Sigma 150-500

[John Chardine]

A friend and beginner bird photographer with an Olympus body is looking at this lens. An alternative is the more costly 50-500 which is a little faster but does not have image stabilization (OS is Sigma parlance). I am recommending the 150-500 mainly because of the OS. Is this good advice?

Thanks in advance.

[Chris Brennan]

John -

Sigma's QC can be a little hit and miss with their longer lenses. I tried one of these about a year ago when they first came out and it was horrible, but subsequent users have reported it to be everywhere from excellent to marginal. They also make a 120-400 in their newer series, also with OS, and results from that lens have been acceptable. I had much better quality from the 50-500 but you need good support and/or high shutter speeds at the longer focal lengths. You might have him check out the reviews pages on the Fred Miranda site: http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/s...&cat=37&page=1

[Ed Grella]

I would only purchase a long zoom with IS, OS, VR

[Graham Smith.]

John,
I tried this one out last year for about two weeks. Like Chris, I was very disappointed. Image quality was very poor and very slow AF. I personally wouldn't recommend it.