150-600 mm F5-6.3 Contemporary

at its current lower uk asking price (if you look around) this lens is a bargain for birding on a budget.
quite sharp through its range, gets a little better when stopped down a little.
results can be inconsistent so take a few shots of your subject for insurance.
this lens needs good light ut dislikes backlit subjects.
bokeh can range from good to rather harsh.
needs the dock to realise its os and af performance.
i used this lens for a year and enjoyed my time with it until i moved on to the nikon 200-500vr which is my birding lens of choice atm.

I just got mine four days ago. I love it already. I don't understand the review saying it was bad, must have been a lemon lens. Mine is tack sharp. I wish that the lens kit (150-600 S lens + 1.4 TC) would have come with the usb dock. It seems a little me to not include that accessory with a $2,000.00 lens. If I had the money I would buy the Nikon prime lens in 500 or 600mm, but I don't have that kind of discretionary income. I am very happy with this lens so far. If you look at my gallery the only photo in there so far was taken with this lens at full extension with the TC. The camera body is a Nikon D810, on a tripod with a gimbal head.

Been using the contemporary for a few months now, only a casual birder but it hasn't let me down to date, good speed of autofocus used on a Nikon d5500, bought the 1.4 teleconverter for even further reach but finding the autofocus more of a struggle with them together, going to buy the connector for PC next to see if they just need firmware upgrades to resolve but very happy for overall price.

Sport model. Very sharp focus throughout 150-600. A bit heavy when hand held but worth the extra reach.

I had a Sport version and was shooting full frame. I thought it would be the answer to my prayers- a 600 mm lens for under 1,500. V.Very disappointing, not very sharp at 600mm and the bokeh was horrible and distracting with horizontal barring across the background. Very heavy and unbalanced. Got rid and bit the bullet- 500mm Canon f4 last a lifetime and as good as it gets!!

Posted accidentally in the product description field by member CWObrien

Used this lens for the first time yesterday on my Nikon D3200. I wanted to post this review because I know people will be interested to know how this lens works with a lower-end consumer body. (Really an entry level body in the case of the D3200).

My concern when buying this lens was whether or not it would autofocus fast enough with my D3200, which obviously doesn't have as good an autofocus system as more advanced models.

Well, I'm glad to report that my fears were misplaced. I was very, very impressed with how this lens performed. It was very quick to acqure focus right throughout the focus range. Admittedly, fast-moving birds flying right towards me did give it some trouble, but that could be the D3200s limited autofocus capabilities, plus the fact that I had only one autofocus point selected (not the best choice for flight photography).

I was pleasantly surprised with how sharp this lens was. It produced sharp images throughout the zoom range, right up to 600mm. This lens can also be locked at all marked focal lengths, which is certainly useful, but not the best idea for bird photography unless you're working with a very stationary subject. Otherwise, the limited field of view could see you lose a moving subject.

As well as the great focussing motor from Sigma, the optical stabilization from Sigma also worked very well, making this an easy lens to handhold. Admittedly, my arm did start to tire after half-hour-plus of shooting, but I find if you just swap hands when supporting it it's easy to carry this lens for long-distance hikes. I'm only 5'8" and not a particularly strong person, so I'd imagine bigger, beefier birders than me will have no problem with it!

On first impression, I'm very pleased with this lens. It delivers a stellar performance at an affordable price point. As much as I'd love to splash out on top-end Nikon pro glass, there's no way I can justify that to myself right now. This is an excellent, affordable alternative. And given how well it works with a low-end body like a D3200, a higher-end model should unlock even more of the potential this lens has to offer.