Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3 DG DN: Four Years Later, The Beast from the East Goes Native (Mirrorless)

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FULL EDIT SUITE

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[EELinneman]

Hugh, as a landscape photographer, I often get my most meaningful pictures in bad weather. Stripping out many of the visible elements shooting in fog is similar to black & white vs. color. It removes distractions and narrows the visual focus. I think your bad weather pictures you showed are a great example of this.

[larbueno]

Hugh is such an intelligent guy. I love his voice, rhythm and pace of his descriptions. I'm dumbfounded by his ability to spout out various lens and camera stats the way I stumble out, "You said what?".

[thomaschamberlin]

The use case that immediately came to mind was Africa, where you are confined to a vehicle and shoot everything from elephants to small birds.

[karlrichards]

I saw that little twinkle when you mentioned the micro 4 thirds option. It is a beauty to carry all day.

[angeloplayforone]

I like how you discuss a product from different style of photography and videography and compare the product to others. I like this very much, many does not, but I do. When somebody wants to buy the product they also compare it to other offerings.

[DavidLong-ejnd]

I tell you I'm such a camera geek I understand all those numbers such a joy to listen to.

[theclifbar]

Oddly, it's also the perfect "around the house" lens as you can catch moments indoors and also instantly nab that animal/bird doing something ridiculous out the door or window. I was surprised by that use case. I use it on the Nikon Z8 (using Megadap v2 pro adapter) and A7CR and got it based partially on your reviews, Frost's, and my in-store pre-purchase testing. As you mentioned, it's perfect for safaris, whale watching, and shooting in highly inclement conditions (ocean spray, rain, sand, dust) where a lens change might spell doom for fragile sensors and IBIS mechanisms.

It's indeed ridiculously sharp and a thrilling lens to use due to the zoom factor and incredibly fast autofocus and image stabilization. Not so thrilling to haul around, but it's not like the 200-600mm competitors are featherweight. It weighs 380 grams more than the Sony G 200-600mm; both are great from an image quality standpoint. 380 grams isn't zero, but it's not a lot; a fast 50mm or a f/2.8 24-70mm weighs 2-3x more. For artistic photographers needing the resolution/sharpness, I see it as having little downside vs the 200-600mm besides the 380 grams and both are about the same price. You're right that a photojournalist just looking to send over the wire might be better served by a m4/3 system due to FF's sheer bulk.

[KeithSklower]

I got the older EF sigma 60-600 lens for video-recording classical choral concerts from the back of the recital hall on the UC Berkeley campus. At times I do want to include all 200 singers, but at others I want to zoom in tight on the a soloist or two standing next to the conductor. Shooting with a panasonic S1, I got much lovelier images than I think I would ever get with a smaller sensor camera or camcorder. You might call this "Event" videography, but the demands are different than take stills of a rock concert.

[robert_may]

Loved your thoughts on this! Weirdly I probably am the target audience for this: a wildlife photographer who also takes landscape shots. For my local area landscapes are nearly always a 70-200mm job, but wildlife here is 99% small birds so you also need a 600mm.

I previously had the Sigma 150-600mm and the weight is manageable, if not super lovely 😅 Definitely needs a battery grip to balance it and bring the weight back towards the body.

[udow.]

I absolutely love my light weight APS-C setup: Sony A6600 with SEL 70–350 mm and below 1200 g :)

[frankfountain]

Another magnificent review, Hugh! I've just watched five reviews of this lens, and yours is the most informative, insightful and helpful. Thank you!

[larbueno]

Why would a bird photographer want the 60mm part of this lens? To show the habitat of that bird. An integral part of a wildlife photographer or filmmaker's (me) storytelling ability is to show where that creature does it's thing, to get away from that stunning close-up and zoom out to the bigger picture.

Recently I was filming wild horses in the greater Phoenix area using the Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary on my GH6. I was getting wonderful shots of the males in full humpster mode attempting to mount females...sometimes successfully, other times not and occasionally getting kicked in the face trying. A few times a small group of 2-5 horses would run near me and I'd zoom out to 150mm, but it was still too tight a shot and their legs were "cropped" out of the image. I've since bought this 60-600 lens with the older Canon EF mount and if I'd had it a couple weeks ago, would've gotten even better shots than I was able to with the limited 150-600 range. 

Long story short, having more wide end for wildlife shooters means telling more of the surrounding story and not just the specifics of the creature.


As always, Hugh. Great stuff from you.

[RichardStroffolino]

Definitely nailed it when you said parents. I have my "dad lens" for my Fuji kit, the 55-200, and it's just about perfect for kids sports, but I wish it went longer and wider at times. I definitely want a camera I can swap lenses on, just not during a baseball or soccer game, then I just want one lens the whole time so I can focus on my kids. Reason I don't go with a fixed 1-inch camera is I do want the versatility of faster primes when I'm shooting in any other situation. Been eyeing the Panasonic S5ii (not having IBIS on my X-T30 is getting real old) and this is very tempting for kids sports, albeit it'd be an expensive and heavy upgrade compared to my Fuji kit.

[houserhythm]

Considering how crap the AF speed was on all Sigmas until this new linear motor, this (while not ideal) is THE fast wildlife and/or bird in flight lens that can keep up with the new PDAF of the S5 II, especially since you can also attach a TC on L-mount, while you can't on E-mount.

[Lifetogo]

Thank you for the great video.
What camera backpack can you recommend for a larger setup like S5 II or EOS R6 with 60-600mm + second body + 24-70mm and maybe 50mm lenses?
On top batteries, filters and a dji mini 3 drone would be awesome.

[theusbadenhorst]

I love listening to you. Soes the a7R5 maintain its 10fps at compressed raw with this lens

[LoFiAxolotl]

i don't shoot sports anymore.... but there is an argument to be made if you're the photographer for a small club and don't have the 5 figure budget for a long prime and something wide for team shots and a 50/85 for portraits that the 60-600 pretty much covers all your bases... i see it as a pro lens for pros with limited budget

[angeloplayforone]

Good to made a review from this lens from street photographer. Funny seeing all this buildings. Great covering this lens from different photographers. Your conclusion that this lens suitable is for Safari.

[ExploreTravelTV]

wow, great info. I just bought this, it is on the way but now I wondering about keeping it. lol. Mostly got it for an Alaska cruise to try and get whales and other wildlife on excursions. hmm...I do some event where some range would or could be nice too. But probably wouldn't use it much, I should just rent one if it is available for rental for the trip in May. hmmm...my longest now is 24-70 sigma.

[steveborghardt]

I own the older version of this lens and use it on my Nikon D850 - as a nature photographer (not just wildlife but also landscapes) I'll typically carry this along with my Sigma 14-24mm in my sweatshirt pocket for easy access when I want a wider angle landscape shot without having to drop my backpack and unzip the bag just to capture a landscape shot while I'm out. The one aspect you failed to mention is the ability to take macro shots with this lens using the focus limiter - While not as good as my Nikon 200mm f4 micro, the 60-600mm still take very usable close in shots. As I live close to NYC I don't think I would ever use this for street photography - for that I would either use my Nikon 70-200mm E or a better choice would be my Fuji X-T4 with the 18-55mm and 10-24mm. Thanks for the interesting review.