Sigma 100-400mm For Sony A7III Review 2022

Sigma 100-400mm For Sony A7III Review 2022

Hey my name is Ryuta and i have been a user of the sony a7iii for the past few years. In todays post i would like to introduce a ‘relatively’ affordable Zoom Lens For Sony A7III

I primarily take photos of marine animals underwater, but i also like using a zoom lens when above water to take photos of animals and other wildlife.

After a lot of research i decided to buy the Sigma 100-400mm lens as my primary zoom lens and currently it is one of my most used lenses for photography.

Today i wanted to do a quick review on why i chose this lens and why i recommend getting this lens!

Pricing - The Sigma100400mm Provides A Reasonable and Effective Alternative To Sony Lenses

One of the main reasons i decided to choose the Sigma 100-400mm lens for sony was the price.

With the official Sony lenses being quite expensive and out of my price range i had to go for something a little more affordable.

The Sigma 100-400mm lens currently costs around $700usd (95000yen) brand new, whereas the Sony Gm 100-400mm lens costs around $2500 (300000yen) brand new.

The prices might differ a little depending on where you live and time of reading but the difference between the prices is pretty clear!

In a ideal world getting a full set of sony gm lenses would be great but sometimes thats not possible and the Sigma 100400mm provides a very reasonable and effective alternative to the sony 100400mm lenses.

Size and Weight of The Sigma100400mm Lens

The sigma 100-400mm lens is a compact and lightweight lens for this focal lengths. Zoom lenses are typically heavy and large in size so it can be difficult to pack and carry around.

As a photographer, one of the most important things for me is travelling as lightweight as possible. Photographing wild animals can be a very diffcult journey and a smaller more travel friendly setup can be important in getting to certain spots or long days out in the field!

With this lens weighing around 1.1kg and measuring around 18cm (25cm at max zoom length) is very compact compared to other zoom lenses at this focal length.

It fits into my sony camera bag pretty comfortably like this:

Focus - Autofocus Speed of The Sigma 100400mm Lens

The sigma 100400mm lens has both manual and auto focus mode which can be changed by a toggle switch on the side:

I find that the focus speed for photography is very good, i have no trouble catching up focus to flying birds or dolphins and whales that are jumping in the air.

Also, switching focus is almost instantaneous and this is very important for wildlife photogrpahy where some moments are over very quickly and the fast focus speed can be the difference between getting a good photo.

Above is a mother and calf spinner dolphin photographed using the sigma 100400mm lens. The fast focus speed was definitely required to get this shot as its hard to predict where the dolphins will jump next. I had the lens focused on an area slightly below the jump and had to flick the lens up and get focus before the dolphins dissappeared back into the ocean.

When using the lens for photographing wild animals that are fast moving i made sure to increase the shutter speed to at least 500, ranging around the 800-1200 area.

F Value

The lens has the minimum F value of 5.6 so i managed to get some nice bokeh shots (blurred background) with it too.

To get the best blurred background photos try to zoom as much as possible and have the f value on the lowest possible 5.6.

This photo below was taken at 400mm at F5.6 with the sigma 100400mm and the Sony A7III.

Optical Stabilization

With this lens having os or optical stabilization it gives you extra stabilization throughout the focal lengths of the lens.

As with any lens or camera, the camera must be held still to avoid pixels crossing over or blurring your image. With the optical stabilization of the lens and stabilizatin built into your camera, it will give you cleaner and sharper images especially in lower light conditions or at lower shutter speeds.

Photo Examples

the sigma100400mm f5.6 for sony a7iii review

So lets recap some of the advantages of this lens!

It is much cheaper than alternative telephoto lenses for the sony a7iii
Light and compact for its focal length so its easy to carry around and keep steady
In built optical stabilization for sharper images, especially in low light
F value of 5.6 allows for some great blurred background shots
AF/MF can be toggled with a swithch on the side
Fast auto focus speeds
Weather resisitant build

Lets see, so overall i am a very big fan of the Sigma 100-400mm lens and it is one of my main lenses that i currently use for my photography work.

With it being fairly compact and easy to carry around and giving high quality photos i definitely recommend to anyone looking for a decent lens for sony cameras for a price that is cheap when compared to the lenses released officialy from Sony.

Thank you so much for reading all the way through.

See you in the next Blog Post.

Ryuta

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This is a list of the gear that i use!! Let me know in the comments if you have any questions or need recommendations :)

My Main GoPro’s

[Hero 10Black]: https://amzn.to/3pbiEIn

[Hero 9 Black]: https://amzn.to/2YZVwS2

My Backup GoPro

[Hero 8 Black]: https://amzn.to/3DRrKOz

[Hero 5 Black]: https://amzn.to/3DSUqa1

My Main Camera

[Sony A7III]: https://amzn.to/2YXTH8R

My Backup Camera

[Sony A6000]: https://amzn.to/3psXS7x

My Lenses

[Sigma 100-400mm sony e mount]: https://amzn.to/3aMIRoj

[Tamron 17-28mm sony e mount]: https://amzn.to/3jh0YHB

SD card for GoPro

[128gb-fast]: https://amzn.to/2Z62fuf

SD card for Sony Camera

[128gb]: https://amzn.to/3ANFpEw

External Hard Drive

[2tb]: https://amzn.to/3jgNXh8

My GoPro Mounts:

[3 Way Mount]: https://amzn.to/3n9XjN7

[Bite Mount]: https://amzn.to/3FYcd1y

[Neck Mount - for pov]: https://amzn.to/3ANEGTO

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