Sigma 200-500mm f/2.8 is the world’s most insane street photography lens

The Sigma 200-500mm f/2.8 EX DG is one of those lenses that’s become so legendary it’s pretty much a meme at this point. It’s a lens that many people would want to have in their collection – if only they had 26 grand to throw away.

But how does such an extreme telephoto zoom stand up to something like street photography? Well, photographer and YouTuber Tom Calton decided to find out and document it in this video.

Sigma 200-500mm f/2.8 – The real Bigma!

The Sigma 200-500mm f/2.8 is one of those lenses that almost everyone knows exists, but almost no one knows someone who owns one. There have been a few reviews and videos about them before, including an equally ridiculous portrait session (also by Tom).

In typical British sarcastic humour, Tom walks us through the history of the lens and its significance in lens history. It’s a lens that’s no longer being made, but when it was available, it cost a whopping $26K. But it was the world’s first ultra-telephoto zoom lens to offer an f/2.8 aperture at 500mm.

That wide f/2.8 aperture is why this lens is so huge. It’s why most of the something-500mm zooms a lot of us use have such small apertures. Wider apertures mean larger optics. That means more size and weight.

With the lens being discontinued and many existing owners choosing to hold onto them, they’ve become somewhat rare in the used market. And even though it’s discontinued, there’s still a listing on B&H, which has a couple of amusing reviews on it. Honestly, I’m surprised there aren’t more.

One of the world’s smallest cameras

To make the scenario even more ridiculous, he paired one of the largest lenses in the world with one of the smallest cameras in the world. He chose the Panasonic Lumix GM1, a Micro Four Thirds camera with a 2x crop.

However, Tom also went with a Canon EF to Micro Four Thirds speed booster. This brought the crop back to a more reasonable 1.29x. This effectively made the 200-500mm lens a 258-645mm full-frame equivalent as far as the field of view goes.

Obviously, a lens like this has distinct advantages for things like sports and wildlife. But Tom takes it on several adventures, including some street photography.

I don’t want to spoil things too much, but the images do look intriguing. They offer a unique and interesting perspective and presentation that shorter focal lengths do not. And sure, there are other 500mm zooms out there, but how many have an f/2.8 aperture?