Flying High: We Review the Sigma 100-400 f/5-6.3 for Fuji X Mount

Over the years Sigma has established itself as a reliable manufacturer of high-quality lenses, known for their performance, quality, and affordability, and this new lens for the Fuji X-mount is no different. With this telephoto addition, the current Sigma lineup consists of 4 prime lenses, and a zoom, giving us 6 lenses in total with a rumored 7th in the very near future. The Sigma 100-400mm f/5 - 6.3 DG DN OS Contemporary lens for Fuji X mount is a versatile telephoto zoom lens that provides excellent flexibility for various photography genres. With its focal length range of 100-400mm, it's ideal for capturing wildlife, sports, and landscape images. One of the standout features of this lens is its lightweight and compact design; It ensures easy portability, allowing you to carry it around all day without strain. This minimal weight could be especially beneficial for travel photography, where you may be on the move more frequently.

It's worth noting that this lens is available not only for Fuji X mount, but also for Sony E mount and L mount. So if you are looking for a versatile telephoto zoom that offers great image quality and portability, this could be the lens for you.

Build Quality

The size and weight of this lens make it an attractive proposition for a telephoto, weighing in at 1,135g and a closed length of 199.5mm without the lens hood attached, it's a lens that you can quite easily carry for all-day use. 

Made up of 22 elements in 16 groups and containing 9 rounded diaphragm blades, the lens has a minimum focusing distance of 112mm at 100mm and 160mm at 400mm. With a full-frame equivalent of 150mm - 600mm, the lens produces sharp images throughout the variable f/5 - f/6.3 range and beyond with a minimum aperture of f/22.The lens uses a metal lens mount with a TSC (Thermally Stable Composite) on the lens barrel, according to the Sigma website. The X mount version has optical stabilization of up to 5 stops, again ensuring sharp images with the near-silent stepping motor. Weather sealing is provided by a rubber gasket at the lens mount with no other points mentioned. Super Multi-Layer Coating helps reduce and control flare and ghosting which I didn't notice in any of my images, even when shooting just off direct light sources. Aberrations and distortion are also controlled very well, and this of course is very easily corrected in post-production.

The lens has a series of easily reachable and well-laid-out buttons on the lens that you can quickly switch between without taking your eye off the viewfinder: AF and AF-L, a 3-position focus limiter, an in-body autofocus button, and a 3-position OS mode, including a panning mode which worked a treat for the fast jets I had the opportunity to photograph. There is also a lens lock button to allow for compact carrying without the barrel sliding.

Performance

The lens performed admirably well, especially for the airshow I attended when using the Optical Stabilizer panning mode. With the Fujifilm X-T5 set to continuous, I was able to lock on and get a burst of around 8 images before in-camera buffering began. Doing this produced around an 80% sharp image rate as the tracking locked on excellently. I'm sure, however, if this was your genre or birds in flight, your hit rate would be better than mine.

Most of the other images I captured with the lens were from hiking trips or just out and about as I wanted to see if the weight would become an issue when used for extended periods of time, which it didn't. I found the autofocus to be fast and only on a few occasions did it miss, however, I do think that was more down to user error; I was pushing as far as I possibly could with a few of the images and trying to photograph birds in dense foliage, manual focussing corrected this quite easily. Color and contrast held up very well even during a hazy day with cloud inversion, the atmospheric conditions I knew would prevent the images from being pin-sharp, again, however, they proved to be a lot sharper than I was initially expecting.

The push/pull and the twist of the lens barrel provided a good choice and I found myself using the push/pull function more often than not over the zoom range. The variable aperture proved to be useful when doing this and returned the images I was after. Although the Sigma lens doesn't have an aperture ring this can easily be adjusted in the camera if you so desire. 

I would've liked the lens to come supplied with a tripod collar so as to open up a few more opportunities when shooting, and yet the OS of the lens still allowed me to shoot a 9-image panorama with no problems whatsoever. 

Pros

• Image Quality
• Price point
• Autofocus
• Effective image stabilization
• Weight

Cons

• Tripod collar is sold separately. 

Conclusion

The Sigma 100-400 f/5.6-6.3 DG DN OS Contemporary lens for Fuji X mount is a very capable telephoto lens that delivers great image quality and performance at a very reasonable price point, making it an attractive option for both enthusiasts and professionals. It excels in portability and versatility for those looking for a great option for wildlife, sports, or landscape photography where distance, weight, and accuracy play an important role. I carried this lens on long hikes and not once did the weight become an issue whatsoever.

The focal range of the lens at a full frame equivalent is 150mm - 600mm, providing ample leeway to shoot various subject matter on a single trip. If Sigma ever produces a teleconverter for the X-mount lenses this would be a great combo for those seeking further reach at a vastly reduced price.

I cannot compare this lens to the Fujifilm XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR Lens as I've yet to try it, but I own and have used other Sigma lenses in the past and the quality of images that they produce is incredible considering the price point of the lenses. Due to the image quality, focal distance, and weight, I will be adding this lens to my kit in the coming year.