Sigma 100-400mm DN Review | Compared To The Competition
Photo by Kurt Lawson | Sony 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM, Sony A7III | 400mm, 1/25 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100
100% Crop (f/5.6, 400mm, 24 megapixels)
With a lot to love, and only a few relatively obscure complaints, you can’t go wrong investing in the Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS Contemporary. Still, there are alternatives out there, so we should compare them.
First and foremost, there are the two other third-party 100-400mm lenses I already mentioned- the slightly older Sigma 100-400mm and Tamron 100-400mm, which were designed for DSLRs. Both lenses are optically great, you’ll be hard-pressed to detect a difference in image quality except in “laboratory condition testing”. They’re also both quite well-made, and if you take good care of them they’ll last just as long as this new Sigma mirrorless lens.
However, as I mentioned, the older Sigma 100-400 doesn’t accept accessory tripod collars at all, which to me is a total show-stopper, and the Tamron, although it costs only $800, has the same $130 price tag on its own aftermarket tripod collar. (Tamron A035TM, $129, B&H)
Thus, long story short, if you don’t already own one of these lenses, and you currently shoot Sony mirrorless or Panasonic/Sigma/Leica mirrorless, …just get this new Sigma!
There are a few other lenses besides 100-400mm’s, though, which you definitely should consider if you love doing telephoto work. There’s the Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary, which is sometimes priced as low as $1,100 with the Sigma MC-11 adapter, and the Sports version is sometimes priced at $1,850. Both are incredible performers, with the “C” version being a bit more buget-friendly and the “S” version being a bit more, well, flagship-grade.
Tamron has their own 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2, (again, all of these lenses are for DSLRs, and will require an adapter) …and it’s a bit heavier and pricier than the Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary, at ~$1,400 and ~2kg.
Or, of course, if you’re able to shop in the $2,000 price range, and are looking to go further than 400mm, don’t forget Sony’s FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS; an internally zooming lens that is probably the most robust of the bunch, and an incredible performer despite not being “GM” status.
Basically, it’s up to you whether you’re happy with 400mm, or you’d like to go to 600mm. Then, there are two significantly different budget ranges for the two types of lenses you’re interested in. All of these lenses are well-made and great performers, of course, but the Sigma mirrorless 100-400 is, in many ways, the most attractive of the bunch.
Speaking of portable, what if you want something truly diminutive, but still without compromising on image quality? Sony’s own FE 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G OSS lens isn’t cheap, at $1,173, (or, usually, $1,273) …but it’s not your average “kit” 70-300mm lens, it delivers professional image quality in a very portable package that is a good 25% shorter than the Sigma 100-400mm.
All in all, there are a lot of great options out there, but this mirrorless version of Sigma 100-400mm offers an incredible balance of zoom range in a portable package, great image quality, and overall durability.
Sigma 100-400mm DN Review | Who Should Buy It?
Sigma 100-400mm DN, Sony A9II | 400mm, 1/3200 sec, f/6.3, ISO 400
Sigma 100-400mm DN, Sony A9II | 400mm, 1/800 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100
I don’t really need to break this section down into individual groups of photographers like I usually do. Whether you photograph action sports, any type of racing, wildlife, or whatever else is often captured with such a telephoto zoom range, then you should consider the Sigma 100-400mm.
Sigma 100-400mm DN, Sony A9 II | 400mm, 1/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100
The only instance in which it might not be such a good investment is if you work in extremely low light all the time, such as for wedding photography where a 70-200mm f/2.8 is absolutely a much better choice.
Then again, many wildlife photographers (who want to go longer than 200mm) find themselves shooting at sunrise or sunset, and f/5-6.3 are pretty dark apertures to try and photograph any moving subject, even from a tripod. You could go with the alternative, that is a Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 Sports, (a virtually flawless lens) …and enjoy the benefits of f/2.8 in extremely low light, while adding a 2X teleconverter that could allow you to get to 400mm and “only” be at f/5.6, instead of the Sigma 100-400mm’s f/6.3 (at 400mm).
So, here’s the bottom line: If you are a Sony (or Leica L, or Panasonic L, or Sigma FP (L) shooter, and you do a lot of telephoto photography in decent light, and only a little bit of photography in dimmer lighting conditions, then for $950 you absolutely should consider the Sigma 100-400 DN.
Sigma 100-400mm DN Review | Cons
The drawbacks of this lens are very few, and we’ve mostly discussed them already. (The missing tripod collar, the slight quirks to the image quality…) These drawbacks might not even affect most people, so in this section, we’re going to talk about how to actually tell if any of these things matter to you or not.
Missing Tripod Collar (Aftermarket Accessory)
Considering how front-heavy the Sigma 100-400mm DN is, I’m pretty surprised that Sigma did not include their TS-111 tripod collar. It really needs it! In fact, the 100-400 is far more front-heavy than the Sigma 105mm f/1.4 Art, which does include the (exact same) accessory tripod collar.
You could try mounting your camera on a tripod using a forward-aiming tripod plate that tries to balance out the setup a little bit, but based on my observations of the flex stress this puts on the bottom of the camera body itself, I DO NOT ADVISE THIS, unless you use one of those special long-lens support plates that actually reaches up to touch and support the lens.
Reversed Zoom & Focus Ring Position
More and more lenses these days are swapping the zoom and focus ring positions to what I think is the less optimal configuration. This used to be necessary back in the day when focus rings had to be physically coupled to the optical elements in the lens that do the actual focusing, because the sharpest optical formulas seem to be the ones that have all the zooming parts in front of the focusing parts. This has been a trend for over 10 years.
However, today we have fully electronic focusing rings, so all they are doing is sending a signal to the focus motors. So, for example, Sony’s 100-400mm f/4-5.6 GM has the zoom ring in the “perfect” position, right where you’d like it to be for hand-holding, and the focus ring is at the very front. Even though the moving glass parts inside the lens might be in the opposite configuration, Sony went the extra distance (figuratively and literally) to put the two rings in more convenient locations.
Having said that, I’ll be totally honest, it’s not that hard to just get in the habit of using a lens like the Sigma; it only takes a week or two of usage for your hands to memorize the reversed positions. It’s not optimal, but neither is it going to really stop you from getting the shot, unless you literally just took the lens out of the box and started photographing very important, active subjects right away.
Image Quality – Vignetting & Color Vignetting
Example of heavy processing: “Dehahze” set to +40 (Note the left-to-right unevenness of the haze)
As a landscape and wildlife photographer, this is probably the biggest issue that I found myself needing to be cautious about- With such a relatively portable lens, at such relatively slow apertures, the evenness of the vignetting, in terms of both brightness and color tone, is just a bit off.
Unfortunately, one of the rising trends we’ve seen with almost all mirrorless lenses these days is the use of embedded, un-removable correction profiles that are automatically applied in virtually all raw processing applications, and in many, cannot even be turned back off.
In some cases, this isn’t a problem, it’s actually a huge convenience! However, in this case, the vignetting correction isn’t perfect, meaning you can still see vignetting, especially at 200mm thru 400mm.
For most uses, this won’t be a problem if your subjects and scenes don’t have lots of perfectly smooth tones. However, if you photograph a lot of perfectly smooth-toned subjects, and especially if you like to crank up the editing of your images, particularly the Contrast and Dehaze sliders, you’ll start to see oddly uneven tones across the image.
You can try to manually correct this inadequate vignetting profile using Lightroom’s additional adjustment sliders, but unfortunately, another problem pops up, one that is again becoming all too common on mirrorless lenses and cameras: the actual color of the corrected areas may look colder than the un-corrected center of the image, so you’ll wind up with faintly cool/blue looking image corners, or a faintly warmer central circle in the image.
The only way to work around this is to just not over-edit your photos. Unfortunately, if you’re editing images with lots of haze and need to take the Dehaze slider past, say, +15 or +20, you’ll run the risk of seeing a very faint color shift. Honestly, though? This seems to be an issue with almost all mirrorless lenses; in fact, see if you can notice a faint bit of it in the Sony 100-400mm GM example, below…
Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS Contemporary | Specifications
(NOTE: pictured tripod collar is an OPTIONAL accessory; $130)
- FOCAL LENGTH & ANGLE OF VIEW: 100-400mm (24.4° to 6.2°)
- LENS MOUNT(S): Sony E, Leica L
- APERTURE & RANGE: f/5-6.3 to f/22-29
- STABILIZATION: Yes, Sigma OS (Does not work in conjunction with in-body stabilization)
- AUTOFOCUS: Yes, near-silent stepper motor
- MANUAL FOCUS: Yes, electronically controlled, no focus/hyperfocal markings (only on digital display)
- OPTICAL CONSTRUCTION: 22 elements in 16 groups, one “F” Low Dispersion, four Special Low Dispersion elements
- MECHANICAL CONSTRUCTION: Metal, no weather sealing (besides mount gasket)
- MAGNIFICATION & MINIMUM FOCUS DISTANCE: 0.24x, 3.6 ft (1.1m)
- FILTER THREADS & HOOD: 67mm filter threads, reversible bayonet hood
- Tripod Collar: Not included, optional accessory (Sigma TS-111, $130)
- SIZE: 3.39 x 7.76 in. (86 x 197.2 mm)
- WEIGHT: 2.5 lb (1135 g)
- PRICE: $949 (B&H)Tripod Collar: Sigma TS-111 ($130, B&H)
Sigma 100-400mm DN Review | Conclusion
Sigma 100-400mm DN, Sony A7R IV, 4K video frame
Even if you consider this to be a $1,180 lens once you add the $130 tripod collar, it’s still one of the best values in the realm of full-frame mirrorless. It’s a huge leap, but if you can, in fact, save up a whopping $2,500, you’ll definitely notice a difference in the build quality, ergonomics, and overall performance from the Sony FE 100-400mm GM. But, that’s a ~150% higher price tag compared to a lens that already costs about $1K.
Thus, in conclusion, I have to highly recommend the Sigma mirrorless 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS Contemporary. Almost all the other options out there are DSLR lenses which require an adapter, and while the native mount options are great, they’re very different from what the Sigma offers in terms of overall value versus performance.
Check Pricing & Availability
The Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS Contemporary can be found for $949 for the lens only, with the accessory tripod foot, the Sigma TS-111, being $130. (They are not currently offered together as a discounted bundle, but we’ll update this review if that changes!)
Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS Contemporary $949, B&H)Sigma TS-111 ($130, B&H)