Sigma AF 150mm f/2.8 APO EX HSM macro DG D - Review / Test Report - Analysis
Lens Reviews - Nikon / Nikkor (APS-C)
Article Index
Introduction
Analysis
Sample Images & Verdict

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Distortion

Macro lenses are renowned for minimal distortion and the 150mm f/2.8 APO EX is no exception here - the degree of distortion is absolutely negligible.

The chart above has a real-world size of about 120x80cm.

Vignetting

As mentioned above the Sigma is a full-format lens so the D200 can take advantage of a sweet spot effect here. At infinity focus and f/2.8 a slight degree of vignetting may be visible in critical scenes whereas onwards from f/4 the issue is negligible. At close focus distances the issue is less pronounced even at f/2.8.

MTF (resolution)

Typical for most macro lenses the resolution of the Sigma AF 150mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM APO macro is excellent straight from the max. aperture setting. The peak performance is reached at f/5.6 with absolutely superb quality figures. All-in-all the Sigma is able to match the performance of the recently reviewed Micro-Nikkor AF-S 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED VR. The tested sample suffered a bit from a slight centering defect which shifted the quality center a little below the geometrical image center.
The Sigma is also compatible to the two Sigma APO EX DG tele-converters. When combined with the 1.4x (= 210mm f/4 or a "310mm" equivalent) the quality decreases by about one "school mark" to very good quality levels across the tested aperture range.

Please note that the MTFs charts below represent the performance near infinity focus. For the time being dedicated macro performance tests are not possible.

Please note that the MTF results are not directly comparable across the different systems!

Below is a simplified summary of the formal findings. The chart shows line widths per picture height (LW/PH) which can be taken as a measure for sharpness. If you want to know more about the MTF50 figures you may check out the corresponding Imatest Explanations

Chromatic Aberrations (CAs)

Chromatic aberrations (color shadows at harsh contrast transitions) are very well controlled with an average CA width of less than 0.6px at the image borders. Surprisingly there´re even less CAs when combining the lens with the Sigma AF 1.4x APO EX DG tele converter.



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