Today we are taking a look at one of the most interesting lenses announced by Sigma in recent years and the first E-mount AF prime long telephoto lens from a third-party manufacturer – the Sigma 500mm F5.6 DG DN OS Sport lens.
A quick background. Nikon came up with its PF (Phase Fresnel) series of lenses way back in 2015 with the 500mm f/5.6 PF release in 2018. This series of prime lenses was truly the first time that a modern AF prime long telephoto lens came out that was both compact, lightweight, and fairly affordable for those who can’t splurge or don’t want to carry the large professional f/4 glass.
While Nikon continued to evolve its PF line (including the Z-mount version – the NIKKOR Z 600mm f/6.3 in 2023), Canon seemed to opt for a different approach with very slow but inexpensive lenses like the RF 600mm F11 IS STM while Sony didn’t produce any long telephoto prime lenses at the 500 mm/sub $5K mark, leaving the door open for third-party makers.
Special thanks to our colleague wildlife and nature photographer Matan Sharon for his help on this video
you can find more from Matan on Matanwildphotography.com
The Sigma 500mm f/5.6 DG DN Sports lens
Optical Design
The lens has a complex optical design with 20 Elements in 14 Groups including three FLD elements and two SLD elements.
Materials
According to Sigma, the lens is made from TSC (composite material) and magnesium giving it a light and strong construction.
Size and weight
The lens has a strange shape to it with a long narrow flat part close to the lens and a much wider front. Without the hood it is quite compact at only 23cm or around 9″ long and is surprisingly light at 1.4kg or 48oz which is very light however most of the weight of the lens is in the front so keep this in mind when using the lens.
Comparing the Sigma 500mm f/5.6 (center) to the Sony 600mm f/4 (left) and the Sony 100-400mm (right)
Rings
The lens has two rings, both are close to the front of the lens. A wide focus ring and a very narrow aperture ring in the front.
Both rings are smooth, the aperture ring more than the wide focus ring but the last one also has a click mode. The friction of the focus ring is good but for our small hands, the ring itself is a little too far from the camera making holding the lens less comfortable.
Buttons and switches
As you would expect from such a lens Sigma included quite a few buttons and switches.
Close to the camera you have 4 switches: a focus mode switch (AF/MF), a focus limiter switch (full, 10m-infinity and 3.2-10m), an image stabilization switch with 3 modes (off, 1 for general use and 2 for motor sports) and a custom mode switch with 3 modes (off, C1 and C2) which will only relevant for the L mount version (with the Sigma USB dock).
The lens has no less than 3 programable AFL buttons, all located in the front. On the front, there is also a lock switch for the aperture ring as well as a de-click switch.
All the buttons and switches you want
Sealing
According to Sigma, the lens has a dust and splash-resistant structure with a special water and oil-repellent coating.
Mount
The lens comes at the moment in an L and an E mount. The L mount supports Sigma’s extenders while the E-mount does not support extenders due to Sony’s limitation which also applies to the maximum shooting speed with the lens which is restricted by Sony to 15fps.
Hood
The lens comes with a very well-made 8.5cm (or just under 3.5″) deep hood that has a lock on the side and rubber on the front for better grip and protection when putting the lens straight down on a surface – very useful.
Aperture
The lens has 11 aperture blades. We will look at the Bokeh they produce later on.
11-blade aperture and a large front element
Filter
The lens has a 95mm front filter thread.
Foot
The lens has a medium-length foot which has an Arca base (the lower part is detachable). While you can hold the camera from the lens, we would prefer a longer foot that is also a bit further away from the lens for larger hands and for use with gloves.
Performance
Focusing
The lens uses an HLA linear motor which in our experience is both fast and quiet. Like all other Sigma lenses the focus is not linear on the Sony version (this might be a limitation of Sony cameras), on the L mount version a linear repeatable movement is possible.
The most important question for us in this review was the focusing accuracy of the lens especially when shooting fast-moving subjects such as birds.
Even after using it for several months and comparing it side by side in the field with the Sony 100-400mm and the high-end Sony 600mm f/4, it is hard for us to say decisively how accurate the focus is on fast-moving subjects.
We tend to think that it is not on the same level as the 600mm but it might be close to that of the 100-400mm but it’s difficult to say. We did shoot a test where we ran towards the camera with both the 500mm f/5.6 and the Sony 100-400mm. The Sony was able to shoot a lot more images with our A1 (just over twice as many at about the same distance running). Our results were 1 out of 88 images focused with the 500mm f/5.6 white 0 images were missed with the 100-400mm out of 172.
It is worth mentioning that this result isn’t necessarily indicative of how this lens will function in different situations (lower light, smaller or faster subjects, etc.) and it is also not reflective of really how sharp each image is in this series.
Running AF accuracy test – left – Sigma 500mm at f/5.6, right Sony 100-400mm at f/5.6
Image stabilization
The lens includes a new OS2 image stabilization technology with two modes and up to 5 stops of stabilization. Measuring image stabilization is difficult but subjectively it seems that when turning the switch to 1 the image in the viewfinder is much more stable. We didn’t shoot enough panning shots to evaluate mode 2.
Sharpness
We tested the lens in our studio using our Imatest high-resolution chart against the Sony 100-400mm and the Sony 600mm f/4.
In the center of the frame, sharpness is great possibly on the same level or higher compared to the Sony 100-400mm at the telephoto range.
Center sharpness: Top left – Sigma 500mm @f/5.6, top right – Sigma 500mm @f/8, bottom left, Sony 100-400 @400mm f/5.6 and bottom right Sony 100-400mm @400mm f/8
Corner sharpness: Top left – Sigma 500mm @f/5.6, top right – Sigma 500mm @f/8, bottom left, Sony 100-400 @400mm f/5.6 and bottom right Sony 100-400mm @400mm f/8
Comparing the Sigma 500mm f/5.6 to the Sony 600mm f/4 (a faster and much higher-priced lens) isn’t exactly fair but it’s still interesting to see how this lens is compared to one of the top professional E-mount telephoto lenses (if not the very top).
Looking at our tests, the results look very similar with a slight sharpness advantage to the 600mm and more general brightness/contrast.
Center sharpness: Top left – Sigma 500mm @f/5.6, top right – Sigma 500mm @f/8, bottom left, Sony 600 @f/5.6 and bottom right Sony 600 f/8
The corners show a very similar image with more brightness and possibly a tad more sharpness on the 600mm (just remember that lab tests are all well and good but performance in the field is a different story
Corner sharpness: Top left – Sigma 500mm @f/5.6, top right – Sigma 500mm @f/8, bottom left, Sony 600 @f/5.6 and bottom right Sony 600 f/8
Close up performance
Like most long telephoto prime lenses, the Sigma is not the right tool for close-up work and while it can focus closer than the Sony 600mm, at 3.2m or 126″ with 1:6 macro magnification this lens is not designed for any type of close up work and if you are looking for a lens to shoot butterflies and insects, most zoom telephoto lenses will do much better.
In our test we could focus a little closer at just over 3 meters away in manual focus and the sharpness was great across the frame even wide open with a tiny improvement at f/8.
Center close-up sharpness: left – Sigma 500mm @f/5.6, right – Sigma 500mm @f/8
Corner close-up sharpness: left – Sigma 500mm @f/5.6, right – Sigma 500mm @f/8
Breathing
The lens has a ton of breathing in our test so keep this in mind if you want to use it for video (see example in our video above).
Chromatic aberrations
In our studio test, we didn’t see even a hint of longitudinal CA.
CA test: 500mm f/5.6 at f/5.6 (left) and f/8 (right)
Flare
The lens did exhibit a lot of flare when faced with direct light. The hood helped a tiny bit but as a long telephoto lens with a narrow angle of view just be careful where you point the lens and try and use the hood most of the time.
Vignette
As you might expect from an f/5.6 lens we found relatively little vignette as you can see below with little darkening in the corners (reduced at around f/11)
Vignette test – top left f/5.6, top right, f/8, bottom left f/11 and bottom right f/16
Barrel distortion
From our testing, the lens has no visible barrel distortion.
No visible distortion
Bokeh
Bokeh was interesting with this lens. The out-of-focus background can look a little swirly (we kind of like that actually). The Bokeh balls are oval with open even in the center but if you want more circular balls close to f/8.
The Bokeh of the 500mm f/5.6 at f/5.6 (left) and f/8 (right)
You can see the “spiral” style out-of-focus nature of the bokeh of the lens in this image
Sample images
We shot several thousands of images with the lens all with the Sony A1 (both the older and the most recent 2.01 firmware). All images did not go through any changes only crop/resize.
Images shot by Matan Sharon:
Conclusion
The 500mm f/5.6 is one of the most impressive lenses that Sigma developed to date, with a compact and light design, rugged build with all of the new technologies and features available to the company at the moment.
The lens is sharp with fast AF and very few aberrations (aside from sensitivity to flare and quite a bit of breathing) and in the right hands can produce great images.
You do need to keep in mind that you won’t be able to use extenders with the lens (on Sony bodies) and Sony is limiting its cameras to shoot only up to 15fps with 3’rd party lenses (which is not Sigma’s fault but is still a limitation compared to Sony glass).
The big question that we wanted to answer in this review was about focus accuracy when shooting fast-moving subjects. Based on our colleague Matan’s experience with the lens, shooting relatively large subjects in good lighting conditions you are typically going to get a very good hit-to-miss ratio (almost comparable to the Sony 100-400mm).
However when shooting smaller moving subjects and in reduced lighting conditions you are going to encounter some misses and the lens is not on the same level as the (much more expensive and heavier) pro glass from Sony.
From a value perspective, this lens is great. It offers almost anything that most avid telephoto shooters might want in a lens that is very light and compact at a price that is less than a 1/3 of what a lens like the 600 f/4 sells for and under 1/2 of the new Sony 300mm f/2.8 (with a 2X extender) sells for.
While there are quite a few zoom options available for Sony shooters that are less expensive including the Sony 200-600mm and the Sony 100-400mm that we also worked with (which sells for about the same price as the with a 1.4X teleconverter, making it a 140mm-560mm f/6.7-f/8), we always felt that a non-extending compact and lightweight prime is the better choice, especially for bird shooters (but that is more of a personal choice).
The Sigma 500mm f/5.6
Pricing
The Sigma 500mm f/5.6 currently sells for $3000. The Sony 100-400mm sells for $2400 (and just under $3000 with the 1.4X extender) and the Sony 600mm F4 sells for just under $13K.
High-end Sports lens
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Iddo Genuth 
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