The Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 DG DN OS Sports lens may be the best such bright, telephoto zoom for L or E mount cameras. In this video I take it out in the field to see what it's capable of, paired with the Sigma FP L and Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K.
- Build Quality - The lens is rugged and weather sealed, and is clearly built to last. Its durable metal and tough plastic exterior feels very high quality.
- On-lens controls - Having so many physical controls on the lens barrel is really refreshing coming from someone who typically shoots with Nikon mirrorless cameras. I much prefer to have physical controls for things like imaged stabilization rather than having to dig into menus on-screen for them.
- Foot & hood - I'm particularly enthusiastic about having an integrated Arca-Swiss plate built into the tripod foot. Every lens with a tripod foot should have such a plate integrated into the design. Similarly, I love the way the lens hood functions. The screw mount design of the lens hood is much superior to Canon and Nikon designs that I'm familiar with.
- Image quality - I was quite surprised by just how well this lens performed in terms of image quality. I really didn't notice any serious flaws in the photos I captured with it, even at its widest aperture and throughout its zoom range. After filming the above video and taking a lot of photos in environments with a lot of snow and clouds, I did notice some vignetting in some of my images after editing them, but it's very well controlled and I don't consider it a significant issue.
- Autofocus and stabilization - I didn't talk about these subjects in the video because they are very much dependent on which system you're using with the lens, making them tough elements to evaluate. With the Sigma FP L and Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K both seemed to perform acceptably well.
- Price and value - At $1500, the Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 DG DN OS Sports lens is honestly a bargain compared to lenses from the likes of Nikon, Sony and Canon. This is especially true considering that the Sigma manages to outperform them all in terms of its superior design, and compete on a level with them in terms of image quality.
- Conclusion - I have no hesitation recommending the Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 DG DN OS Sports lens. The only downside I could find is that it's only compatible with L and E mount cameras. It's an absolutely fantastic lens.
Basic edits applied to sample images in Adobe Lightroom.
More information on the Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 DG DN OS Sports lens on Sigma's website: https://www.sigmaphoto.com/70-200mm-f2-8-dg-os-hsm-s
Purchase the Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 DG DN OS Sports lens on Amazon (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3SEj6gV
