Review on Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Sports DG OS HSM Lens for Canon by Edwin Cen

Replaces a CANon 100-400 IS USM (original version) with this lens. What attracted me to the Sigma was the focal length, the all-black body (I hate the white L-glass body), and the updated technology (better OS, for example). When I received this lens I noticed that the box was huge. I was hoping the lens wouldn't be as big as it looks in the box. I was wrong. This lens is huge. It's something so big that my big photo backpack might not fit in it. It will be difficult to take with me on easy hikes like I did with my 100-400 (see size comparison in photo). And it will be very difficult to hold it in your hands for a long time. I'd rather go to the gym. In terms of style, the all-black style is very elegant. The only thing I don't like about the design is the lens cap and hood. The "cap" of the lens is actually fabric and is placed on the front of the lens. It's not quick to put on and take off, so I'll probably leave it off rather than on. And the lens hood is not only huge, but also completely made of metal. While this is good in terms of protection, it does make the lens heavier. And the last thing this lens needs is to be heavy. But enough about the size and construction of the lens, how it works. I've shot the lens a couple of times, mostly in the morning light but also indoors in the evening. The results were about what I expected in image quality and better than I expected in image stabilization. The image quality can be seen in the attached photos. Also wide open there are good results. Stopping down to f/8 improves image quality slightly. Switching to f/11 keeps the quality on par. Anything beyond that should never be used. But image stabilization, wow! I shot 1/40s at 600mm and got sharp images. This is 4 stops slower than the recommended handheld focal length of 1/600s. Haven't tried setting up IS yet (using the Sigma dock) but I've heard using Dynamic IS makes it even better. I also found the sharpness to be good, although I plan to test it and make adjustments. possibly with dock. Everything seems sharp so far, but it seems they could be even sharper. It feels like the lens is focusing a bit at 600mm. Luckily, the Sigma dock allows for a lot of customization. Not only can you adjust the microfocus settings at the long and short ends of the zoom range, but you can also set a few stops in between. And you can also set micro adjustments for different object lengths if you need different adjustments for near and far objects. This process will likely take an hour or two, but the lens' performance should be even better than it was out of the box. Focusing was pretty quick for me, even in a few tricky situations. There are also settings for this in the dock. You can set it to be fast but less accurate. Slower but more accurate, or balance. So far I've been shooting with a balanced setting, but I plan to try a slower but more accurate setting (I prefer accuracy over fast focus 99% of the time). Finally, a few things to look out for. Going back to size/weight, I found that the tripod collar could not be removed. If I'm only shooting handheld (which actually happens most of the time) I'd like to remove this to save weight. If I use an Allen key, I can remove the base, but then I have to be careful with the screws. Also, the front lens is very heavy, so there is lens lock, but I only have lens lock at the focal lengths marked. I heard that in the new version the lens is fixed at any length, which would be nice in some situations. Overall I am satisfied with this purchase.