Sigma 150-600mm 5-6.3 Contemporary DG OS HSM Lens for Nikon

I'm totally amazed with the way this lens shoots, both with the matched Sigma 1.4 Teleconverter and without... The highly rated 1.4 Teleconverter is also worth every penny, and takes 'No' sharpness away, I also believe only adds to it. Auto focus worked perfect also with the TC and is so fast.I'm using this wonderful lens mounted on my new beloved Nikon Z6 Mk2 full frame Mirrorless camera for both wildlife and astrophotography, including quite a bit of deep-sky work... The lens and camera are mounted on a gimbal equipped heavy-duty tripod I used in my Photography business for 14 years.After reading everything I could on this Sigma 150-600 Contemporary lens, I also read so many who compared the sharpness of this C lens very close, and even equal in several cases to the 1lb heavier Sport lens which also costs $1k more... The S lens is probably a tiny bit sharper with it's extra glass group but for a grand more and a pound heavier this Lens has totally amazed me.I've intended for 2 years to finally purchase a high-quality Telescope and GoTo Equatorial tracking mount but simply haven't been able to chose which type, so this Samsung 150\210mm to 600\850mm (with 1.4 Teleconverter) lens has been perfect for the interim.Zooms traditionally being a bit soft wide open, as well as at the full zoom position are well known compared to Prime lenses and individual lenses each have their own personality for sweet spots... With this in mind I truly believe I've purchased a very fine piece... I can only pray they are all coming out of manufacturing with this great quality.As many have attested my lens is a tiny bit soft at 150mm yet still very acceptable, but from there out to 600\850mm its razor sharp... I've found f9 to be it's sweet spot, but f11 out to f40 are almost just as sharp, it's very close all the way including out to 850mm.One of the images I'll add shows two bucks measured on Google Earth at 3\4 mile and was shot at 850mm with the matching 1.4 Sigma Teleconverter.. The heat distortion was huge considering it was shot off my car hood last week at our record 16°. The image is a bit fuzzy but considering it was shot hand held off my car hood at 3\4 mile with so much heat distortion and 850mm I was impressed. I'll add a couple others as well.This lens is an amazing accomplishment for Sigma and is well worth every penny.

I needed a long lens for wildlife in Yellowstone and this turned out to be perfect. It’s sharp and not too heavy. I’m glad I didn’t opt for the more expensive version. A great investment for my needs.

This lens is incredible for the price. I originally bought the 100-400mm Sigma, which I understand is pretty much the same as this lens other than size/reach, and that lens was really good, but I think this one is a bit sharper. The reason I upgraded was because I loved the 400mm reach and got addicted to it, and figured 600 was better than 400, right?? I will say that this is quite a bit bigger and heavier than the 100-400mm version (twice the weight). Your forearm WILL get tired of you handhold this for too long, but it’s bearable. The autofocus on this is a little slower than the 100-400mm, and it seems to hunt more - but it’s possible it’s because the extra reach compresses the scene more (that’s just a guess, I don’t know if that’s actually how it works). Costwise it’s not much more than the 100-400, so I would base your decision on whether you’re okay with the extra size and weight. I could fit the 100-400 in my camera bag just fine with the hood and camera attached, but I had to upgrade my bag for this. That said, the reach is AWESOME, coming from a 200mm. I’m using it on a Nikon D7500, giving an effective 900mm telephoto reach. The construction of the lens seems very high quality and solid. I couldn’t be happier. The one down side of this lens (and it is a big down side) is that it’s awful in low light. It’s completely fine in daylight, but in shade you’ll be using pretty high ISO to have even a chance at a good shot. On a cloudy day in the shade, you’ll have trouble even at high ISOs. Lastly, I tried this on my old Nikon D5000, which doesn’t do well at higher than 400 ISO, and it was unusable in anything other than bright daylight, so I might not buy this if you have an old camera. That said, if you want anything even close to this kind of reach in a faster lens, you’ll pay 10-20x the price of this, so take that for what it’s worth. There always trade offs. For the price this is an insanely great lens.