SIGMA APO 500mm F4.5 EX HSM

500mm telephoto lens

A review and photo examples of the SIGMA APO 500mm F4.5 EX HSM.

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Gallery

The sample photos were taken with the SIGMA SD9.

The figure is taken from the official SIGMA website.

1．Overview

The SIGMA APO 500mm F4.5 EX HSM is a telephoto autofocus (AF) lens made by Sigma that was released in 1999 and is compatible with 35mm format cameras.

It has a lens configuration of 11 elements in 8 groups, an ultrasonic motor (HSM), 9 aperture blades, an aperture value of F4.5, a minimum shooting distance of 7m, a weight of 3.15kg, and a tripod mount that cannot be removed.

Although there is no IF in the name, the lens length does not change during operation due to internal focus.

The compatible lens mounts for the non-DG version are definitely Sigma SA and Canon EF, Nikon F is unknown, and other mounts are unknown.
The DG version with updated lens coating was released in 2005 for Sigma SA mount, Canon EF mount, and Nikon F mount, in 2007 for Pentax, and in 2010 for Sony.

Accessories include a case and a cylindrical hood (LH1236-01), and the list price is 550,000 yen (excluding tax).

2．Usage

I bought the SIGMA APO 500mm F4.5 EX HSM after trying out the 300-800mm zoom and 800mm lenses and deciding that it would be impossible to carry this lens to the field where you take out camera equipment on foot, such as climbing a mountain.

I had this lens for a relatively long time, and used it to take pictures of hawks at Shirakaba Pass in Nagano. I sold it when I switched to the α900 + 400mm F4.5, and never used it with the SD14 or SD1 after that.

When attached to the SIGMA SD10, the equipment weighed about 4kg, and it wasn’t that difficult to walk about 15 minutes up the mountain path to Takamidai at Shirakaba Pass. I can only admire the older photographers who are climbing the mountain path carrying 600mm F4 and 800mm F5.6. I have not been to the pass since the COVID-19 outbreak.

I also used zoom lenses covering 500mm and 600mm, such as 50-500mm and 150-600mm, but the prime 500mm has a different image quality than zoom lenses. When shooting with the prime 500mm HSM and 500mm zoom on an SD10, there are differences in the smoothness of the background blur and the color cast around the subject.

Zoom lenses are a little darker, so they are sensitive to camera shake, but the 500mm had good yields when shooting handheld due to its weight and brightness.

The biggest disappointment with this lens is that when using a 1.4x teleconverter on a Sigma camera, the aperture exceeds F5.6, so the AF stops working due to limitations on the camera.

3．Add info.

Sigma’s APO 500mm has a new version with DG in the lens name and an old version without DG. The difference is the lens coating, and the basic elements of the lens, such as the lens structure, are the same.

In addition to Sigma, Canon also released the “EF500mm F4.5L USM” in 1992 as an AF SLR lens with a focal length of 500mm F4.5, commonly known as 500mm F4.5. Nikon only released 500mm F4.5 lenses, and did not release any F4.5 lenses.

I envied Canon’s 500mm F4 because AF works with a 1.4x teleconverter if the camera has good AF performance.

About 10 years later, Sigma released the 500mm F4. This lens can be attached to a 1.4x teleconverter to extend the focal length to 700mm while still allowing AF to work. However, by the time this lens was released, my bird watching craze had completely died down, so I never bought one.

Sigma also launched the Gogo Roku, a lens designed specifically for mirrorless cameras, in 2024. It weighs just 1.4kg, making it very suitable for carrying up mountains. However, I no longer have the wallet to spend 400,000 yen on a lens that I might use once a year.

Specification

Items	500mm F4.5	500mm F4.5 DG	500mm F4	500mm F5.6
Focal length(mm)	500	500	500	500
Max aperture	4.5	4.5	4	5.6
Min aperture	32	32	32	32
Lens Construction	11 elements in 8 groups	11 elements in 8 groups	16 elements in 11 groups	20 elements in 14 groups
Aperture blade	9	9	9	11
Min distance(m)	4	4	3.5	3.2
Lens length(mm)	350 SIGMA-SA	350 SIGMA-SA	380 SIGMA-SA	235 L-Mount
Lens Max diameter(mm)	123	123	145	108
Filter Size(mm)	46(rear)	46(rear)	46(rear)	95
Lens hood	LH1236-01	LH1236-01	LH1388-01	LH1034-02
Lens mount	SIGMA-SA CANON-EF NIKON-F α(DG) PENTAX(DG)	SIGMA-SA CANON-EF NIKON-F α(DG) PENTAX(DG)	SIGMA-SA CANON-EF NIKON-F	L-Mount SONY-E
Weight(g)	2990 SIGMA-SA	3150 SIGMA-SA	3310 SIGMA-SA	1370 L-Mount
Release date	1999	2005	2016	2024
Price(Yen/No-tax)	470,000 yen	550,000 yen	OP 530,000 yen	OP 380,000 yen