The Sigma 200-500 f/2.8 is one of the most extreme lenses ever built for the 35mm (24×36) format: it is the only 500mm f/2.8 of the world…and it is even a zoom! It weights almost 16 kg and it is 72 centimeters long; actually it is not as enormous as it looks in photo, but of course it is pretty big (a bit longer than 600 f/4 + hood and clearly wider) and it is really, really heavy.
At $ 24000, it is not cheap in any way, but it is still not as expensive as other extreme lenses as the Canon 1200mm f/5.6, that was sold at about $ 90000. Even though a long, bright tele is always tempting, I could not justify buying it – my 600 f/4 IS USM is already a pain to carry around, and the Sigma monster lens is really over the top. Still, it never ceased to fascinate me, and when I have finally seen that it was shipping, I have contacted Mamiya Trading (the Italian importer of Sigma) for some hands-on tests.
