The lens that I'm reviewing today feels like it shouldn't exist,
but it does. And you can buy it today.
I'm speaking, of course, of the Sigma 60-600 millimeter
F 4.5 to F, 6.3 that I'm filming this video on right now.
In this video, I'm going to be reviewing this lens
from the perspective of a wedding filmmaker and telling you
why this magical lens is, in my opinion, the ultimate wedding
ceremony lens that can handle pretty much any wedding you throw at it.
And at the risk of spoiling this review's conclusion, think about it.
Most wedding filmmakers film a wedding ceremony using a 72
200 millimeter lens because that lens can be
used for ceremonies where you're close to the couple, but also ceremonies
where you're stuck further away, like in a church balcony.
Nothing against the 7200.
But what if you had a lens that was not only wider at 60 millimeters
where you could set up even closer to the couple if you needed to
for a smaller ceremony, but you could also zoom it in to,
say 600 millimeters or so if the couple was getting married
in, say, a sports arena and you were stuck a quarter mile away from them.
I mean, if we're talking versatility,
this is arguably the most versatile lens ever made.
Okay.
Spoiler and semi conclusion of this video out of the way.
We got to talk more about this lens, but before we do that, for the sake of ethics,
I want you to know this video is not paid or sponsored by Sigma.
I reached out to them so I could borrow this lens because I think it's super cool.
I mean, look at it.
It's a cool lens and I have to sing this bazooka back to them very soon.
Anyways, full review time here.
The first thing you're going to notice
about this lens when you get it is that it comes with its own case.
I know this is really common for 70 to 200 millimeter lenses
to come with their own cases too.
But this case is massive.
It's large enough that if you wanted to take this lens
with you on a trip, the bag that just holds the lens
would count as your personal item that you bring on a plane.
Thankfully, with the large size, it is a very protective case
that I feel like will keep your lens safe if you're traveling with it.
Once you open up this case,
you're going to be struck by the sheer massiveness of this lens.
For context, my brother owns the sibling to this
lens, the Sigma 152 600 millimeter.
And that lens is also a beefy boy.
And I wish I had it next to this lens to compare the size.
But if I had to compare these two lenses for memory, the 60 to 64
millimeter is definitely thicker and girth year than the 152 600.
It's also heavier too.
I remember filming with my brother's lens and thinking that you could get away with
handholding it if you absolutely needed to for shorter shots.
But with this 62 600, that feels pretty much out of the question.
This lens is heavy enough that you're going to want it on a tripod or monopod.
And most importantly, you're going to need to make sure they are heavy duty.
I have these manfrotto b free tripods that I love, but they're mostly plastic.
And if you're someone that uses lightweight tripods
like these, I would not recommend using them with this lens.
This lens needs a big and sturdy tripod
to make sure that it is not going to tilt or fall over.
So if you have dreams of using this lens handheld as an all in one monster, I'm
sorry, but you're going to need some help with it to keep it stable.
Speaking of stable and talking about some more of the lens
features, now, I'm happy to tell you that this lens does have optical
image stabilization built in with two modes
a normal mode, which is best
if you're wanting to minimize, shake while attempting to use this lens handheld
and a panning mode that's better if you are, as the name implies, Penny.
So if you are using this lens during a wedding ceremony
and needed to pan to film the bridesmaids walking down the aisle, for example,
I would select Mode two.
This lens also has a switch that gives you the ability to switch
focus from 0.626 meters.
If you're filming something close or six meters to infinity.
If you want to film something that isn't close or just all of the meters,
so you can do all the way point six to infinity if you want.
It's nice to have these options and these settings
will help with AutoFocus, which I am pleased to tell you that this lens
does support and is good even with this size.
Manual focus also feels great as well and is fast and responsive.
It also has two programable buttons and a custom switch on the side
that you can set up if you buy Sigma's custom USB dock to adjust this lens.
And most importantly, at least in my opinion,
there is a lock switch on the side of the lens
which is going to prevent the lens barrel from extending.
This is super important because the
front section of this lens is heavy and if you tilt the lens downward,
the lens is going to want to extend on its own.
So by engaging this lock on the side,
you can prevent it from extending unless you want it to.
To be clear, though,
this looseness of the lens barrel, whatever comes to extending is by design.
Because Sigma built this lens to be able to zoom either by rotating the zoom ring
or by grasping the front of the barrel
and pushing forward or pulling back to adjust the zoom.
This makes the lens of this size even easier to use, and I like it.
But remember to use the zoom lock if you don't want the lens to get away
from you.
The one thing that I really wish this lens had would be an aperture control ring
that Sigma has been including on some of their other lenses,
but that might not have been possible considering
that this is a variable aperture lens, meaning that the closer you zoom in,
the more closed the aperture of the lens is going to be,
and they would have to rig up
some sort of electronic way for the aperture to be adjusted.
As you're zooming in, it'd be cool, but I feel like you just make this lens
heavier and more expensive as a workaround for all this.
So if you are filming something and you know you're going to be needing
to adjust the zoom while you are recording,
say like I said earlier, you want to do a cool shot
where the bridesmaids are walking down the aisle
and you zoomed out as they walked in.
In that case, I would set the aperture to F 6.3,
which I realize is dark,
but that is going to prevent the lens from adjusting its aperture.
As you zoom in and out.
So Sigma has overall created a really well built lens.
And like I said at the start, this is definitely a lens that is reaching
the border of lenses that I'm not sure should really exist.
What I mean by that is that this 60 to 600 millimeter focal length
is just so versatile because it's such an incredibly wide ten x zoom range.
If you were someone that films wedding ceremonies
where you need to be able to film from a variety of distances,
or if you film say, talking heads at conferences
where you're not sure if you're going to be able to be up
close to the person speaking or
if they're going to stick you in the back of a really big hotel meeting room
or anything else for that matter.
My point here is that with this lens, you're ready for pretty much anything.
If you're stuck in the back of a room, you can zoom all the way into 600
millimeter and film essentially the people's nose hairs that are talking.
Alternatively, though, and this is something that I was not able
to save for my brother's 150 to 600 millimeter lens.
You also have a ton of versatility on the wider side of things, too.
With that 150 millimeter, you still had to be a decent ways away
from someone who's speaking to be able to record them properly.
But with this 62 600, it's actually wider than a 70 to 200 millimeter,
which means you can film even closer if you needed to.
When I tested this lens at a wedding, I was not sure what the wedding ceremony
was going to look like until 15 minutes before it began.
True story.
The wedding day was raining off and on and the coordinator
did not make a decision on whether the ceremony was going to happen
indoors or outdoors until right before the ceremony started.
Then all the chairs set up outside and then they said, guess what,
everybody, we're all going to stand inside because it's raining.
If I was filming this wedding outdoors, I was going to need
to be pretty far away from the couple as they were giving their vows.
But I knew that if I was indoors, it was going to be
a much more cramped situation and I was going to be much closer.
Thankfully, with this 6600 millimeter,
I knew that I had literally everything covered.
The wedding
ceremony ended up happening indoors, but filming with this lens made it easy
because I kept it more on
the 60 millimeter part of the zoom range during the ceremony.
But I was also easily able to punch in to film tighter whenever I needed to.
It was awesome.
Now, going back to what I said
at the start of this review, whereas this feels like a dream lens
that shouldn't exist because it has such a massive focal range.
There is one area where the laws of physics do
start to drag this lens back down to the ground a bit,
and that is in the area of aperture that this lens is able to obtain.
We talked about aperture a bit earlier, but to reiterate
as it is, this lens is an F 4.5 to 6.3,
which is not bad at all for a lens of this size.
But I want you to be aware
that if you are filming zoomed in and closer to that 600 millimeter range,
the book is going to look fantastic because things are so compressed.
But if you're filming much closer at roughly 60 millimeters, for example,
that F 4.5 aperture may not end up looking as pretty as you would normally expect
if you're filming with a 72 200 set to 70 millimeters at F 2.8, for example.
Just be aware that the closer you can zoom with this lens
in in general, the better that it's going to look.
To be clear,
it still looks sharp to me
throughout the zoom range, but the bulk is going to be on a sliding scale
from and that's okay to wow, that looks fantastic.
Now we got to talk about the price because that's where this lens
gets super interesting.
At the time of making this video, Sigma has priced this lens at $2,000,
which if you consider the versatility that you're getting with this lens,
I think that it's a surprisingly good deal.
Looking at their competition,
the first lens that comes to mind for me the competes with this lens is Sony's
200 to 600 millimeter lens, which is an F 5.6 to 6.3 aperture.
And I have to say it is a truly massive difference
going from 60 millimeters wide to 200 millimeters wide.
Right.
And guess how much this Sony 200 to 600 millimeter costs $2,000.
So with the same price with this sigma, you're getting a lens
that is dramatically more versatile, which I think is pretty awesome.
Not to mention that I feel like because this lenses so wide,
even wider than a 70 to 200, you can also compare it
to 72 200 millimeter lenses from the competition as well.
Granted, this sigma is dramatically larger
and heavier, but here's how I think that you should think about it.
If you're considering purchasing this lens,
if you're a wedding filmmaker or documentary filmmaker
or someone that films a ton of talking heads from a significant distance away
like you would during a wedding ceremony, and if you're also someone like me
that has 70 to 200 millimeter lenses but only breaks them out for the ceremony,
if you have space in your bag and you want to invest in a lens
that is more versatile than the 7200 and will cover you if you have a wedding
where you are close to the couple
or a wedding where it feels like you're a quarter mile away in a church balcony,
this sigma 62 600 millimeter can handle it all.
That's why I believe this lens
is the ultimate wedding ceremony lens, and it is definitely worth an investment.
Speaking of being worth an investment, do you like the colors?
In this video?
I have a set of color presets that I've made called Who Is Matt Lutz?
That I used to color this video.
And if you like these colors,
you can make an investment too, and get these colors in your videos.
I will link to my color presets down in the video description.
And if you don't want to spend any money, which I totally get,
how about I help you out for free?
I've put together a guide that will actually help you make money.
This guide is called
YouTube Tips for Wedding Filmmakers, and it's going to show you the exact steps
that you should take to get more views, likes and bookings to make you more money
using YouTube as a wedding filmmaker, this guide is completely free.
You can download the link down in the video description.
Thanks so much for watching and have a great day.