Sigma 100-400mm Contemporary full-frame mirrorless lens announced

Sigma’s new super telephoto 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS lens is designed for L mount and E mount full frame mirrorless cameras.

Sigma's new mirrorless full-frame super-telephoto lens will suit those who wish to travel as light as possible. Image: Sigma.

The new lens, designated as a Contemporary model, covers a much needed focal length, particularly in the L Mount lineup. Whilst all the focus has been on releasing wide angle and portrait based lenses, the important super telephoto glass has been a long time coming.

Sigma’s lens is not designed as top of the line glass, but it is extremely affordable for a lens of its type at an RRP of $950.

Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS lens construction

The design consists of 22 elements in 16 groups with 9 rounded blades. A filter size of 67mm shows that it is also quite incredibly small for a lens of this focal length, which Sigma claims is a result of being designed for cameras with a short flange back distance.

The company says that its autofocus motors have been optimised for both phase detection and contrast detection AF systems.

It’s compact nature will satisfy those who would like to take advantage of long focal length but not have their camera bag weighed down too much. At f/5-6.3 it isn’t the fastest glass around, but wide apertures are not always desirable at long focal lengths on full-frame cameras.

The design is also such that the lens barrel extends on zooming, rather than a much neater internal system. But we have to remember here that it has been designed to meet a budget, so we can’t have everything.

The Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS won’t necessarily be a go-to lens for professional wildlife photographers for instance. Hopefully a lens suited to this purpose will eventually be released by either Sigma or Panasonic. However for the rest of us it will allow a relatively lightweight and compact way of achieving long focal lengths on casual trips out or holidays. At $950 it would also appear to be a relative bargain.

Find out more information on the Sigma website.