Who Makes the Best Supertelephoto Zoom Lens?

Supertelephoto zoom lenses have come a long way in the last few years, and there are now a ton of great options out there. This excellent video review takes a look at three popular options: the Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS, Tamron 150-500mm f/5-6.7 Di III VXD, and Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports.

Coming to you from Christopher Frost, this awesome video review compares the Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSSTamron 150-500mm f/5-6.7 Di III VXD, and Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports lenses. All three lenses are relatively affordable compared to stratospherically priced professional supertelephoto prime lenses, plus you get the advantage of the versatility of a zoom lens. On the other hand, you lose a few stops of maximum aperture, but with the advanced autofocus and high-ISO capabilities of modern camera bodies, these differences are not as much of a problem as they used to be. With the image quality of the three lenses featured in the video, you can certainly produce professional-level results in a wide range of applications. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Frost. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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11 Comments

Video author: "Now, this is not a video to tell you which lens is best" ( @ 1:01)

Click bait article title supposedly describing the video: "Who Makes the Best Supertelephoto Zoom Lens?"

As usual for Fstoppers....

I will not watch the video because of what you said. I think that clickbait titles are dishonest, and I will not support those who use this despicable practice. Thanks for the warning.

Well, the video author is honest and it's actually a nice review, just like he does usually in other videos. He's not at fault here.

It's this article title that is misleading, but the writer is afaik unrelated to the video owner.

Oh, yes, you are correct. The video does not have a misleading title at all. I stand corrected. It is our own Alex who is responsible for the misleading, dishonest title. I would think that he should know better by now.

If by "best" one is referring to the highest quality, then I think that either the Canon 200-400 f4 or the Sigma 200-500mm f2.8 are the best supertelephoto zoom lenses.

The three lenses mentioned in this article are nowhere close to being the best - they are lenses with huge compromises made in order to achieve weight and cost objectives.

At the beginning of the video, the narrater says, "... lenses for Sony E-mount." The narrater also says that this video is not about which lens is the best.

Rich,

My comment, as usual, was in response to the author's title, not to the video that he based the article on.

You may look initial cost but remember you will have this lens for YEARS!! There is more to using a Telephoto than said here! I had the Sigma before the Sony came out main reason was the update block that also is used for adjusting the different settings to your style of shooting like leading or lagging shot sharpest point that a Tamaron requires to send back to factory to correct. The reason I went Sony even though I had the Sigma was first it was a Canon mount and used an adapter (this one is Sony mount) making longer and when using the 1.4x and 2x teleconverters lens identification along with teleconverter ID with total mm was not in metadata properly in Lr or PS but that issue not covered in this review. Also an issue of telephotos on Canon/Nikon cameras with a teleconverter is AF does not work when lens and teleconverter are f/8 combined (Checked on my Canon T2i), but on the Sony 200-600 AF worked great even with 2x but was said tracking AF was a problem f/13+ but I had no problems with white pelicans flying behind trees always locked on during horizontal tracking.
Nothing said here BUT what made me happiest with the Sony 200-600mm was IS + IBIS (A7iii) off tripod was the ability to lock AF on to the moon with just the lens in Full Frame and APS-C but also with 1.4x and 2x teleconverter on, attached to a binocular harness for stability getting a 1800mm (sensor crop APS-C) image filling the entire frame, look trying to find the big moon at 1800 is a skill in itself but a good test if ever tracking birds and shooting 10FPS but getting a perfect in focus capture in single shot is amazing to me! And using bracketing able to do HDR imaging of moon phases without PS blending work like shooting with a mounted telescope on a tracker.
While I had the Sigma before the Sony came out I captured the lunar eclipse on a cold 20 degree January night from hours before to an hour after while on a tripod not only getting the moon but stars around it with focus locked on everything tack sharp every image all night without a tracker (did not have one) with only a buddy heater under and a fan blowing on the protective filter (get one of those) to prevent frost build up. 1st a blend, moon wobbles night to night this 4th July moon that night tilt, 2nd 150-600 lunar eclipse,3rd 150-600 335mm, 4th 200-600 FF 600mm f/6.3 ISO 125 1/125s 7/3/2020 like capture of a light bulb filament
Due to moon wobble should alway get the moon of the night to blend and not a stock and for all segment's.
And there are lens coats and skins to hide the White (steal me color) and help keep the lens cooler on hot days or warmer on cold days also helps not to scare wildlife, as a hunter also any movement draws attention and white the most even 200 yds away. Always wear digital camo for wildlife and camo washed in no glow detergent, just another thing to worry about!!!

A much more appropriate title would be "Cheapest Super Telephoto that sort-of works OK"

Yes, exactly! That would fit the content a bit more accurately.