500mm focal length is great at this price.
HSM focusing motor is VERY quiet and responsive, and allows manual focus override.

Bayonnet hood prevents turning polarizing filter.
f 5.6 would be nicer
In single-servo AF mode, lens tends to fail to "lock-on".

Wow. Very sharp at 500mm. My first 5 rolls of KR-64 looked great. Tripod is pretty much mandatory here, as if you didn't know that. The tripod collar is large and contoured to fit your fingers, which was very nice. It's better priced than anything in this focal length, although I think the 10X range is overkill. Still, set this puppy up on your tripod and just shoot, baby!

Customer Service

not needed

Similar Products Used:

Tamron 28-300 APO
Sigma 800 f5.6 HSM

Very good sharpness and contrast for the long zoom range. Quite focus, solid build, versatile tripod mount.

Lockout at 100mm needed to prevent damage to teleconverter and lens. Big and heavy. Gets waaaay long when zoomed to 500mm. Quite a bit of pincusion distortion. Mildy disco metal flake paint.

Boy, there are a bunch of glowing reviews for this lens. I bought the 50-500 to improve upon the performance of my 70-300 ED Nikkor with teleconverters. This lens does the job with very good performance, especially when stopped down to f/16 or so. Given enough light, the AF is fast and quiet. This lens really wants a 400 ISO film. Tripod mounting is almost mandatory unless you're shooting in bright daylight.

The 50mm low end is frankly kind of stupid (sorry, I mean "marketing"). If you have to lug this beast around, you'd better be shooting a lot between 300 and 500mm. Sure, the lens is supposed to be sharpest near 50mm, but who in their right mind uses a 4lb. 50mm lens? If Sigma had held to 100mm, the lockout to prevent damage when you're using a teleconverter wouldn't be a concern.

For $900, my lens was bundled with the Sigma APO 2X teleconverter. Results with the converter are not very good. The converter itself has electrical contacts, but no mechanical AF linkage that would make it useful with other lenses. I may still move from this lens to the 80-400 VR Nikkor, but not until I've had a chance to see the VR lens in person. At $900, the Sigma is a good value considering what kinds of prices lenses in the long tele range sell for. Considering what Sigma has tried to do, the optical performance is quite good. Mine's not the stunning performer that some other reviews have claimed and it's not fast enough to make shooting very easy at longer tele lengths. VR and IS technology may well be a better option (even at a higher cost) for stretching the performance of slow, compact long tele zooms.

Customer Service

Hope I won't have to use it.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon zoom with teleconverters.

Zoom Range
Zoom Lock
Sharpness at all Ranges
Lens Hood
Collar

Heavy Weight
86mm Filter Sizes are $$
2x converter not compatible under 100mm
probably should be 100-500

This is a great lens and a good alternative to the $$ Canon and Nikon lenses. Quick autofocus. Will start a conversation immediately as mine did the first time I used it while photographing in the hills overlooking Sarajevo

Customer Service

So Far so good

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 17-35
Canon 28-135 IS
Canon 75-300 IS
Canon 50mm 1.4

The zoom range.
The images are sharp.
The focus speed is fast.
You can use this for all kinds off photography.

Look like at big pipe when out at 500mm, but thats no big problem. Filters are a bit $$$$.

This is a great lens for sports, i also use the 70-200, and now i use the 50-500 for those long tele shots. USe this lens for all kinds of sport. But mostly for motorsports. It's great for speedway, DTC carraces and so on.
It's too heavy for me to handhold sometimes. So i use a monopod. And i don't think it's a problem.
GO GET THIS LENS. IT GREAT.

Customer Service

No, but it's not good i Denmark. Takes over 3 weeks. You have too call them everyday too get it after a week.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 35-350 L
Canon 100-400 L

Zoom range
Price
Eliminates need for multiple lenses
Great photos

Weight
Stiff zoom

Bought this lense locally because for $30.00 more I got a ten year warranty. Have taken many rolls of 100-800 speed print film with excellent results. I prefer to use Kodak E200 and have with excellent results. I have even taken pictures of a blue heron at 1/6 second at f6.3 with a Bogen 3205 (light) tripod. It was perfectly clear. The lens collar is also excellent. I get better pictures with this lens than I do with my Nikon 80-200 with Kenko 300 Pro doubler (at 400mm). Excellent considering the next pricepoint for a 500mm lens is also a Sigma (500 f4.5) at about $3300.00.

Customer Service

N/a

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 70-300 4.0-5.6
Nikon 80-200 2.8
Various others