Sigma APO 120-300mm F2.8 EX DG HSM Pro Reviews

The Sigma AF 120-300mm f/2.8 APO EX HSM DG OS is a refreshingly unique design. It offers the best of both worlds - the flexibility of the popular 70-200mm f/2.8 tele zoom lenses and the reach of the big 300mm f/2.8 prime lenses. The question of the day is, of course, whether it can deliver ? Well, mostly at least. The critical center performance is on an exceptionally high level and this is where it counts the most on a tele lens, of course. The border/corner quality isn't quite as impressive albeit still pretty decent. The amount of vignetting is about typical for a large aperture tele zoom lens. Distortions are usually nothing to worry about. The quality of the bokeh is generally good. A really outstanding aspect of the lens is the very low amount of bokeh fringing.

Every working pro who I know owns a 300mm f/2.8 tele lens. While exotic glass like a 400mm f/2.8 and the monster 600mm f/4 are needed for most pro sports assignments, for general usage I like the 300mm f/2.8. Since I shoot Canon cameras I own their excellent 300mm f/2.8 L lens. It’s one of those big white things, and it’s sharp as a tack. Over the years I’ve tried long tele lenses from third-party lens manufacturers, but always found the Canon to be better. Recently I tried a lens that almost seemed too good to be true. It’s the 120-300mm f/2.8 APO HSM zoom from Sigma, and it is the first pro-quality zoom lens with both a 300mm top end and a fast fixed f/2.8 aperture.

The Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM Lens is unique in it's capabilities - at this time, no other Canon-mount zoom lens can maintain an action-stopping f/2.8 aperture beyond 200mm. This lens has action-sports written all over it. Perhaps more than from any other Sigma lens, I was hoping for great things from this one...