Name: Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG APO HSM AutoFocus Telephoto Zoom Lens for Pentax AF Cameras - USA Warranty
Brand: Sigma
SKU: SG150500NPX
Price: 1069.00 USD
Availability: Discontinued
Rating: 4.2 (117 reviews)

Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG APO HSM AutoFocus Telephoto Zoom Lens for Pentax AF Cameras - USA Warranty

Sigma 150-500mm

Sigma

Sigma 150-500mm Video #1

Sigma 150mm-500mm f/5-6.3 DG APO HSM Lens for Pentax AF -USA Warranty

Adorama

Photography

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SLR Lenses

Sigma SLR Lenses

Sigma 150-500mm 

Buy: Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG APO HSM AutoFocus Telephoto Zoom Lens for Pentax AF Cameras - USA Warranty Compatibility: Pentax K-1, Pentax K-1 Mark II

The lens is heavy and takes some getting use to, however it functions perfectly. It does not disappoint

Does not disappoint!

I'm only a novice but I really like this lens. I've taken a lot of wildlife pics. and am very pleased with the outcome

Large telephoto lens

I took this lens to Africa and hand held it all the time with a Nikon D750. When I got home and started processing my photos I was blown away.

Very Sharp

I bought this lens for wildlife photography as we live on a creek with a salt marsh and there are many birds and waterfowl to photograph.  My eye isn't critical enough to detect some of the optical deficiencies others have noted about this lens so to my eye the results are very pleasing.  

I bumped my ISO to 800 to ensure a faster shutter speed and help reduce possible camera shake.  That, coupled with the image stabilization, has allowed hand-held shooting at full zoom.  I was pleasantly surprised.

As one would expect, the combination of this lens and my Nikon D7000 is pretty heavy.  Long walks in the woods could be pretty tiring but the ability to photograph an eagle without having to do massive enlargement is worth the trade-off.

Extra care handling this lens is necessary due to its weight and size.  I don't know it would take being bumped around and don't want to find out the hard way.  The cushioned case that comes with the lens is a necessity.

Good Value

only had it a month,shooting birds on the river. No problem hand held, with vibration reduction on. Focus not bad.I'm no pro so this is good enough for me.

Good lens for the money.

First of all let me state that they have a sort of decieving picture of this lens that makes it look sort of smaller than it is in real life -- READ the SPECS!!! 
It arrived and the box size right away made me face facts that this was not a smaller lightweight Tele Lens. It weighs 5 lbs! And it is 12 inches long without the hood. 
That being said --- I purchased a chest assisted mono pod, and fell in love! I the motor is smooth,,,it is quiet, and it is rather fast to focus at least for me. I'm a hummingbird fanatic and capturing those little sweeties, is not always easy! But this lens does the job that I was hoping for!
And, for the price you get a lot for the money! 
The lens hood, a mounting strap to help any accidents, and a beautiful carry case that NEEDS to be used if you do not have it on your camera!

Beautiful -- but HEAVY

The Sigma 150-500 is a very good lens for the most part. It's at its best focusing within 100ft/30m. Very sharp images within that range and the stabilization works very well too. It's not as good at extreme distances or in poor light. It has a zoom lock to prevent lens creep when carrying the lens on a camera.

Good Lens At A Good Price

Nature shots, AF works well, like the O/S and the construction of the lens seems very well made.  A learning curve and getting used to the weight of a larger lens.  Overall, very pleased and the price fits my budget.

Very Pleased

As a photographer who specializes in Nature shots, I was nervous and cautious about purchasing this lens and after my first photo run, I think I will like it.  It will take a little learning curve and getting used to the extra weight but the auto focus worked very well.  I look forward to giving this lens a heavy workout soon.   Hand held is possible and a heavy duty tripod is also a good backup for using this lens.

Pleasant Surprise

Works for me like the size have no problem hand holding this lens

Like the Lens

i am happy with lens. picture quality is better than i have read about. uses are wild life, focus is ok,but does hunt a little.for the money go for it ,and understand short comming.low light,creep.in good light have taken hand held photo when ihave to

sigma 150-500

I have used this lens for both nature and portraits. It is a great value in that it is very sharp even at f/7.1 @ 500mm. Small birds, like an American Redstart have very good feather detail at 30 feet from the camera. The hair of a chipmunk is also well defined. Both of those subjects were shot hand held with the OS turned on. The bokeh is ok and the zoom ring is a bit on the stiff side. Otherwise, I would give the lens 5 stars.

Great Value

I got this lens since I didn't have anything in this length. I'm pleasantly surprised by the quality and ease of use. I used the lens to get the red moon eclipse the other night. I used a tripod but also took a few hand-held shots which came out sharp. I had to turn off the auto-focus at the height of the eclipse (when the moon was very dark) as the lens kept hunting and not finding the right focus. All in all, a great lens!

Excellent lens!

This is a big lens, both physically and in value. I own two now, and both are well-made and equally sharp at all focal lengths. If the cost, size, and weight of the big pro telephotos are out if the question, this Sigma lens is an amazing alternative. So far I have been impressed with overall image quality, and the extra 200mm of zoom over the Nikon 70-300 I was using previously is a big difference. The image stabilization has worked perfectly so far. Combined with the weight of the lens, handheld shots have been easy and sharp.

Excellent Value

Just upgraded from Sigma 120-400 to the 150-500

Really sharp even at full focal length. Works well with 1.4 extender but a bit soft at full range. 
Slightly heavier than the 400 but not bad. auto focus is slightly slower than the 400, once it locks it is steady with birds in flight. 
Need to use tripod if you use extenders, but hand held without is no problem.

Great Lens for Birding

4 Stars because no one is perfect.
This lens performs very well.  Has given me access to some totally awesome shots.

Great lens

I bought this lens to replace a prime F/5.6 400mm Sigma lens so that I could have greater versatility and greater reach for at least the same speed, but the Sigma 150-500mm is even better because of its stablization, giving me up to four more stops to work with.  The lens is quiet and fast-focusing, and much sharper than my 15-year-old 400mm.  I took quite a few hand-held shots of birds with it extended to 500mm and got quite acceptable results.  If I had one complaint, it would be the lens' weight of 4.2 pounds, but, hey, glass is heavy, so I'll learn to live with it.  Ideally I'll use the lens mostly while it's mounted on a tripod, making the weight a non-factor.  I love this lens!

Great, versatile, and sharp

A great product that I am currently experimenting with.  It has excellent potential to pull in the distant subjects that I tend to look for.

Great Lens at outstanding price

I've had this lens for about three weeks now and overall I am very pleased.  I use it with my Pentax K-3.  The feature I am most impressed with is the OS system.  You can actually see the OS take over and stabilize the image.  I always keep my camera on medium drive and usually take 2-3 images once the OS has stabilized.  You really can get solid hand-held photographs with this lens.  Even out to 500mm.  This is a great lens for the price if used within its limitations.  It is very sharp up to about 400mm or so at F11 max.  At 500mm not so much, but its not bad.  This is a very heavy lens, and though 4lbs. doesn't sound like a whole lot, you lug this thing around all afternoon shooting birds and you will see.  It takes some getting used to.  It will even move on the tripod if any wind is present.  The AF is a bit leisurely in its initial acquisition, but if you track your subject closely after that it continues to acquire quite nicely. It's definitely a lens you have to learn, but I think I am going to be very happy with it.

Sigma 150mm-500mm f/5-6.3 DG APO OS HSM

I have bought a couple of things from ado rams over the years.  They never let me down.  Easy ordering, fast shipping and great service.  I will be looking at my next purchase my Canon 70D from them as well.

Great purchase and wonderful lens

This is a great lens for wild life. I've been able to capture great head shots of animals at the zoo. It is heavy and while you can get decent shots without a mono/tripod, you will want to use a mono/tripod if you are using it for any extended time. Focus is excellent.

Excellent Wildlife lens

I am only able to devote a small amount of time to photography.  So far I have discovered that you can produce very good pictures with this lens if you can hold it steady, and some very bad pictures if you are not so steady. If you can go to http://www.flickr.com/groups/sigma150-500/pool/, you'll find some excellent pictures made using this lens.

Requires More Experience

I waited and researched a great deal before buying this lens. In photography you get a wide range of followers as in any hobby.  I have read numerous blog comparisons saying never buy 3 party lenses and especially not zoom lenses.  There is even and example of one guy blowing up the image 600 times in photoshop to show at a single pixel level how two adjoining pixels are slightly differnent in an after market lens compared to a prime lense costing 4 to 6 times more money.  If you have the money and are that OCD then you  need to pay all that extra money.  If you are an avid hobbiest not looking to make $1000 or more off just one photo then buy this lens and you will be more than happy with the result.  If no, maybe you should consider photo lessons to better your results.

Works for my needs

I shoot wildlife subjects with this lens and have had good experience with it. Images are pretty sharp and the lens focus is fairly quick. Granted, it is not very fast, but you would have to pay a lot more for an f2.8 or f4 lens at comparable focal length. All in all I am very pleased with the results I get from this lens.

NOT SO FAST

I use this lens primarily for wildlife (birds, alligators, rodents, large cats and others critters) and some landscape photography. It has proven to be an excellent and quality piece of equipment...is it as sharp as a prime lens, not quite, but so close, most photographers would not be able to differentiate! I'm constantly amazed by the results and had I relied on the biased reviews, this review would never had been written. 
If you are serious about and truly considering this lens, I suggest you read the professional review with excellent photos found  on Adorama's  web site. The article is written by a sports photographer, showing and explaining photos from a college football game...Tuscaloosa, Alabama was the location of the football game between Alabama & Arkansas, SEC rivals. If his "photos" and commentary does not convince you, then I surely won't be able to either.
If price point is an absolute consideration, then buy it! If you can afford the camera brand version then buy that one...
In 6 weeks I have taken 4000+ photos and mostly very good, but some not so good. The lens did not make the mistakes for the "not so good" almost photos. It was all my fault...
In order to expose great photos you really need to understand how to use the camera settings and how they work with the lens.
Sure there are a few things lacking with this lens..."they are not deal breakers". It takes some time to figure it out if you have never used a super long telephoto lens. Is it heavy, sure it is, but not unbearable. Use a monopod with it and improve the quality of the photos. Read and follow the instructions included and you will do well.

I use this lens primarily for wildlife

Lens works well for wildlife photography.
It can be hand held with good results

Best for the money

I used this for shooting high school football with good outdoor lighting and it was great.  Once the sun started to fall, I went with a 2.8 lens.

Super Duper Zoom

I shoot wildlife and birds. I needed 500mm. It's sharp and has good contrast. Focus is fairly quick and is accurate. F 6.3 is slow but, anything faster would be too heavy.

Great for the money

I bought this to extend my range for wildlife photos.  I have an inherited Nikkor 600mm that weighs 12 pounds and is just too much to take out hiking (fabulous in a bird blind though!), and this was intended to be something more mobile for me to take on the trail.  So far so good.  A little soft fully extended but when used on a tripod it is pretty sharp with the right settings.  Doesn't feel too heavy in a backpack.  Relatively affordable in comparison to some of the other options.  Definitely not as sharp as my Nikkor, but for thousands of dollars less, not a bad deal, and I'm happy to be able to actually take it out into the wild.  Got some nicely detailed shots of a recent full moon with it.

Just what I needed

I use this Lens to photograph Wildlife. The Auto Focus is great, Fast and Smooth. The Pictures are very clear up to 400mm with out a Tri-pod. For a retired person this is a great Lens and in my Price range.

Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG APO HSM AutoFocus Telephoto Zoom Lens for Pentax AF Cameras - USA Warranty

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