too. This lens incorporates HSM (Hyper Sonic Motor), ensuring quiet and high speed AF as well as full-time manual focus capability.

Please note the filter size: 95 mm. We don’t stock, nor recommend them.

Lens Construction

Roger's Take

Roger Cicala

President of LensRentals.com

This after playing around with it for an afternoon I’m totally impressed (obviously on limited data, but totally impressed nonetheless). It is as sharp as the original 50-500, which is sharp indeed. The OS is spectacular, and really does appear to be 4 stops worth. We have some nice 500mm images shot at 1/125 second. Autofocus speed is adequate to the task and accuracy has been good, up until the items discussed below. My summary: well, once again Sigma has designed a spectacular lens, and while the price isn’t cheap, its a good value for what you get if you get a good one, but you’d better read on to the discussion below – and until the matter is resolved, I’d consider alternative lenses if you have options.

*Sigma has released a service notice for this lens warning customers of a ‘potential autofocus defect’. We have finally, after months gotten enough copies through repair that all of the Nikon version we have for rent have been repaired and we no longer have any hesitation about your taking them out of the country or to remote locations.

Try and Buy Program: Lensrentals is pleased that our friends at SuperdigitalCity have made a special offer for our customers renting this item and considering purchase. Simply email a copy of your Lensrentals receipt to SuperdigitalCity and they will email you back a coupon code good for $85 off of the purchase of the Sigma 50-500 lens.

Filter Size

95mm (nonrotating front element)

Aperture

f4-22

Length

8.6” (12" extended)

Diameter

4.1”

Weight

4.3 lb (with tripod collar)

Hood

Included, no part #

Minimum Focusing Distance

5.9 feet

Maximum Magnification

.19x

Angle of view: (full frame)

47 to 5 degrees

Zoom method

Barrel extend (nonrotating front element)

Image Stabilization

4 Stop, with panning mode

Focusing System

AF-M switch, USM motor, nonrotating front element,

Aperture Blades

9, round

Max Aperture@focal length

f/4.5<55mm; f/5@55-100mm;f/5.6@100-220mm; f6.3>220mm

Groups/Elements

6/22

Low Dispersion Elements

4

Aspherical Elements

0

Weather Resistant

No

Flare resistance

None

System

Nikon F

Compatibility

DX, FX

Autofocus

Yes

Links

• Review Photo.net
• Review Bob Atkins

Diagrams

LensRentals.com offers rentals ranging in length from 4 to 90 days. The shopping cart will automatically update the quoted price as you adjust the length of your rental. Our most common rental periods are shown below:

LensRentals.com ships via the appropriate FedEx service necessary to have your rental arrive on the date selected. Return shipping is included in the shipping price, and we include a prepaid return label with your order - all you need to do is bring it to a FedEx drop-off location when your rental is complete. If you prefer UPS shipping, you can select it during the checkout process for about 10% more.

Shipping round trip to

FedEx 2Day

Calculating Shipping

FedEx Standard Overnight

Calculating Shipping

The shopping cart can automatically quote shipping, even for multi-item and oversize orders. Shipping multiple items together offers a significant savings over shipping them individually.