Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 DG DN OS Sports Lens (L-Mount)

I am going to be fully honest, I am not the most knowledgeable with lens tech, however I have been using a full frame camera and a 70-200mm f/2.8 for quite some time. Specifically, I had been using a Canon 5D Mark IV with it's 70-200mm lens. I always enjoyed getting pictures with it, but this new system I have with this Sigma lens and the Sony A7IV is already much better. I definitely recommend this lens, however do not use my review as a defining decision in buying it. Do your research, however I do not think you will be disappointed in this lens if you do choose to buy it.

After watching so many reviews, I decided to give the sigma 70 3200 F2.8 a try and see how good it was. Now I rented the Sony 70 3200 GMii last year for a month and I was truly impressed with it. But it was just out of my budget. And when sigma released their new 70 3200 I was really excited because I have purchased and use a bunch of sigma lenses. And Sigma, Did not disappoint with this lens. Like lenses I put them to the test and I am really tough critic when it comes to lenses. But the first thing I noticed when I opened up the box for the first time was this lens isn 9t as heavy as I was expecting. It is extremely well built. Some people don 9t like the lens hood, but I have the sigma 105 mm F1.4 art lens. so I 9m used to the screw on lens hood cause it don 9t rattle like other lenses do and it solid. Another thing I saw in reviews that the lens hood covered half of the Zoomerang. That is so untrue. It does not even cover one quarter of an inch of the zoom ring that 9s it not half the zoom ring. So let 9s get that out of there. Now for the performance of this lens, it 9s gonna blow you away. Taking portraits it has yet to miss focus on my Sony A7RV and A7iv. The focus motors are blazing fast. It finds the clients eyes and its razor sharp. I thought the sharpest lens I have used was the Sony 135 mm GM. This is just as sharp as it. My favorite part is the lens stabilization. It is probably the best lens stabilization I have used on any lens. I can take razor, sharp, handheld shots all the way down to 1/5th shutter speed and I 9ve only used it in one setting on the switch. I do love that it has an aperture ring but I like that it has a lock for it. On other lenses that have aperture rings I can 9t count how many times I back accidentally hit it and it 9s at F22. I have yet to program any of the buttons on the side of the lens. But it has multiple buttons. And the lens collar is nice that it takes less than a quarter of a turn and you can rotate the lens collar and it has stops on it to go vertical or into landscape, which is really nice. So I also tried this lens at one of the ATV woods races I take photos at and I took over 12,000 photos with it and most of the photos that didn 9t nail focus was due to so much dust The ATVs were kicking up. You could barely see the rider. But I would say out of the sum that did not nail focus. It was because I didn 9t have my shutter speed over 1/2000 Because some of those ATVs were going by pretty fast so I would say I had over at 95% hit rate. I am very happy with that. And those were taking on my Sony A9 in medium burst rate.. I know it don 9t get the full access to Sony frames per second. It only goes to 15 frames per second and I am completely fine with that for my needs some people that is something that will completely keep them from buying this lens, but we 9re not all sports photographers, I do have portrait, photography, business, and sports photography business but 15 frames second is just fine for my needs. I have been really impressed with sigma and their lenses. They have been coming out within the past two years. I had their sigma 105 mm F1.4 that really got me hooked on sigma. Then I picked up their 85 mm F1.4 DG DN which really showed me what a sharp lens really is. The I picked up their 28-70 f2.8 DG DN and for how small and light it is. I knew their new 70-200 was exactly what I needed. Here are a few sample photos I included.

Spent weeks researching this lens compared to the Lumix 70-200 f4 and f2.8. You can't go wrong with this lens for l mount. Unless the weight is a deal breaker then consider the f4. I knew I'd regret the f4 eventually since I enjoy shooting basketball and indoor candids.

I bought this lens and the Panasonic S pro 70-200 f/2.8 for comparison, which are the only two options for constant f/2.8 tele-zoom (I don't consider the Leica 90-280mm f/2.8-4 as comparable to these two). Pros of the Sigma: 1. Lighter and smaller. I used both lenses most of the time w/o the tripod mount and lens hood. The Sigma is noticeably lighter than the Panasonic and I can hold the Sigma for much longer than the Panasonic. I wish the tripod collar can be removed to save even more weight. 2. It's sharper than the Panasonic. The difference in the image center is noticeable although not super huge, but in the mid-frame and corner Sigma wins handsdown. Sigma also has much less CA. Maybe I was just unlucky to get a bad copy of the Panasonic and lucky to get a good copy of the Sigma, but for my sample size of 2, Sigma is clearly the winner in sharpness. 3. Build quality. Sigma feels a more solid build in my hands. All parts are put together very precisely. The zoom ring on the Sigma turns super smoothly. The panasonic's zoom ring feels not as smooth, and slight wobbles when I rock it from side to side. Cons of Sigma: 1. When I attach the lens to the S5 II body and turn the camera on, I notice the Sigma seems to take a bit longer time to boot up than the Panasonic before I can start shooting. This may be something Sigma can fix in future firmware update? 2. The placement of the zoom ring near the end of the lens may be a deal breaker for some, but for me not a problem. In fact it feels quite natural to me. It took me sometime to adjust to the opposite turning direction of the zoom ring though. 3. The AF occasionally can make a bit of sound, but this was only audible when pulling from infinity to near focus in a very rapid fashion. Again, could be further optimized in firmware update. Even if not, no big deal. 4. The panasonic has slightly better bokeh in some very demanding scenes, and the Sigma has slightly swirly bokeh. Overall, I think the Sigma is the better choice of the two. Panasonic really need to update their S pro lenses to incorporate more morden designs to remain competitive.

I wanted to pity this lens through a few test before giving it a review, specifically in a sports setting as that is where this lens will be most utilized for me. The lens is very well made, the controls are very nice, and while the location of the zoom ring accompanied with the hood is a bit awkward you do get used to it and it's certainly not a deal breaker for me. Image quality is very sharp and focus is fast and mostly accurate. I would say the lens really reminds me of the image quality on the first version GM from Sony. It is important to understand that when shooting sports, using a wide area with face/eye tracking is going to give you disappointing results. My preferred method with any 70-200 lens is to use manual spot focus with tracking off using the joystick to guide my focus point. In doing so with this lens I have had great results. As far as action goes so far I have shot some softball, the dogs running around and some portraits. For me the price accompanied with the quality make this a 5 star lens.

It is entirely possible that I am just a pathetic weakling, but my biggest issue with this lens is that dang zoom ring. The position out in front, coupled with the stiffness of the ring, made it very difficult to hold the lens traditionally (i.e. supporting the lens from the bottom) while operating the zoom ring. I ended up having to reverse my grip (thumb on the bottom, index and ring finger on the top) to be able to operate the zoom ring. If it was less stiff, or simply swapped with the focus ring, it would be significantly easier to operate. That said, the lens did seem to have excellent image quality and AF performance.

I've been shooting versions of 70 3200 F2 .8 lenses for over 20 years. I am a full time working professional and use them for events, performance, such as theater and orchestral, weddings, and portraiture. Most recently it's been with the Sony variant and I've been very happy with it. This new sigma impresses me in every way. It performs, as well as or better than the Sony it replaces. I anticipate that it will be more rugged in the long-term since my Sony version required structural repair only about three years in. I am super happy. Focus is blazingly fast and totally silent and I really enjoy the built-in Arca Swiss plate. Everybody should do that.