Freezing Moments and Sharpening Your Edge

I recently had the great pleasure of testing out this all new ultra-telephoto zoom lens from Sigma. Without really knowing too much about it or what to expect, it was obviously the size that caught my first attention when seeing it in real life. It is a big lens with quite some weight to it, which is of course very natural with the amount of glass in it to be able to stay at F4 all over the range. But it doesn’t feel bulky – just very solid and well-built through and through.

Every movement and all the switches on the Sigma 300-600mm F4 DG OS | Sports move very easily and feel sturdy, which is something I’m always looking for in a lens. If it feels good, it is usually good. And no exception for this one.

The handle is perfectly placed to balance the weight when carrying it around or shooting handheld, which is something I did for this entire shoot without any problems at all. Many thanks to the powerful optical stabilizer that works super well all over the zoom range! And I really don’t like to use tripods or monopods when shooting because they can make me feel trapped in a way. I much prefer to be free and able to quickly change location or angle.

In fact, this was something I got to try out for real during this test shoot together with skiing athlete William Larsson in Åre, Sweden. Åre is well-known for having very quick weather changes, and this day was no exception. Up on the mountain we got a little bit of sun, some snowfall, rain, and wind gusts up to 30m/s. The perfect scenario to try this lens.

When skiing around the area and looking for some good snow to turn in, I mostly carried the lens by the handle to be as quick as possible when the opportunity showed itself. These harsh weather conditions were a piece of cake for the lens. You can feel that it is made for the outdoors and that it will absolutely deliver when you need it. The big lens hood keeps the front glass clean and spotless.

I don’t normally use many telephoto lenses, not even when shooting skiing, so this was a fun challenge in trying to look more for the details rather than showing the full scenario.

Being able to take a step back and have a full view and then just quickly zoom in on a specific turn or trick is a great way to have a full overview of the scene, and to see new things that maybe one couldn’t achieve when staying too close.

The high-speed AF made it possible to stay focused on the skier as he turned his way down the mountain, both when following from the side or having him going towards or from the camera.

This was a short but sweet trip, and I can’t wait to experiment more with this lens!

For me, when I found photography, everything just clicked at once. I got into this world around 15 years ago when I started shooting skiing with some school mates, and immediately got the feeling that I could do whatever I wanted and actually create or show scenes how I saw them.

I found my photography style pretty quickly, and since then I just started to try this look on different scenarios while trying to be confident in trusting my vision. Since then, it has for sure developed a bit, but I still feel that I pretty much shoot the same way even if it is a big fashion shoot or skiing with friends in the Alps. Capture a moment, usually the one in between “the perfect ones” in a natural but excelled way.

My whole life now is pretty much built from photography with a lot of friends that I have found through different jobs or projects. I find a lot of inspiration from them and the need to always push things a little bit further and “do more” is always there. Not in a competitive way, just that when you see someone else do something that exceeds the normal (not only with cameras, very generally speaking) I always get the feeling that I also want to work harder and create more.

The Sigma 300-600mm F4 DG OS | Sports works well for anyone wanting to push things a little but further (literally) and freeze moments perfectly. Everything from sports photography to wildlife or just a creative eye. This much zoom range with the very big and solid aperture in a relatively portable size is not to be found anywhere else. It gives you the opportunity to either try new things or just sharpen your own edge.