Sigma 400mm f/5.6 APO TeleMacro The size of the Sigma 400/5.6 compared to a film box.
The Sigma 400/5.6 APO Tele Macro (and the newer HSM version of the lens) is a very special prime lens because it focuses down to 1:3 which is very close for a 400 mm lens.

This makes the lens uniquely useful for photos of butterflies, small reptiles and amphibians and other small creatures as well as plants where the long focal length (and minimum aperture at F:32) provides great control of the background.

The low weight (1.5 kg) and small size further more makes it easy to bring along when travelling when the ability for the lens to fit in the backpack or luggage matters more than speed.

This coupled with good optics and a low second-hand price makes it a good buy if you can find it on the used-lens market.

Balance with the Fujifilm Finepix S2 Pro that I am using is very good and the tripod collar is sturdy and easy to use.

The build quality seems quite good for a lens in this price range and I have had no problems with neither this lens nor my Sigma 300/4 APO Tele Macro which I parted with recently.

 Jersey moth photographed at 'Butterfly Valley on Rhodes, Greece' with the 400/5.6

Hundreds of Jersey moths hiding in a dark, moist spot under a tree. Photographed at 'Butterfly Valley on Rhodes, Greece' with the 400/5.6
One potential problem for some users may be the autofocus; it tends to hunt a lot on my camera so if you are using cameras in the same class as the Fuji and autofocus is a big deal to you then maybe you should consider purchasing another lens.

Optical quality seems very good though not on par with the smaller 300/4 APO Tele Macro which is to be expected.

Teleconverters is something that may or may not work for you with this lens.
I find the results too soft, both with my Kenko pro 300 1.4x and my Sigma EX 2x but a Sigma 1.4x may yield acceptable results.

The built-in shade.

The Sigma also features a nice and effective built-in shade.
On the picture above it is shown fully extended.

And now the test shots...

I made test images at F:5.6, F8, F11, and F:32 and cropped out a small portion (see at the end of the review the size of the crops.
I then proceded to blow up the size of the crops to 25x normal size to be able to study the quality closely.

Test shot at F:5.6 - Center Test shot at F:5.6 - Edge
F:5.6 - Center F:5.6 - Edge
Test shot at F:8 - Center Test shot at F:8 - Edge
F:8 - Center F:8 - Edge
Test shot at F:11 - Center Test shot at F:11 - Edge
F:11 - Center F:11 - Edge
Test shot at F:32 - Center Test shot at F:32 - Edge
F:32 - Center F:32 - Edge
Test shots of a flash manual taken near the minimum focusing distance at F:5.6, F:8, F:11, and F:32.
All images are blown up to 25x normal resolution using "nearest neighbour" in Photoshop (please refer to the full test picture for the size of the crops in the full image.
No sharpening was applied before or after resizing.

The size of the areas cropped out for the test relative to the full image.

Chromatic abberations seems like on the Nikkor 400/3.5 to occur in the edge areas whereas the center area is sharp and contrasty.
Sharpness increases up to F:16 and then drops markedly again at F:32. Even though the resolution is not as good as the Nikkor 400/3.5 the Sigma shows very good image quality.

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