Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 Sport Lens - Review
Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 Sports lens for L-Mount (Panasonic, Leica, Sigma, Blackmagic) - A fantastically flawed lens?
Focal length: 70-200mm
Maximum / Minimum Aperture : f/2.8 – f/22
Stabilization: Yes
Filter thread: 77mm
Close focus: 0.65m (25.6") at 70mm; 1m (39.4") at 200mm
Hood: Screw-fix
Weight: L-mount 1345g
RRP (at time of review) £1500
A Review Slightly Late to the Game.
At the back end of 2023, Sigma released what I believe to be an incredibly anticipated lens, a new 70-200 f/2.8 sports lens to satisfy the hunger of photographers and filmmakers who had made the switch to the L-Mount via Panasonic, or Leica (Or, indeed Sigma themselves). The question to ask is, how does it handle, was it worth the wait and is it worth the asking price?
I hasten to add, i’m not into doing the scientific tests, there’s tone of those and everyone has a chart these days, so please enjoy the samples I’ve provided and the words I have chosen to say.
Size. Weight. Build.
Anyone who’s handled a 70-200 before should feel fairly familiar to the lens’ size and weight. Weighing in at 1345g, it’s not the heaviest nor the lightest lens to grace the category, bur a respectable weight nevertheless, and one that initially feels great. I haven’t ever found myself thinking that it’s certainly too heavy. There’s a 77mm diameter lens thread for all your filtering needs, and while thats great, it doesn’t quite line-up with a more typical 82mm diameter.
Thread step-up / set-down rings however, are only a few quid from Amazon, so it might be worthwhile going all in on some 82mm filters, and adapting the filter to smaller diameters. It does keep the lens feeling small-ish in the hands despite it’s obvious girth, but 77mm threw me off when I got the lens in my hands, I naturally assumed it would be 82mm.
It’s a pretty solid feeling lens too, the zoom ring feels stiff but sturdy, and the focus ring glides super silky. No real complaints here about how the rings handle, but there is one thing I thought it’d have a massive gripe about, and turns out I did.
Placement of the zoom ring.
The zoom ring on the Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 Sport lens for L-Mount
I never thought i’d outwardly have a problem with how the zoom / focus rings are aligned.
“It’s just a small shift of the hand” I said to myself, eagerly fixing it to my Panasonic S5iix.
Oh how wrong I was. I’ll explain a little more in depth later, but in a nut-shell I found that the small shift of hand placement makes a massive difference to how I used the lens. Often I’d just forget to zoom at all and kept my focal length at around 200mm.
If anyones familiar with Jared Polin (Fro knows photo) on Youtube, he touches on this as well, claiming that it’s just enough to throw you off balance, and just feels a little… clunky in the hands.
The second part that irks me, is the lens hood.
A simple lens hood found on the majority of lenses has a simple twist and click mechanic to it, I had it with my Sigma 24-70mm f2.8, my Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 and 50-100mm f.1,8. It’s a tried and true method the expands to most camera manufacturers - twist and click is just easy.
But with our 70-200mm, Sigma have opted for the more ‘traditional’ sports hood design which is a case of unscrewing the hood on, and screwing it back off. Seen in the above photo.
Firstly - you can not get to the zoom ring, while the hood is in the ‘retracted’ position. You can’t just switch the camera on, select a focal length and get some shots. The hood either needs to be on ready for shooting, or off completely, there’s no in-between. Which i’ve found on more than one occasion is just annoying. Even if there was a little gap just to reach the zoom ring would be enough, but it’s just not possible.
Secondly - When the hood Is on and you’re ready for shooting, the hood covers part of the zoom ring. So, even if you’re geared up ready to shoot, the real-estate for your hands to adjust the lens is limited by design.
But let’s talk about overall feel - if we’re set up and ready to shoot, I do have a problem with the zoom ring being the outer ring on the lens. It’s just not as convenient to adjust. On my old Canon R7 + 70-200 f/4 lens, I could rest my palm on the bottom of the camera body, and adjust zoom function simultaneously with my fingers, which made me a faster shooter. With our Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 - there’s no real way to have another point of contact to stabilise yourself, which ultimately, could impede your ability to get a shot. I suppose it depends on how adaptive you can be.
The Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 lens hood.
There’s a couple of buttons on the lens that, at least for me, I couldn’t figure out how to customise on my Panasonic S5iix, but they’re there (I assume you’ll have a better time using these if you chose the Sony E-mount version instead) - there’s classic focus limiting switches and Optical Image Stabilisation switches which are what they are, there’s no real talking point there.
There’s a de-clickable aperture ring which you’ll leave in auto and use the body to change f stop with, unless you’re a filmmaker with the desire for a smooth stop pull during a take. I guess it’s a nice feature to have, and compliments the rest of the latest Sigma lenses, although I wonder how many people would use this feature - especially with the lens being heavy - you’d want a FIZ system in there and have someone do it remotely - and at that point, seems a bit silly to have really. Mind you, people will find a use for it, so it’s nice that it’s there.
Lock switch and aperture ring on Sigma 70-200mm f2.8
The Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 is all it’s glory.
But how does it perform?
Performance.
Performance is, ultimately the name of the game.
How does the lens perform optically, and how does it perform mechanically.
I took the lens to two separate spots, 2 separate occasions photographing the fine runners in Wimbledon Common as part of the weekly Park Run, and to visit a good friend of mine, playing a mixed 7-a-side game of football in Clapton.
First, lets talk football.
Going down for a completely non-pressure style shoot was bliss, it’s not often I can go and ‘have fun’ with it. But the fantastic Clapton Cobras welcomed me with open arms. Plus it’s football, and I love football.
The biggest test here was autofocus speed. There’s a lot to do with camera settings here, but I set the camera to lock onto a target, and adjust as quickly as possible - The Panasonic S5iix kept up fairly well, and the lens was pretty zippy and accurate - I was actually quite surprised that 95% of my shots hit right and stuck, even during the burst shots.
In terms of sharpness, there’s a whole heap of shots where I can perceive water droplets coming off the football or the players, with very little chromatic aberration to speak of.
But I will refer back to the lens hood and the zoom ring here, this was the shoot where I noticed it the most. I just couldn’t get used to looking in an our and keeping a lock on the action to the best of my ability. Would I be able to get used to it? Yeah, i’m pretty sure I will, but it’s a new learning curve that i’m a bit perturbed that I have to get used to again.
These shots would have been all shot at f/2.8, various levels of shutter speed and ISO - and clarity of the optics is pretty pin-sharp throughout the zoom range.
The S5iix has great In-Body stabilisation, paired with the Sigma 70-200 f2.8 (i’m led to believe any L-mount lens should be considered ‘first party’) I think that having the two work together was pleasantly unnoticeable - and it shouldn’t be for still in my opinion, it should just do its job and solve a pretty hefty problem in the background.
Please click the images to see them full-res.
All images taken have had slight brightness / contrast edits, otherwise, are pretty much unedited.
Fn button on Sigma 70-200 f/2.8
The challenging conditions of the park run in cloud cover and under woodland shelter, did drove quite troublesome. I had pushed my ISO to really its limit that I’d have been happy with. There’s degrees of acceptability for all photographers, mine certainly got pushed on that occasion.
Still though, the lens and camera combo didn’t have problems nailing focus, which is a nice problem not to worry aboout
Focus limiter switch on the Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8
In the image above you’ll see an empty space - which would where the tripod mount would be - I’ve taken it off because I don’t thin the lens is that heavy to damage the mount, but heavy enough to shave a few grams off where I can. It would be much better if I could take the entire ring off, but i’ll make do with just the tripod foot.
For those who would use the tripod mount, there’s a standard 1/4” screw in, or the foot doubles as a arca-swiss dove tail, which is a nice touch.
Competition.
The competition for the L-mount falls in line of the Panasonic 70-200 f/4 or f2.8 - both are bulkier and heavier, which generally perceived better sharpness and a manual focus de-clutch. Otherwise there’s a samyang 35-150mm f/2 - 2.8 - which offers a wider perspective, and a wider stop (at the wide end) - not one generally I’d consider, but the internet seems to really dig it.
The Panasonic commands a higher price, whilst the Samyang can be found for around £1000, almost £500 cheaper but i’d argue they’re lenses for different subjects - 150mm I think is too wide for telephoto / sports work, but i’ll happily be told i’m wrong though.
I could end up comparing to the likes of Canon, Nikon, Sony and the rest, but I would suspect if you’re reading a review for an L-mount version of the lens, then it’ll be because you already have an L-mount camera.
Summery
Even though there’s suspect handling for the Sigma 70-200 f/2.8, its performance really does shine for optical quality vs price point. It’s not the best in any category, but certainly not the worst. It delivery I think, a very pro-level performance in a great package - once you get used to it.