Sigma 150mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro, a portal to the macro world

Sigma 150mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro

Now is an amazing time to be into photography. Manufacturers like Tamron, Tokina, and Sigma are constantly releasing new lenses that challenge or even beat their Nikon/Canon counterparts at a significantly lower price point. And let’s face it, most of us don’t have endless funds, and finding a lens that delivers the performance you demand at a price you can swallow is why sites like epinions exist in the first place.

The Sigma 150mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro has gained quite a loyal following for these reasons. A quick search on internet forums like dpreview.com will uncover many many happy buyers, smug at the fact that they got a killer lens and saved money over it’s Nikon/Canon counterpart.

I had been reading these reviews for some time before making the decision to buy one. I had been wanting a Macro lens because of the photography possibilities they make possible. These lenses can actually see more details than human eyes are capable of, taking you into a world of photography otherwise impossible.

Overview

The Sigma 150mm is in a unique range, no other manufacturer makes a 150mm macro lens. And the only other macro lens that covers that range is the Nikon 70-180mm f/4.5-5.6 macro which not only costs more but is a slower lens that only reproduces to 1.3:1. With a street price of around or under $600, the Sigma really sets itself apart. The only question is will it perform?

150mm is a very nice macro range. It’s long enough that you can get close to bugs without sending them scurrying for cover, and short enough that it can be used for head portraits if needed. And the constant f/2.8 aperture puts the lens immediately into the professional category.

The lens itself is part of the new Sigma DG line, meaning it has the designed for digital DG coating on the rear element of the lens. This is said to cut down on flare and ghosting, and also improve color rendition and contrast. Some have speculated that this DG coating is just a marketing gimmick used by Sigma to raise the cost of their lenses. That may be, but I have found some slight improvements in the DG version lenses vs. their non-DG counterparts. I haven’t however compared this lens to the non-DG counterpart. Another change in the DG line of lenses is the improved look and feel of the lens finish, that’s certainly appreciated.

This 150mm macro has a sort of stubby look, it’s shorter than you would expect from pictures, and the wide 72mm front element gives it a sort of bazooka look. It’s very solid to hold, with a wonderful tripod mount and a firm focusing ring. The addition of a 3-way focus limiting switch makes real world use much more pleasant, as does the high speed and whisper silent HSM focusing motor. The fact that the lens does not change in length during focusing is also very much appreciated.

Optical Performance

Lets get a couple things out of the way first, prime (set focal length) macro lenses are expected to produce negligible distortion, vignetting, and chromatic aberrations. The Sigma 150mm is no exception, as all of these are non-issues, so we’ll leave discussion of them out of the mix.

Another expectation of macro lenses is sharpness, and the Sigma doesn’t disappoint. Even wide open at f/2.8 the lens produces results sharp enough to count hairs on a tarantula. The sharpness only improves from there with a peak somewhere between f/6.3 and f/8. It’s not until above f/11 that sharpness begins to decline due to internal refractions. This wide sweet spot in sharpness gives you the shooter even more flexibility. You can use different apertures to control depth of field without having to worry about losing critical sharpness in your image.

To summarize that point, the lens will produce excellent results edge to edge EXCEPT at focal lengths of 12mm - 18mm and apertures from f/4 - f/5. If you need edge sharpness in your shot, avoid those areas.

Color Reproduction and Overall Image Quality

Sharpness isn’t everything though, when taking macro shots of flowers or things like a blue morpho butterfly, you need colors that really pop! You also need even more contrast depth than you would from other standard use lenses. In my use I’ve certainly seen that the Sigma 150mm macro delivers just that. I should quantify however that this is my only macro lens, and the only one I’ve ever owned. I have however looked at countless macro shots, both good and bad, from other photographers and this Sigma produces some of the best results I’ve seen to date.

As I mentioned before, the wide range of sharpness over different apertures means that this lens could potentially serve many uses. It’s focal length means that it could serve well as a head-shot portrait lens. But many macro lenses suffer from less than pleasing ‘bokeh’. Bokeh is a term given to the out of focus areas, the shape of the blur essentially. Many macro lenses have bokeh that consists of hard edges, it doesn’t blend seamlessly into the background as it should. This lens however gives very pleasing background blur, almost a silky feel that helps to isolate the subject even more. I think this is due to the lens’ use of 9 aperture blades – as opposed to most macro lenses that use 6, 7, or 8 blades. The use of more blades mean the aperture circle is even more rounded, and more natural looking.

This pleasing bokeh, along with critical sharpness at small depth of field aperture settings means the lens theoretically would serve well as a portrait lens. In actual use I found this to be very true. I first used it for this purpose to take the passport photos of my fiancé and I, and when I looked at the shots I was amazed at the results. I then used the lens to take Christmas portraits of our families, again with excellent results. It looks like I’ll be able to stop using my old Nikon 105mm f/2.5 manual focus lens for this purpose!

Focusing

Macro lenses are slow to focus, period. It’s easy to understand why when you use one, due to the precision needed to accurately focus on a tiny subject at high magnification ratios, macro lenses travel a very long distance when focusing. Sigma did a couple things to try and speed up focusing with this lens. The first is the inclusion of their HSM focusing motor. This makes focus travel silent, and faster than a screw drive mechanism. The second is the use of a 3-way focus limiting switch. The three setting are infinity focus, .52m – infinity, and .38m - .52m. These two things certainly help to speed up focusing, but still this lens would let you down if you tried to use it for action photography. Another nice touch is the full-time manual focus override, important for fine tuning your focus in macro photography.

Conclusion

Since this is my only macro lens, I’ll hold off on giving it my highest recommendation. I do very much like the lens however, and would recommend it to someone as a first macro lens. It has a high level of build quality, produces excellent sharpness and colors, the barrel doesn’t extend in length when focusing, its HSM motor is silent and helps speed up focusing, and the lens packs some surprises like a 9 blade aperture ring that produces creamy out-of-focus bokeh and lends itself to portraiture.

What’s not to like? Honestly, the only things I can come up with are so minor they're hardly worth mentioning. Getting the lens cap off with the hood attached isn't easy, and I'd rather have a 77mm filter thread than the smaller 72mm. Also the Sigma HSM lenses didn’t function properly with the new Nikon D200, and had to be sent in for a re-chip. However Sigma addressed that issue and provided excellent support.

This lens is a winner from Sigma. In 4 months of ownership I've been extremely happy.