Sigma 500mm F4.5 APO A-mount lens reviews
reviews found: 9
 Dustin1982#47096 date: Jun-3-2025 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 4 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.8 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta 75-300mm F4.5-5.6 Minolta 80-210mm F2.8 APO Sigma 400mm F5.6 APO |
| price paid: | €374 |
| positive: | This lens is very well built, feels very sturdy. Current (2025) price is low. They come with a bespoke travelling case. Sharp lens even at F4.5. CA is controlled. |
| negative: | It is sturdy and well built but also very heavy, either you are strong and handhold this or you have a strong tripod. The price is low, but usually because the outside paint/coating has gotten sticky and it is a hot mess to clean up. |
| comment: | I have used this lens a lot for a couple weeks now. I'm very impressed. I had bought its smaller brother about a year ago and that lens is nowhere near the quality of this glass. This prime is sharp and fast with good colour and contrast. It does tend to produce images with a bit of a yellowish cast on them, but that is easily removed in post. Autofocus on Sony A37 and Sony A850 works well enough, but it is a bit noisy. My example has serial nr 2000317 and is very sharp. I found a few offerings online but a lot of them had fungus. I don't mind a sticky outside coating as mine had, you can solve that easily enough, but fungus would be a nightmare to clean on this. The carrying case is also a nice bonus. I tried it with a 2x converter, it still produces usable images, but @ 1000mm F9 or even 1500mm on APS-C, light/movement conditions need to be optimal/perfect. |
; 16MP| Chrisblobster#46917 date: Jan-5-2023 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.2 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Nothing to compare to |
| price paid: | NZD $500 |
| positive: | For a big telephoto with a wide aperture it was a bargain, quite nice colours and overall performance, the Zen coating had made the extendable lens hood extremely sticky but was easily cleaned up with some rubbing alcohol which made it much easier to open |
| negative: | A bit soft wide open, a bit slow to autofocus |
| comment: | I bought the lens used from EBay, with some light fungus on internal elements and a bit rough condition - I've cleaned up the lens as best I can. In practice the fungus hasn't affected image quality, and in general it is a pretty good lens to use - I tend to stop down to f/7.1 or f/8 for optimal results, and even at those apertures the background is still isolated nicely. Autofocus is noisy and a bit sluggish, but on my A99 it is not too slow. On my A57 it is a huge telephoto at 750mm equivalent, but shaky to compose and shoot with - I would recommend a sturdy tri or mono pod |
| petesidewalk#34767 date: Feb-1-2017 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.8 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony 70-400 f/4-5.6 SSM 500 Reflex |
| price paid: | 1100 USD |
| positive: | Fairly Compact Sharp Relatively inexpensive |
| negative: | Hood can get stuck |
| comment: | Good performance from wide open. Not exactly Minolta colors, but not bad. Inexpensive choice for this focal length. Much more sharp than reflex lens. |
| Basil#11849 date: May-27-2014 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.6 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sigma 300 2.8 with 2x TC Minolta 500 f8 reflex Sony 70-400 G |
| price paid: | $900 USD |
| positive: | Sharp wide open and really sharpens up stopped down a couple of steps Decent bokeh Locks focus quickly and stays there Works with SLT (both A57 and A77ii) It pairs with the A700 like a dream! Had a lens-mounted carrying strap to ease strain on camera lens mount Came with a sturdy aluminum case |
| negative: | The ZEN coating was dissolving and needed to be cleaned off with rubbing alcohol The hood doesn't reverse Non-rotating filter holder makes it hard to use polarizer It has a slight yellow cast to the images (similar to what the 300 2.8 has). This is easy to correct in post processing if you don't like the look |
| comment: | This thing is a beast! I wouldn't want to carry it in a back pack for miles over rugged terrain, but for shooting near the car or shorter hikes, it's great. It was cheap, fast length that has excellent image quality. If you can find one at a decent price, it's worth checking out. You can use the deteriorating coating as a reason to knock some $$ off the price. |
| Andy00190#11527 date: Dec-7-2013 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 4 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.7 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | - Sony 2.8/300G SSM - Sony 2.8/300G SSM with 1,4x and 2x TC |
| price paid: | 850,00€ |
| positive: | - a fast 500mm at affordable price - handy, not tooo big - easy to use, hand held shots possible - solid build - AF works exactly - results ok even with full aperture |
| negative: | - AF a bit slow at poor light, but not too bad. Tracking moving subjects needs some practice. |
| comment: | Really not bad for a 25yo Lens! Image quality and sharpness better than the 300G with 2x TC. A fast lens not only after it's specifications. As contrasts at f/4,5 are a bit low, the RAW Files look a bit "soft". After some smaller adjustments in RAW converter come out great images. I love it! |
| manukaing#9791 date: Jan-15-2012 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 4 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.6 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | sal 70-400 G SSM |
| price paid: | missing |
| positive: | sharp lens fast AF |
| negative: | CA in high contrast |
| comment: | missing |
| Bob S.#8107 date: Oct-17-2010 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 4 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.8 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Tokina 100-300/4 Sigma 400/5.6 Sigma 500/7.2 |
| price paid: | Probably too much |
| positive: | Sharp Build quality (tank!!) Fast 4.5 aperture Built in lens hood Bokeh |
| negative: | Super Heavy Slow AF No focus limit switch |
| comment: | I've only had this lens for about 2 weeks and I probably haven't used it enough to do a great in-depth review, but for the short time that I've had and used it - it's a great lens - especially for it's age (it's an older "ZEN" model). This lens is very sharp - even wide open - but really blows away almost everything else I own once it's closed down to say f/6.3 or f/8 - even f/5.6. The bokeh is incredible; soft and buttery and really makes your subjects pop out of the picture. The colors are also pretty nice, although a little tweaking doesn't hurt. Same with the contrast; it can be the tiniest bit on the flat side. It's a HUGE lens, built like a tank and it weighs a ton (actually it's a little over 7 pounds) and it can be pretty unwieldy when used only with a monopod; a sturdy tripod would probably be a best bet with this monster. AF is slow, a focus limit switch would have been nice. And I can confirm that the Sigma 1.4X EX APO TC will work with this lens and it even auto-focuses on my A700 - it's slow, but it does AF. I also noticed that the TC doesn't degrade the image by any noticeable amount. One other tiny negative about the lens (and, again, this is probably due to it's age) - the drop-in filter holder does not have a dial or wheel so using a CPOL or Split ND filter would be out of the question. The newer versions of this lens have a wheel/dial for using these filters, but they are a different size to this version of the lens so I couldn't even buy a new version's holder and use with this lens. Compared to the older Sigma "ZEN" lenses that I've owned in the past (and sold); 400/5.6 APO and the 500/7.2 APO - what can I say? They can't come close to this lens so there is no comparison - this lens blows them away. My version has the gold APO lettering on the side - not the white lettering like in the pictures. Also, I have no red ring around the front. I don't think this makes any difference to the quality of the lens, I just wanted to note that there are different versions of this same lens. Mine came with an aluminum carry case, a leather hood cover and an additional screw-on hood that attaches to the built-in hood (making this monster look even bigger!) I'm hoping to get to some sporting events in the near future and really put it through it's paces. |
| photomind#5325 date: May-1-2009 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.8 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Minotla 500mm AF reflex Tokina 400mm AF f5.6 Sigma APO 400mm Sigma APO 500mm F7.2 Sigma 170-500mm |
| price paid: | missing |
| positive: | Decent Sharp Inexpensive |
| negative: | slow AF motor Zen finish becomes sticky and wet. |
| comment: | It comes with two sets of hoods. One is detachable and one embedded. I never noticed the embedded one until reading a review somewhere because it was tightly attached. It took me a while to pull it out and never touched the external hood again. This lens is sharp and it becomes even sharper if stepped down to f5.6 and up. Optimum is at f8. IMO, it is just above the leagues of regular 400mm or 500mm prime/zoom glasses. It works perfectly with Sigma's own APO 1.4x TC. It AF nicely. IQ reduction is not too noticeable too. AF is a little slow if it takes the motor to turn. However, it focus quickly and correctly if it is in the close range. The only thing annoyed me is its "Zen finish". It is just a rubber like coating on the original metal but it oozes. It makes the lens sticky and wet after sometime. Fortunately, it can be cleaned with 90% alcohol. I had to wipe out the zen finish until reaching the black painted metal underneath it. |
| arescrew#1638 date: Jan-12-2007 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.7 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sigma 50-500 / 4-6.3 EX APO RF Sigma 400 / 5.6 APO (second version, non-macro) |
| price paid: | 849 € (+25 € case) |
| positive: | Build quality Sharpness |
| negative: | AF Speed |
| comment: | I found this lens accidentally at ebay. Never searched for one of these, but at that price i couldn't resist. My copy was heavily used before, but optics are still fine (by the way, it's exactly that copy on the pictures here at dyxum). I hadn't the chance to use / test it a lot yet, so this is rather a "first impression" and will be updated as soon as more precise impressions arise. Sharpness: After the first shot "in the wild", i thought it wasn't that sharp as i expected, i noticed that sharpness increased from open aperture (4.5) to 8. But as is compared it directly to the Sigma 50-500, i saw that it is even sharper wide open, than the 50-500 stopped down to it's best apertures (above 8-11). But because it gets a little sharper stopped down, my rating is "just" 4.5. ultra-top lenses like the Minolta 600 / 4 might perform better. Build quality: Like a tank. This lens is pure metal. The build-in hood tends to tilt, the pervious owner never was able to unlock it from extended state (and hence never was able to use the case for it, that's why he sold it separately). I accomplished that with the help of a hair drier. :-) The cover for the AF-ring is slightly loose on my copy, but i think it's negligible considering the age of the lens. Color: i have not enough experience in judging this, but i didn't notice any drawbacks. Distortion rating: see above, but this lens will mainly be used for nature (not for architecture), so i think it wouldn't matter a lot. Vignetting: none detected. Flare: The hoods for this lens are extremly large. As you can see on the pictures here there's a build-in hood, that should do the job alone. But there's still an additional hood, that can be attached to the build in one. I can't imagine, that any flare could ever be visible unless you point the lens directly to the sun. The AF is VERY slow, and often doesn't find the focus at first attempt. Furthermore it often doesn't focus properly, but i think, this is mainly because of my main subjects (animals) which often, even with this lens, are smaller than the center AF-indicator. Smaller drawbacks: This lens is heavy, i never tried to use it without a tripod, because you'll need pretty much light and strong arms to do so (on 5D it's a 750mm!). But it's nothing i would rate as drawback. Try to find a lens with these attributes with noticable less weight. Another Drawback: it's very rare! In nearly one year of scanning ebay for lenses, my copy was the first one i ever saw in the wild; and i just know of one more copy of exactly this production series. accessories: My copy came with a metal case, a leather cap for the front lens, the additional hood and four filters (clear, yellow, orange, red; 30,5mm rear). Some sample images (500/4.5 vs. 50-500/4-6.3 vs. 400/5.6) Crop 500x500 (3.3 MB) http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~justus/500_50-500_400/v_klein.jpg Crop 1000x750 (8.4 MB) http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~justus/500_50-500_400/v_gross.jpg Original (out-of-camera), JPG-quality "standard", aperture 8 http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~justus/500_50-500_400/PICT7676.JPG |
reviews found: 9
rating summary
- total reviews: 9
- sharpness: 4.78
- color: 4.33
- build: 4.44
- distortion: 5.00
- flare control: 4.78
- overall: 4.67
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