Sigma 135-400mm F4.5-5.6 APO Aspherical Lens for Minolta-AF Camera

Rating:
Summary: Solid Performer
Review: I got this lense primarily to cover football and baseball. For action photography, it's a solid performer and an excellent value with a couple of drawbacks.

Quality of construction (5.0 out of 5.0) Very high. Sigma EX lenses are made much more sturdily than typical consumer-grade lenses. It has a sturdy metal housing with an attractive matte black finish that resists scratching.

Sharpness (3.5) It's pretty sharp at 400mm, with just a hint of softness. Comparable to other zooms at that length. For action shots it's fine, but it was a bit disappointing when I used it to photograph waterfowl at maximum zoom. (Most serious photographers use a regular telephoto lense rather than a zoom lense for bird photography.)

Color (4.5) Colors are rich and natural. No sign of flare.

Distortion (3.5) Despite the fact that this is an APO lense, there is some distortion, slight but noticable, at the edge of the frame when you blow up the pictures to 8x10. At smaller print sizes, it is not noticable.

Autofocus (2.5) The lense's biggest drawback is its relatively slow autofocus speed. When photographing sports, I get around this problem by prefocusing on a spot in advance and using focus lock. As a result I miss unexpected developments more often than when I use my faster-focusing Minolta 85-300. On the other hand, this lense gets you a lot closer than the 85-300 and the image quality is better.

Speed (aperture) (3.0) Well, this isn't a pro lense, so you aren't going to find wide-open f-2.8 apertures, but then again, such lenses start at several thousand dollars. If you're shooting film, modern high-speed film has advanced to the point where you can get by without a really fast lense--in bright sunlight, at least. I typically shoot sports with Fujicolor Superia 400 and Fuji NPZ 800 color negative film and Fuji Provia 400 slide film. On a bright day you can shoot any of these films at f-8 with this lense and be able to use shutter speeds of 1/500 to 1/1000. On an overcast day I'll use NPZ 800 and still be able to shoot at 1/350 - 1/500 at f-8, and you can always stop down to f-6.3 if you need to get a shorter exposure. All three films are fine-grained enough to blow up to 8X10 with no problem.

On the other hand, if you're shooting digital, you are going to have to decide if the tradeoff in noise at ISO 400 is acceptable.

Ease of use (2.5) This is a big, heavy lense. It comes with a tripod collar and I recommend using it whenever possible.

Value (4.5) Comparable lenses from the Canon, Nikon and Minolta cost nearly double this lense, so the price is right.

Overall: 4.0 (price dependent) 3.0 (price independent)

Rating:
Summary: Solid Performer
Review: I got this lense primarily to cover football and baseball. For action photography, it's a solid performer and an excellent value with a couple of drawbacks.

Quality of construction (5.0 out of 5.0) Very high. Sigma EX lenses are made much more sturdily than typical consumer-grade lenses. It has a sturdy metal housing with an attractive matte black finish that resists scratching.

Sharpness (3.5) It's pretty sharp at 400mm, with just a hint of softness. Comparable to other zooms at that length. For action shots it's fine, but it was a bit disappointing when I used it to photograph waterfowl at maximum zoom. (Most serious photographers use a regular telephoto lense rather than a zoom lense for bird photography.)

Color (4.5) Colors are rich and natural. No sign of flare.

Distortion (3.5) Despite the fact that this is an APO lense, there is some distortion, slight but noticable, at the edge of the frame when you blow up the pictures to 8x10. At smaller print sizes, it is not noticable.

Autofocus (2.5) The lense's biggest drawback is its relatively slow autofocus speed. When photographing sports, I get around this problem by prefocusing on a spot in advance and using focus lock. As a result I miss unexpected developments more often than when I use my faster-focusing Minolta 85-300. On the other hand, this lense gets you a lot closer than the 85-300 and the image quality is better.

Speed (aperture) (3.0) Well, this isn't a pro lense, so you aren't going to find wide-open f-2.8 apertures, but then again, such lenses start at several thousand dollars. If you're shooting film, modern high-speed film has advanced to the point where you can get by without a really fast lense--in bright sunlight, at least. I typically shoot sports with Fujicolor Superia 400 and Fuji NPZ 800 color negative film and Fuji Provia 400 slide film. On a bright day you can shoot any of these films at f-8 with this lense and be able to use shutter speeds of 1/500 to 1/1000. On an overcast day I'll use NPZ 800 and still be able to shoot at 1/350 - 1/500 at f-8, and you can always stop down to f-6.3 if you need to get a shorter exposure. All three films are fine-grained enough to blow up to 8X10 with no problem.

On the other hand, if you're shooting digital, you are going to have to decide if the tradeoff in noise at ISO 400 is acceptable.

Ease of use (2.5) This is a big, heavy lense. It comes with a tripod collar and I recommend using it whenever possible.

Value (4.5) Comparable lenses from the Canon, Nikon and Minolta cost nearly double this lense, so the price is right.

Overall: 4.0 (price dependent) 3.0 (price independent)