Sigma 300-600mm F/4 DG OS | Sports Hands-on Review - a Groundbreaking Lens, With Limitations
posted Tuesday, May 6, 2025 at 10:03 AM EDT
The Sigma 300-600mm f/4 DG OS | Sports is a lens that Sony should have made.
This is an audacious lens, even for Sigma, which is one of the most innovative lens manufacturers. A fixed-aperture zoom lens is rare enough, but a super-telephoto zoom lens with a fixed aperture is unique. It's a niche lens for a very specific type of user; for that user, it is an exceptional choice.
A super-telephoto lens with a prime-like constant aperture is the type of out-of-the-box thinking I'd love to see come from Sony. The focal ranges are great, the fixed aperture is even better, and using the lens is a joy. Sigma makes variable aperture super-telephoto lenses and also the highly regarded ART series of primes. The Sigma 300-600mm f/4 DG OS | Sports combines both into one lens, something unprecedented.
But it's not without its compromises.
Watch Our 300-600mm F/4 DG OS Review Video
Editor's Note: The image compression here at Imaging-Resource is heavy-handed. For a better look at the test images, please check out our hands-on review video.
Sigma 300-600mm f/4 DG OS and the Competitive Landscape
There is no perfect lens. Every choice in optical design is a balancing act. A wider aperture means a bigger body, which requires more powerful motors. Combatting chromatic aberration requires specialized internal corrective lenses, which add weight and complexity. Optical image stabilization means the lens gets bigger still thanks to the internal gimbals that control shake.
These are all engineering contraints, and they can be solved, though the solutions are not without tradeoffs.
The Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS costs nearly $13,000 because it solves these problems with costly engineering choices. Sony designed a lens with practically no optical aberations, and powerful image stabilization. You just have to be willing to spend as much on the lens as you would on a used car.
On the other end of the price spectrum, Sony's 200-600mm and 400-800mm lenses are designed to provide incredible reach while keeping the price and weight down. The lenses succeed but with the tradeoff of variable aperture.
Sigma 300-600mm f/4 DG OS | Sports - Build Quality
The Sigma 300-600 is built like a tank. It's a massive lens that is a far cry from the "kit lens" models Sigma specialized in decades ago. it's even a massive step up from Sigma's prevoius sport lens, the 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports, which I have used extensively. That lens had great image quality, though the external-zoom design made it cumbersome to shoot and the variable aperture reduced its performance in low light conditions.
The Sigma 300-600mm is impressive just based on how far Sigma has come since that earlier Sport lens. It looks and feels like the pro sports lens it is. At a distance, it would be indistinguishable from a Canon or Sony Pro lens, and when using it it is nearly indistringuisable from one of those lenses as well.
The controls are easy to access. The focus and zoom rings are massive and easy to grab with gloves, and a rotating barrel switch allows quick settings changes. This rotating dial can be used to control several focus modes and makes it easy to pull focus when using the lens for video.
Four AF Lock buttons are arrayed around the lens, allowing quick focus setting without having to reach around the barrel to find a button whether you're shooting horizontally or vertically.
The lens offers two different stabilization modes: one for typical photo shooting conditions and a second for better stabilization when panning. A dedicated processor controls stabilization onboard the lens, and dedicated motors move the lens elements. Sigma claims a 5.5-stop shake reduction, which I was unable to verify, but the stabilization is good enough to allow me to handhold without worrying about image shake.
The body is magnesium, which helps keep the weight down to just under four pounds (1.87 pounds, 3.87 kilograms), and it measures 18.5 inches (469.9 millimeters) without the lens hood. The massive lens hood adds around six more inches to the overall length. While I use some telephoto lenses without the hood, it's a must with the Sigma 300-600mm because of the size of the front element.
Since the front lens element is so large, Sigma designed the lens with drop-in filters at the lens mount end, something I wish more telephoto lenses included. This lens has both a circular polarizer and a variable neutral density filter, and I'd recommend the variable ND filter to get the best image quality when shooting fully open on bright days.
There's a massive Arca-Swiss-compatible tripod mounting foot (why aren't all tripod feet Arca-Swiss?) that doubles as a reasonable place to grab the lens when using it handheld.
I've used the lens extensively in wet conditions that ranged from drizzle and mist to steady light rain. It shrugs off moisture. I wouldn't shoot this lens in a downpour without a plastic cover, but for most wet and rainy conditions I have no concerns about the weather resistance.
While the lens is very heavy, it's handholdable—at least for some photographers. A prime zoom with a fixed aperture, excellent image quality, amazing image stabilization, and the ability to handhold it for short periods is a winning combination.
But there are a few drawbacks. This lens is so good that it's easiest to talk about these limitations so that I can focus on what I love about it—which is almost everything. To reiterate, I would still buy this lens despite the few drawbacks, and I will recommend it to people despite the limitations.
What the Sigma 300-600mm Can't Do
The version of the lens we tested was the Sony E-Mount version. Panasonic is one of the manufacturers behind the L-Mount Alliance, and the lens performs differently on the L-Mount platform. Since we couldn't test the lens on that mount, these comments are centered on the Sony shooter.
When Sony first started making cameras, it shared the specs for its E-Mount with third-party companies. This was necessary because when the full-frame Alpha 7 (a7) started shipping, there were only a few lenses to accompany it. Sony's cameras would never have taken off if it hadn't been for Tamron and Sigma.
Sony shared the physical mount's details but never shared how the camera processors talk to the lenses. In other words, Sony gave manufacturers the specs for the physical connection and for the signals coming from the electrical contacts but it doesn't share things like the way Sony processors interact with the lens to boost performance.
Sony engineers for cameras and lenses work together to develop products for each other's timelines. When Sony began development of the global shutter used in the Alpha 9 III (a9 III) it worked with the lens team so that Sony's lenses would provide support for that high-performance sensor.
Until recently, that wasn't an issue, but lens manufacturers are facing issues with the advent of Sony's super-fast-capturing cameras like the Alpha 9 III (a9 III) becasue they're not part of the design process for Sony's processors.
The biggest limitation is that using the Sigma 300-600 f/4, DG OS caps the frame rate at 15 frames per second. Many of the sports and wildlife shooters I know rarely shoot at 30 frames per second, and even more rarely shoot at 60 fps or above, but they switch to these speeds when necessary. It's one thing to have a lens that can shoot at 30fps or higher and not need it then to have a lens that cannot.
The 15 fps limit will be a deal breaker for some customers, though the lens price makes this limitation reasonable. The Sony 600mm f/4 OSS GM can shoot at the full frame rate of the a7S III, but it's also almost $13,000.
More problematic to me than the frame rate limit is that the lens can't focus while zooming. As a wildlife, sports, and aviation photographer, being able to zoom and focus is critical. Trying to keep an F-18 jet centered in the frame during an airshow requires constant zooming. I can work around this with planning and post-capture cropping, but my muscle memory says that zooming and focusing are possible, and it's hard to remember that shots while zooming will possibly be out of focus.
The Sigma 300-600mm f/4 DG OS also cannot use Sony's teleconverters, which limits the lens compared to the Sony 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 although the resulting aperture when shooting at f/6.3 combined with a 1.4x teleconverter gives you an f/9 aperture. That's a lot less light than f/4.
Personally, I'd rather shoot a high-resolution camera like the Sony Alpha 1 II and crop than use a 1.4x teleconverter anyhow. Some photographers will balk at the lack of teleconverter as it would be great to have an 860mm focal length at f/5.6.
The last drawback is hard to test. The Sigma 300-600mm f/4 probably focuses less adroitly than Sony's sports-capable lenses. Like all lenses, there were times when the focus didn't lock. It feels like the same average of missed shots as the Sony 200-600mm I most recently shot, but only for shots where I was not zooming. It's hard to tell how many shots are lost to the lack of focusing during zooming.
This is one of my meanings when I said that Sony should have created this lens. It's not just that Sony should be making niche products like this, it's that if Sony did make a lens like this it probably wouldn't have these limitations.
After weeks of using the Sigma 300-600 f/4 DG OS | Sports, I'm blown away. I mentioned I've used the Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS | Sports quite a bit. I spent two weeks in Brazil on a photo safari with it, and while the image quality was excellent, it was a very difficult lens to use.
The external zoom of 150-600mm made the lens increasingly front-heavy when zooming, throwing me off balance when standing on the prow of our small boats. While the 150-600mm lens is only four pounds (1.83 kilograms), the 150-600mm felt more uncomfortable and awkward than the heavier 300-600mm.
The 150-600 mm black finish made the lens very hot in Brazil's harsh sun, sometimes making it uncomfortable to hold. I had coupled the Sigma lens with the pre-release Sony a7CR camera and the heat of the lens was enough to crash the camera on more than one occasion.
Video Use With the Sigma 300-600mm f/4 DG OS | Sports
We didn't have enough time with the lens for extensive video testing, but the footage we captured looks excellent.
Video capture with a 600mm focal length has its challenges and really requires a specialized video tripod. When set up properly, this lens is exceptional for video capture of wildlife, thanks to the fixed f/4 aperture.
I did notice some focus breathing issues when zooming, but that's not surprising, especially with such an extreme focal length range.
The Arca-Swiss compatible tripod foot is a welcome addition. One of my pet peeves is long lenses that can't connect to an Arca Swiss mount because adding an additional plate to a lens like this increases the risk of shake or stability issues.
The lack of ability to focus while zooming is especially limiting to wildlife videographers and aviation photographers like myself. Even with their variable f/stop, I'd suggest Sony's 200-600mm or 400-800mm lens for video-specific creators.
Should you buy the Sigma 300-600mm f/4 DG OS | Sports
The Sigma 300-600mm f/4 DG OS | Sports is a fantastic lens, perhaps the best example of performance-to-price I've ever seen. At nearly $6000, it bridges the gap in both price and quality between Sony's FE 200-600 f/5.6-6.3 OSS lens and the roughly $13,000 Sony FE 600 f/4 OSS GM.
The variable aperture on Sony's 200-600mm zoom makes that lens a massive compromise in low light, and the stratispheric price tag of the 600mm prime puts it out of the reach of almost all photographers. It is impressive that the Sigma lens has the bright aperture of Sony's prime tele and nearly the whole zoom range of Sony's 200-600mm.
Image quality is exceptional, and sharpness is maintained at the edges of the frame. I saw virtually no chormatic aberation or other artifacts in my test images. I can't directly compare the image quality to the Sony 200-600mm or the Sony 400-800mm but it felt like the Sigma had sharper images. Image quality from those Sony lenses is good, but the Sigma 300-600mm quality feels more comparable to Sony's G Master lenses than it does to the G lens series.
The wide f/4 aperture resulted in images with much softer backgrounds than either the Sony 200-600mm f/5/6-6.3 OSS G or Sony 400-800mm f/6.3-8 OSS G we've tested recently. The background defocus might not make much difference when photographing animals at a distance, but when I shot softball with it, the defocus was enough to separate the subject from the background and create a more pleasing (to me) image.
Sigma hit a home run with this lens in nearly every way. It's disappointing that the frame rate is limited to 15 frames per second and likewise frustrating that it can't focus while zooming. These limitations are at least partially imposed by the way that Sony shares (or, in this case, doesn't share) the full specs of the E mount.
Build quality is likewise superb. Neither of Sony's lenses feels as solid or reliable as this lens does. (Whether the Sigma is more durable is yet to be seen.)
The Sigma 300-600mm f/4 DG OS | Sport performs at about eighty percent the level of Sony's 600mm f/4 GM OSS and gives a 300mm focal length range while costing less than half as much as that prime lens.
If you need the pinnacle of optical quality and the frame rate to keep up with Sony's top-end sports and wildlife cameras, the 600mm is your only choice. If you can work around the limitations, the Sigma 300mm-600mm f/4 DG OS is one of the best values in the history of photographic lenses.
Where To Buy The Sigma 300mm-600mm f/4 DG OS | Sport lens
The Sigma 300mm-600mm f/4 DG OS | Sport lens is available for preorder now from retaillers like B&H and Adorama.
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