SIGMA’s new 500mm F/5.6 DG DN OS | Sports lens appears to be the ideal compromise between reach, speed and size. The ultra-telephoto prime lens is made for mirrorless cameras with L-Mount and Sony E-mount.
The E-mount version is 236.6mm long, weighs just 1,365 grams and it’s priced at US $2,999.99.
When you look at the side-by-side comparison with the 500mm F4 DG OS HSM | Sports for DSLRs, you quickly appreciate the work SIGMA’s done to keep the mirrorless F/5.6 version small and light.
SIMGA was able to do this by incorporating multiple large-diameter, exclusive low-dispersion glass elements that are challenging to process, SIGMA succeeded in significantly downsizing the lens construction without the use of diffractive optical elements.
The great thing from the sample images and video I’ve seen is the lens delivers on its promise.
The lens body is made mostly of high-precision engineering plastic parts with weather resistance, including dust and splash resistant structure.
A linear motor HLA (High-response Linear Actuator) is used for the actuator. The HLA enables fast and accurate autofocus for sports and birds.
As a Sony video shooter I’m especially keen to see how it performs on the A7S III.
But with so many zoom options why even consider this lens? I guess that would have to do with performance. Early reports suggest its fast autofocus is hard to beat on Sony cameras and that speaks to me. But you won’t get those insane shots per second a G-Master delivers. You’ll be limited to 15 frames-per-second.
I think this lens is for photographers who need quality, sharpness and ultra portability when shooting sport and wildlife at a distance. Because you are locked in to 500mm.