In summary
Buy this lens if:
- You want a high-performance macro lens that can also be used for portraiture for use on a ‘full frame’ body.
- You want fast and quiet autofocusing.
- You require built-in image stabilisation.
- You require edge-to-edge sharpness for copying.
- You want a lens that requires no readjustment when you fit filters.
Don’t buy this lens if:
- You need a lightweight lens.
- You require weatherproof sealing.
- You’re not prepared to use a tripod for critical macro work.
Full review
Sigma’s 150mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM APO Macro lens is a second-generation product, adding optical stabilisation to an already popular (and high-performing) lens. The new lens is optically more complex than its predecessor and, thanks to the added Optical Stabilisation (OS) system, just over 250 grams heavier.
Designed for cameras with 36 x 24 mm sensors but usable on APS-C DSLRs, it is available in mounts to suit Sigma, Canon, Nikon and Sony/Minolta cameras. The review lens was supplied with front and rear caps, a large cylindrical lens hood and a removable tripod collar. We didn’t receive the ‘carrying case’ that was listed in the specifications for the lens.
Side view of the Sigma 150mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM APO Macro lens. (Source: Sigma.)
On bodies with smaller sensors, this lens covers a similar field of view to a 225mm lens in 35mm format when fitted to Nikon, Pentax and Sony cameras with 1.5x crop factors or 240mm with Canon DSLRs. It can be used with Sigma’s 1.4x and 2.0 teleconverter extension attachments when even longer effective focal lengths are required.
The optical design comprises 19 elements in 13 groups and includes three SLD (Special Low Dispersion) glass elements that correct colour shifts and ensure sharpness across the zoom range. The AF system uses Sigma’s HSM ultrasonic motor technology, which moves two groups of elements to focus close enough for 1:1 reproduction.
This system is fast in normal light levels and also virtually silent when the camera’s phase-detection AF system operates. It’s also usable with Live View shooting, where contrast detection operates.
Super Multi-layer coatings on the lens minimise flare and ghosting. Nine diaphragm blades provide a rounded aperture that can be closed down to f/22.
The optical design of the Sigma 150mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM APO Macro lens with the three SLD elements shown in blue. (Source: Sigma.)
Sigma claims a shutter speed advantage of up to four f-stops for the built-in stabilisation system but this is probably only achievable with heavier ‘full frame’ camera bodies. On smaller, lighter bodies with APS-C sized sensors, three f-stops is a more realistic expectation.
The large maximum aperture and flat field of view make this lens useful for copying small, flat subjects like postage stamps and coins, while also providing a bright viewfinder image for other types of macro photography. Its f/2.8 maximum aperture ensures a bright viewfinder image that is useful for framing shots of small moving animals and taking close-ups of plants.
This lens is also well suited to portrait photography, particularly when fitted to a ‘full frame’ camera. Its focal length is long enough to provide a good camera-to-subject distance, while the large maximum aperture provides the ability to control depth-of-field to produce nice background blurring.
For this review, we used a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera body instead of our usual EOS 5D. We plan to swap to this body for future tests of ‘FX’ lenses in order to take advantage of the higher sensor resolution.
This should enable us to explore the full potential of high-quality lenses instead of being hampered by reduced sensor resolution. (The measurement figures below are based on the lens with a Canon mount.)
Build
The new 150mm f/2.8 Macro lens carries the ‘EX’ badge, which indicates superior build quality and performance. The dimpled finish of earlier lenses has been dispensed with and replaced by a smooth surface that’s almost matte black. Overall, this lens looks very smart and feels solidly built, although it lacks weatherproof sealing.
The front element of the lens is 5.5 mm in diameter and close to the end of the barrel, making it vulnerable to dust, scratches and sticky fingers. It’s surrounded by a narrow plate inset into the lens barrel. The inner edge of the barrel is threaded for 72 mm diameter filters and provides a secure mount for the lens cap, which has a pinch-fit attachment.
Focusing and zooming are totally internal, which means the length of the lens remains constant and the front element doesn’t rotate. The lens hood is 75 mm long and attaches easily with a bayonet fitting. It adds approximately 61 mm to the overall length of the lens, which extends about 218 mm in front of the camera body with the hood in place.
The focusing ring is approximately 55 mm wide and begins roughly 10 mm back from the front of the lens. The lens barrel widens in a series of three small steps here. Covering about 42 mm of the width of the focusing ring is a rubber grip band with narrow parallel ridges.
Immediately behind the focusing ring is an inset distance scale, marked in metres and feet, with 10 settings, ranging from 0.38 metres to infinity. Just behind the distance scale (and slightly overlapping it on the left hand side of the barrel) is a bank of three slider controls.
The top one is a focus limiter and provides three settings: Full, 0.53 m to infinity and 0.38 to 0.53 metres. Below it is the AF/MF slider switch for selecting the focusing mode. The lowest slider, which controls the stabilisation mode, has three positions: Off (for when the lens is tripod mounted) plus mode 1 for normal hand-held shooting and mode 2 for panning and shooting moving subjects.
The tripod collar fits onto the lens immediately behind these sliders. A large knurled adjustment screw pokes out to the left side of the camera when the tripod collar is set for landscape orientation. It rotates clockwise when you wish to change to portrait format.
The mounting plate is made from solid, machined stainless steel. It surrounds the rear element of the lens, which is roughly 30 mm in diameter and recessed approximately 13 mm into the lens barrel. Gold-plated electronic contacts on the mount provide interfaces with the camera’s electronics.
Handling
Being a larger and heavier camera body, the EOS 5D Mark II made a good partner for the review lens, which was less well balanced on our smaller EOS 1100D body. It would be equally at home on a heavier professional camera but too big and heavy for one of the lighter, entry-level DSLRs.
The metal mounting plate attached to both bodies positively and securely. The focusing ring on the review lens turned very smoothly with a small degree of resistance but no unsteadiness.
In manual focusing mode, the ring could be turned through approximately 165 degrees, which enabled very precise manual focusing for normal shooting, although it was a little short for subjects in the 1:1 macro range. Swapping between manual and autofocusing was easy and the slider is conveniently positioned. Manual focus adjustment is available in AF mode.
When the viewfinder was used for shot composition, the HSM AF drive was very fast with normally-lit subjects at distances of roughly 75 cm or more. It slowed a little for subjects in the macro range, particularly in lower light levels. Swapping to contrast-detection also slowed response times for Live View shooting.
The focus limiter reduced the incidence of hunting for macro shots but didn’t totally prevent it. The very shallow depth-of-field, even with the lens stopped down to f/8, made precise focusing critical. This combined with focus hunting made it difficult to record a high percentage of sharp shots at 1:1 reproduction.
When used for portraiture, particularly on a camera with an APS-C sized sensor, the review lens provided an excellent, if slightly flattened, perspective and it was possible to obtain attractive bokeh by using wider aperture settings.
Performance
In general, test shots taken with the review lens were very sharp and the slightly elevated contrast made every detail in the subject clearly visible. Our Imatest testing showed the review lens capable of meeting the resolution of the EOS 5D Mark II’s sensor.
The review lens appeared to have a ‘sweet spot’ between about f/4 and f/8, with the highest resolution recorded at f/5.6. Resolution was slightly below expectations at the widest apertures, although shots taken at f/2.8 were acceptably sharp.
Diffraction kicked in quite sharply after f/8. Differences between centre and edge resolution were small throughout the aperture range, indicating excellent flatness of field ““ as you would expect from a high-quality macro lens. The graph below shows the results of our tests.
Lateral chromatic aberration was negligible at all aperture settings, as shown in the graph of our Imatest results, below. We found no evidence of coloured fringing in test shots, confirming these results.
Slight vignetting could be seen at f/2.8 in test shots taken with the EOS 5D Mark II but it was gone by f/4 so it isn’t a serious problem. Vignetting was negligible with the smaller sensor on the EOS 1100D, even at f/2.8.
Pincushion distortion was slight enough to be effectively negligible, as expected for a macro lens. Flare was never an issue if the lens hood was in place although, without the hood, the lens could be forced to flare in some situations with both the test cameras we used.
Autofocusing was very quiet, thanks to the HSM (ultrasonic) motor. However, it could be quite slow when the distance limiter was set to the FULL position, particularly with low-contrast subjects and in low light levels. Using the focus limiter improved matters considerably, although the AF speeds for this lens can’t be classified as fast.
We encountered no problems with front or back focusing when shooting close-ups. On the EOS 5D II, focusing was spot-on with virtually every subject we tackled.
Bokeh was generally good, as expected for a macro lens. We found some outlining and out-of-focus highlights tended to be slightly elliptical towards the edges of the frame in several shots. However, central highlights were evenly rendered and mostly circular in shape.
Buy this lens if:
- You want a high-performance macro lens that can also be used for portraiture for use on a ‘full frame’ body.
- You want fast and quiet autofocusing.
- You require built-in image stabilisation.
- You require edge-to-edge sharpness for copying.
- You want a lens that requires no readjustment when you fit filters.
Don’t buy this lens if:
- You need a lightweight lens.
- You require weatherproof sealing.
- You’re not prepared to use a tripod for critical macro work.
SPECS
Picture angle: 16.4 degrees
Minimum aperture: f/22
Lens construction: 19 Elements in 13 Groups
Lens mounts: Sigma, Canon, Nikon, Sony/Minolta
Diaphragm Blades: 9
Focus drive: HSM ultrasonic motor
Stabilisation: Optical Stabilisation (OS)
Minimum focus: 38 cm
Maximum magnification: 1:1
Filter size: 72 mm
Dimensions (Diameter x L): 258.6 x 157 mm
Weight: 1150 grams
TESTS
Based on JPEG files taken with the Canon EOS 5D Mark II.
SAMPLES
Vignetting at f/2.8 on the EOS 1100D.
Vignetting at f/2.8 on the EOS 5D Mark II.
Rectilinear distortion on the EOS 5D Mark II.
Focal length comparisons showing the coverage when the lens is on a ‘full frame’ camera (top) and a camera with an APS-C sized sensor with a 1.6x crop factor (below).
EOS 5D Mark II; ISO 200, 1/180 second at f/8.
Crop of the above image, enlarged to 100%, showing no coloured fringing.
A true macro shot, taken with the EOS 5D Mark II; ISO 200, 1/125 second at f/2.8.
Flare spots in a shot taken with the EOS 5D Mark II in strong backlighting; ISO 200, 1/1000 second at f/4.5.
Flare spots in a shot taken with the EOS 1100D in strong backlighting; ISO 200, 1/400 second at f/4.
EOS 1100D; ISO 200, 1/320 second at f/3.2.
EOS 5D Mark II; ISO 400, 1/500 second at f/5.6.
EOS 1100D; ISO 1600, 1/80 second at f/8.
EOS 1100D; ISO 1000, 1/200 second at f/8.
EOS 5D Mark II; ISO 400, 1/350 second at f/4.
EOS 5D Mark II; ISO 800, 1/125 second at f/2.8.
EOS 5D Mark II; ISO 200, 1/350 second at f/5.6.
Rating
RRP: $1299
- Build: 8.8
- Handling: 8.5
- Image quality: 9.0
- Versatility: 8.3