More than a year ago I field-tested a Sigma 300-800 mm lens, and ended up liking it so much that I bought one. It was, therefore, with great interest that I received this 500 mm lens for review.

First impressions are of a very compact, ‘solid’ telephoto lens, well designed, sturdily constructed and yet fairly lightweight. When I compared this lens with my own Nikkor 500 mm it was considerably lighter, and I thought that I might even be able to hand-hold it when attempting flight shots. It will also fit into a smaller camera bag and could easily be taken on a plane as hand luggage – a point worth considering for today’s travel-thirsty birding photographers.

This is a new version of this popular lens, featuring ‘digital glass’ (DG) for improved results with digital bodies, but it can still be used on film cameras. The lens features Sigma’s Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM) for fast and quiet auto focus, and this lives up to its promise – it is very fast and very quiet. If manual focus is needed then there is an AF/manual button on the side of the lens for Canon or Sigma users, but Nikon users will have to change to manual focusing via the switch on the camera body. There is also a focus limiter switch on the lens that allows the user to limit the AF distance. This has three settings: full mode when the focus ring will operate between all distances, normal range for between eight metres and infinity, and close range from eight metres to the lens’ closest focusing distance of four metres.

This model comes with a removable lens hood, a protective glass filter on the front element, a filter holder complete with polarizing and clear filters, a rotating tripod collar, a shoulder strap, front and rear lens caps and a protective carrying case.

So how does it perform? I received this lens just as the Little Gull passage on Merseyside was in full swing and large numbers of birds were present. It was a dull day when I visited Crosby Marina, but I need a lens to work well in poor light as well as on sunny days so it seemed fair to test it out in less than perfect conditions.

As I wandered down to the water’s edge a Grey Heron was feeding close to the shore, making a perfect subject for the lens. I grabbed a few hand-held shots, thinking the heron would fly, but it didn’t so I mounted the lens on a tripod and blasted away. A quick check on the camera’s monitor seemed to show a very sharp image, but monitors can be deceptive and critical examination would have to wait until later.

The Little Gulls were present in good numbers, with one or two birds occasionally flying close enough for me to photograph them. Again I tried hand-holding the lens and was surprised at how easy it was to use this way, before deciding to be fair and mount it on the tripod to prevent camera shake and the resulting loss of sharpness. Little Gulls are not the easiest species to photograph in flight but the lens coped well, the AF kept pace and I managed a few decent-looking shots in fairly dull light. Viewing the images later on a PC monitor I was very pleased with the sharpness, contrast and colour rendition – at least what colour there was, considering the subject matter and the light.

Wanting to try the lens in more favourable conditions, I tested it at my feeding station on a sunny day with perfect light and it performed very well, just as I expected it to. Images were very sharp and crisp, colour and contrast again were excellent and I wouldn’t hesitate to use this 500 mm lens on any future subjects.