Sigma 16-300mm F3.5-6.7 DC OS Contemporary MTF Review
We were doing these on CanonRumors and will pick up where we left off and start doing them here again.
The Sigma 16-300mm F3.5-6.7 DC OS Contemporary is a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious zoom lens offering an 18.8x zoom for APS-C users. Usually, we see these top out at around 10-15x, so almost 20x is something a little more unique.
What I like about this lens is that it starts at 16mm, which on Canon cameras is around 26mm on full frame equivalent. You notice the difference between 18mm, which is traditionally where Canon APS-C lenses start on the wide end, and 16mm.
If this lens performs well, it will become an " all-in-one" lens that fits into almost any travel kit.
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MTF Review
Looking at the MTF at 16mm, the resolution doesn't seem to be the greatest (the blue lines), but it's a fairly smooth transition that doesn't necessarily fall off a cliff. This usually lends itself to at least even performance without nearly so much mush deep in the corners.
The 300 mm MTF looks very similar to the 16mm MTF, which gives me a good feeling that the lens may have consistent performance throughout the zoom range.
Even at 300mm, we do not see a quick resolution dropoff into the corners, but the lens quickly drops from a strong center performance and then levels off.
To be honest, this appears to have decent performance for a 16mm to 300mm lens. But it depends on whether or not your lens closely matches the MTF.
Canon RF-S 18-150mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM vs Sigma 16-300mm F3.5-6.7 DC OS Contemporary.
This isn't fair to the Sigma lens, as the Canon lens isn't even a 10x zoom. The Canon RF-S 18-150mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM starts at 18mm and ends at 150mm. But it's really the closest lens to the Sigma in the RF-S world to date.
| |
Sigma 16-300mm |
Canon RF-S 18-150mm |
| SIze |
2.9 x 4.8" / 73.8 x 121.4 mm |
2.7 x 3.3" / 68.6 x 83.8 mm |
| Weight |
22 oz / 625 g |
10.9 oz / 310 g |
The Sigma lens is around twice the weight of the Canon lens, and almost 40mm longer. This would be expected given that it has a much longer zoom range.
The Canon RF-S 18-150mm has a much smaller zoom range and does not start at 16mm but at 18mm. Even so, I would give the edge on the wide end to the Sigma lens, but the much shorter zoom range certainly helps the Canon out-resolve the Sigma on the long end. But the MTFs are close enough that you probably wouldn’t notice the difference between the two lenses.
Conclusion
If the MTF's are indicative of the performance, this lens will most likely match the performance of Canon's own Canon RF-S 18-150mm lens, or at least get close enough that you are willing to compromise for a slight lower performance, for a far greater zoom range and a zoom starting at 16mm instead of 18mm.
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Don't forget to check out our updated resources in the CanonNews Lens Guide.
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