Sigma 150-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM Lens for Nikon Mount

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Very well pleased with this lens. It works well on my D-200. I've experienced no hesitation with the VR as I have read in other reviews. Also very little focus searching. I have taken some excellent bird pics with this lens. With any long lens you have to be careful with the auto-focus. It will focus where you point it but that may not be the best choice so I use the manual focus ring to touch up the focus. The ring is nicely placed right under where you balance the lens which makes it easy to use.

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According to various magazines, including one dedicated for Nikon, this lens is sharp (sharper than Nikon 80-400mm VRII), and I needed zoom lens for taking picture of birds. So I decided to use all my tax refund savings on this lens. The lens came with a big case, tripod collar, big lens hood, and Sigma UV filter (thank you Abe's of Maine for the free filter). The Lens is big and heavy, but not so heavy that I have no issue shooting 500mm handheld. The built in Optical Stabilization works very well, so under day light, no issue hand shooting lens/camera. The picture are very sharp through out the zoom range, but a bit soft at 500mm. Autofocus was fairly fast, but I don't think it's fast enough for shooting fast paced sporting events. The manual focus ring works in conjunction to autofocus, and I really like this feature - won't lock the focus ring even in autofocus mode (I heard Canon 3D MarkII has this feature built in the camera). Bokeh is very good. You'll never happy with the zoom range and will always want more. Although 500mm gives you pretty good zoom power, I tested with 2X Kenko teleconverter. I shoot some birds and the moon. It is SHARP! For the moon shots, I could hardly see chromatic aberration. The zoom is amazing and picture quality is better than attaching my Nikon to 90mm refractor telescope or 150mm Newtonian telescope via T-Mount. I also shoot at LAX from about 1.5 miles away from my office building using the lens and 2X teleconveter. I was brown away to see numbers and letters on a sign of the building which looks small dot in 35mm lens. The lens barrel was stiff at first so it did not creep, but after a couple of weeks of use, it started to creep. There is lens lock switch to lock the barrel. I really like the lens and you get more bang for the buck than Sigma 50-500 (Bigma) or Nikon 50-400mm VR II.

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I use it on my travels to different places and to photograph people in their natural setting...

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This is so much better than an old f8 500mm mirror lens that I owned. I shot a bunch of pictures at my daughter's school concert and they were remarkably good. The only negative is that the zoom ring goes the 'wrong' way -- i.e. it is opposite to other nikon lenses. Oh, and it is heavy, but does balance nicely on the tripod adapter.

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Used this lens on Nikon d90 for taking pictures of surfers. They came out sharp and the color was accurate. I did not have any of the problems people complained about. I hope to find a camera bag to use that I can fit all my stuff and this lens that isnt a giant bag.

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My primary interest in this lens was long distance bird (and other wildlife) photography. I use it only mounted firmly on a heavy tripod, and was able to focus sharply on the eyes of cranes at quite a distance, for sharpness on subject and with blurred background. At the extreme of 500mm at a long distance, it takes some getting used to, but a comparable Nikon lens was not in my budget. Using the 500mm on closer creatures was much easier to focus and more quickly. The lens takes some getting used to, but is a good value for the money.

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I have taken some great photos with it so far. Also some very bad photos. Tough getting sharp focus unless there is tons of light. At least with digital you can take a lot of shots at varying ranges. That's the secret. Only show off the two or three great clicks out of the five hundred.

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I use the Sigma OS 150 - 500 mm lens with a Nikon D300. It focuses very quickly and permits me to photograph birds in flight with reasonable focus and panning techniques. I set the D300 to aperature mode to try keep the aperature between f8 - f16 and achieve at least a 200 or faster shutter speed with ISO 800. Although there is a slight buzz when the OS kicks in, it is not objectionable and actually is comforting to know the OS is engaged. Although it has great reach, I have learned not to expect great results if the subject does not fill most of the frame with the Sigma or any other lens; however, the image even at very great distances (subject smaller than the point focus box) provides good enough results to identify the bird. There is no lens creep in any position, but the lens is new. The lens is heavy but not unreasonable. For the price I could not find a comparable. I previously used a 400 mm variable without OS at comparable cost. The Sigma is many times better. Overall I am very enthusiastic about the lens.

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I haven't gotten to try this lens out at night or for a fast moving sports event yet, but it worked great for sharp close-ups of flowers in my backyard. I even shot a picture of the quarter moon that turned out impressive, considering you could see the mountains and valleys on the moon!! CAN'T WAIT TO USE THIS LENS MORE AND REALLY PUT IT TO THE TEST!!!

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I actually tried to use this on an assignment and found it too powerful. Having the option to zoom in close is a great tool. This is a long lens that will magnify any shake, so I recommend having a monopod to help steady the image, even though this has image stabilzation.

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Performs well with my D300. I love this piece.

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Works very well for distance compression when shooting landscape at 500mm, with all distances in sharp focus. Must stop down to f-11 for good results. On a bright day, the 86mm bell gathers enough light for shots at 1/30 to 1/60 sec f-11 at ISO 400. The OS helps reduce any shake. Can be used off hand at f6.3 ISO 400 with good results. Not unbearable to hold or carry. No cons as it isn't a $4000.00 lens and excells for the price.

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Used this lens to photograph soccer. It give me an excellent reach throughout the field with very consistent high image quality. So far very happy with it

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[...] Anyway I'm very happy with my purchase, I'm a beginner in Photography, I use my Sigma 150-500 lens primarily for sports events, air shows and wildlife photography. The focus is very fast and my pics are absolutely fantastic quality. I have taken several pics with the Image Stabilization (IS) and it works very well hand held. Everyone says its heavy, but I knew that before purchasing it, but it is not too heavy to use hand held for me anyway, I do have a monopod I use when I'm at one place for an extended time, or need a steady shot without using the IS. I did have a salesman call me at home and sold me a UV filter at a 50% discount, but I needed that as well. Overall I was very impressed by the service and the product and will not hesitate to purchase from Abes in the future

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This lens does not focus well at all-and the resulting photo's are "muddy"-no crispness to them. I have a Nikon D60 with a 300mm Nikon lens that is "lightyears" beyond this Sigma Lens.I'm very disappointed.