Still alive! Sigma's most outrageous lens lives another day
UPDATE: After a conversation with Sigma USA, Petapixel has kindly pointed out that the "Bigma" is still in production as a special order product.
"This is a special order lens," Sigma told the outlet. "It is not discontinued."
Good news for anyone still hoping to drop $26,000 on the Sigma APO 200-500mm f/2.8 EX DG – which remains arguably the most audacious lens currently on the market.
…
ORIGINAL STORY (May 20 2024): Photography enthusiasts will usually have a handful of dream lenses they drool over. Rare, expensive, often at the extreme ends of focal range – lenses that push boundaries. One such candidate to the camera lens all-time hall of fame is the Sigma APO 200-500mm f/2.8 EX DG.
The name alone doesn't necessarily suggest this will be a particularly noteworthy lens – Canon produces the RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM which covers an even greater focal range. But what sets the Sigma apart is it gives you its zoom range at a constant f/2.8, and when you're dealing with focal lengths as long as 500mm with full-frame sensor coverage, maintaining f/2.8 requires some seriously special – and seriously large – lens elements.
Consequently the APO 200-500mm f/2.8 is a lens like nothing you've ever seen, from any lens manufacturer: it's an absolute BEAST! In terms of sheer mass, you'd better be built like Dwayne Johnson, as this lens weighs an incredible 15.7kg / 34.6lb - that's equivalent to 4.7 Canon RF 1200mm F8L IS USM lenses.
The Sigma's 236.5mm diameter doesn't seem all that much more than the Canon 1200mm's 168mm diameter, but where that figure only applies to the very front of the tapering Canon lens, the Sigma maintains a 200mm+ diameter down the majority of its lens barrel. Combine this with the fact that it only comes in green and, were it not for the bright red Sigma logo emblazoned on the side, you could be entirely forgiven for mistaking this lens as some sort of military rocket launcher.
Consequently, with this much mass to support, you can forget about hand-held shooting, or even using a conventional photographic tripod or monopod - you'd need a hefty, and pricey, professional fluid head and a heavy duty video tripod with a ground spreader to secure this bad boy.
If you can put up with massive size and wight, but are a little underwhelmed at only having 500mm of reach on tap, well, Sigma has the answer: the lens ships with a bespoke 2x teleconverter (also in green), upping the focal range to an effective 400-1000mm. Naturally this results in a 2-stop reduction in maximum aperture, turning the lens into an f/5.6, but that's still fast for a 1000mm lens. Other funky features include a dedicated li-ion battery to power the autofocus motor and electronic power zoom, as well as the onboard LCD status display.
The news that Sigma will no longer produce the APO 200-500mm f/2.8 EX DG could be seen as long overdue. This is a lens launched back in 2008 and therefore isn't directly compatible with mirrorless cameras, so it's certainly had a decent production run and is ripe for being pensioned off. But on the other hand, it's not like these will have been made in large numbers, so what's the harm in keeping them available for the occasional special order? Given the price of one of these babies – a cool $26,000 – that's a nice little earner for Sigma, even if it only sells a handful each year.
As a result of this colossal outlay, odds are you've never seen an APO 200-500mm f/2.8 EX DG 'in the wild'. This is a lens I've only ever witnessed at photography trade shows like The Photography Show, as it sure is a great publicity attraction when it takes pride of place on a Sigma show stand. But as with many a halo product, scarcity is part of the appeal. The Sigma APO 200-500mm f/2.8 EX DG, like all specialist lenses, is a lens that few will ever actually buy, but it'll nevertheless go down in history for being unique, iconic, and downright awesome.
Story credit: Asobinet
