I had been looking for a reasonably priced telephoto zoom lens for some time. After studying lots of reviews, I decided to get the Sigma EX 4.0/100-300 APO IF HSM. No optical stabilizer, but supposedly great image quality across the whole zoom range, even wide open. German photo magazine ColorFoto actually recommended this lens specifically for my Nikon D300 in a lab test early 2010.

Unfortunately, that lens has been around for about ten years, and I had to find out that Sigma officially discontinued it not that long ago. On Amazon, one can still find new ones with Canon or Sigma mount, but no Nikon mount… Fortunately, I found an unused display item on eBay offered by a well-known retailer.

The package arrived last Monday, but the weather was awful… today I finally got around to take a few test photos in the close-by Hirschgarten park. The photos below were all shot handheld at ISO 400. The RAW files were developed using Aperture 3, and no further image processing was done except a 100% crop where indicated.


ISO 400 f/5 1/1600 250mm


ISO 400 f/4 1/500 240mm (100% Crop)


ISO 400 f/4 1/320 300mm


ISO 400 f/4 1/320 300mm (100% Crop)

Pretty good.

Tags: Sigma, Nikon, Munich