Description
Class-leading optical performance
Featuring a highly versatile focal range, this portable ultra-telephoto zoom is ideal for professional sports, wildlife, aviation and motorsport photography. Designed for use in outdoor environments, the lens has a robust build with a dust- and splash-resistant mount and a special water and oil-repellent coating on the front element.
The lens boasts a sophisticated optical design with 1 FLD element and 3 SLD elements, which helps to deliver razor-sharp results at all apertures with very minimal chromatic aberration and well-controlled flare. Despite this, the lens is exceptionally portable, weighing less than 2kg, and its intelligent two-mode Optical Stabilizer and detachable tripod socket make it suitable for hand-holding rather than working from a tripod. This combination of powerful optics and outstanding usability makes the 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Contemporary one of the versatile and popular ultra-telephoto zooms on the market.
Outstanding build quality
The exterior barrel of the 150-600mm is constructed using a polymer called Thermally Stable Composite (TSC). This has a similar thermal expansion rate to aluminium, meaning that the metal interior of the lens and the TSC exterior behave in the same way as temperatures change. TSC is also light and strong, and has a sleek finish for a premium look and feel.
The zoom ring is rubberised for easier operation, and it can be locked at various positions using the Lock switch.
At the rear of the lens is a tripod collar and foot, which can be rotated so that the camera can easily be switched between portrait and landscape orientation when mounted on a tripod.
The durable brass mount is surrounded by a rubber seal to help keep out dust and moisture.
Professional feature-set
A range of controls on the lens include an AF/MF switch with manual focus override, allowing manual focus adjustment during AF, and a Custom Mode switch so that the lens set-up can be customised using the USB Dock (sold separately).
The lens also has a focus limiter so that the focusing range can be reduced for faster and more accurate operation. This is particularly useful when there are objects in the frame between the camera and the subject that the lens might attempt to focus on.
The in-built Optical Stabilizer has a mode for general shooting and one for panning – ideal for fast-moving birds and vehicles.
The lens has an HSM focus motor that delivers smooth, fast and accurate AF for both stills and video. It is fully compatible with all the latest AF camera technology.
Tripod collar included
Mounting a heavy lens and camera on a tripod using the camera’s tripod thread puts significant strain on the thread and the lens and camera mounts. For this reason the 150-600mm has a tripod collar and foot included, giving a more balanced set-up that attaches to the tripod at close to its centre of gravity. The collar can be rotated 90 degrees for quickly switching to portrait orientation.
High-performance optics
Despite weighing under 2kg, the 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C delivers outstanding optical quality even on very high-resolution sensors. Optical performance is maintained across the whole frame, meaning fine detail is rendered perfectly right into the corners.
The lens has an advanced optical design made up of 20 elements in 14 groups, including 3 SLD elements and 1 FLD element. These ensure razor-sharp results and help to eliminate chromatic aberration, flare, distortion and vignetting.
The lens has advanced optical coatings which reduce flare and ghosting when working in bright direct sunlight, creating high contrast images with rich colours and strong blacks.
Ideal for fast-action sports
Thanks to its fast and accurate AF and Optical Stabilizer with panning mode, the 150-600mm is ideal for motorsport, extreme sports and aviation. It’s also very light for an ultra-telephoto lens at under 2kg, so can be hand-held for relatively long periods.
A perfect option for longer landscapes
Owing to its portability and exceptional image quality the 150-600mm is a useful tool for landscape photographers, allowing them to pick out very small vignettes within the landscape and compress the perspective.
Compact and lightweight
At under 2kg, the 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C is exceptionally light given its ultra-telephoto focal range, and is light enough to shoot hand-held. The lens is roughly the same length at the 60-600mm, but more than 750g lighter, so might be better suited to photographers who carry their kit long distances.
