AskMaddiLenses for Sports & Action
On the criteria sports & action leans on — af_performance, Optical Performance, Build Quality, Chromatic Aberration and Handling — here is how the reviewed lenses compare, with the sourced evidence behind each position. We don't crown a winner; we show the fit and let you decide.
Ranked on the evidence
Strongest reviewer support on Optical Performance and Build Quality.
- Optical Performance+60%121▲ / 16▼ of 174 · low
- Build Quality+59%15▲ / 2▼ of 22 · low
- Chromatic Aberration+50%8▲ / 1▼ of 14 · low (thin evidence, contested)
- Handling+72%38▲ / 4▼ of 47 · low
"sensor let's start at the widest angle of 100 mm and the brightest apture of f4.5 in the middle of the image we immediately see razor sharpness with very good contrast and the image Corners also fantastic what a great st…" — Christopher Frost
Strongest reviewer support on Build Quality and Optical Performance.
- Optical Performance+54%65▲ / 16▼ of 91 · low
- Build Quality+73%9▲ / 1▼ of 11 · low (thin evidence)
- Chromatic Aberration+37%12▲ / 5▼ of 19 · low (contested)
- Handling+68%13▲ / 0▼ of 19 · low
"Now, I have a feeling it's going to be mega ultra sharp because it's tuned for macro photography, and so that might not be something you actually want in portraits." — Lee Zavitz Can You
Strongest reviewer support on Optical Performance and Build Quality.
- Optical Performance+59%70▲ / 10▼ of 101 · low
- Build Quality+56%18▲ / 4▼ of 25 · low
- Chromatic Aberration-12%3▲ / 4▼ of 8 · low (thin evidence, contested)
- Handling+48%31▲ / 8▼ of 48 · low
"my apsc camera which is an 18 megapixel Canon 60D which is quite a common image sensor for Canon cameras today it's pretty sharp but newer lenses do perform a little better let's look at the performance at 70 mm first wi…" — Christopher Frost
Strongest reviewer support on Build Quality and Optical Performance.
- Optical Performance+33%63▲ / 21▼ of 126 · low (contested)
- Build Quality+55%6▲ / 0▼ of 11 · low (thin evidence)
- Chromatic Aberration+17%2▲ / 1▼ of 6 · low (thin evidence, contested)
- Handling+36%11▲ / 3▼ of 22 · low (contested)
"dramatically wide while still being quite easy to shoot with and this super wide angle is particularly useful for video makers shooting blogs or using Digital Image stabilization which tends to crop your image a bit and …" — Christopher Frost
Strongest reviewer support on Build Quality and Optical Performance.
- Optical Performance+31%49▲ / 24▼ of 81 · low
- Build Quality+56%6▲ / 1▼ of 9 · low (thin evidence)
- Chromatic Aberration+17%8▲ / 5▼ of 18 · low (contested)
- Handling+33%11▲ / 4▼ of 21 · low (contested)
"there was never a point where I thought this is too much cat's eye or too like it just didn't look harsh or anything like that and with a lens that is just as sharp as this thing is sometimes you can get some weird stuff…" — Benj Haisch
Strongest reviewer support on Build Quality and Optical Performance.
- Optical Performance+35%43▲ / 16▼ of 77 · low
- Build Quality+42%6▲ / 1▼ of 12 · low (thin evidence, contested)
- Chromatic Aberration+0%1▲ / 1▼ of 5 · low (thin evidence, contested)
- Handling+47%11▲ / 2▼ of 19 · low (contested)
"70 to 350 is consistently very good the minimum focusing distance of the 70 to 350 mil is 1.1 M or 3.6 ft which I am not very happy about the lens at this distance provides a maximum magnification ratio of 0.23 x which i…" — Cameradecision Test Lab
Strongest reviewer support on Optical Performance and Handling.
- Optical Performance+55%22▲ / 5▼ of 31 · low
- Build Quality+0%1▲ / 1▼ of 5 · low (thin evidence)
- Chromatic Aberration+0%2▲ / 2▼ of 12 · low (thin evidence)
- Handling+53%10▲ / 1▼ of 17 · low
"While we haven’t put the lens through a full battery of tests to determine every aspect of its image quality, it’s hard to find much fault with the samples we’ve taken." — Dpreview Gps Media Is
Strongest reviewer support on Build Quality and Handling.
- Optical Performance-16%10▲ / 16▼ of 38 · low (contested)
- Build Quality+67%2▲ / 0▼ of 3 · low (thin evidence)
- Chromatic Aberration-20%2▲ / 3▼ of 5 · low (thin evidence)
- Handling+71%11▲ / 1▼ of 14 · low (thin evidence)
"I've done this video so you guys can look at the resolution and the sharpness from both of these lenses with the teleconverter one of the photos and videos will shot with this which is my panasonic lumix s1 are now they …" — Darryl Carey Panasonic S
Strongest reviewer support on Build Quality and Optical Performance.
- Optical Performance+44%41▲ / 13▼ of 63 · low
- Build Quality+45%7▲ / 2▼ of 11 · low (thin evidence, contested)
- Chromatic Aberration-100%0▲ / 1▼ of 1 · low (thin evidence)
- Handling+55%8▲ / 2▼ of 11 · low (thin evidence)
"be done i'm absolutely loving the contrast and color i'm getting off this lens [Music] one of the biggest selling points of this 200 to 400 millimeter is this 1.4 times extender that's on it the 1.4 times extender is act…" — Brendan Van Son
Strongest reviewer support on Build Quality and Handling.
- Optical Performance+1%42▲ / 41▼ of 106 · low (contested)
- Build Quality+30%13▲ / 4▼ of 30 · low (contested)
- Chromatic Aberration+0%4▲ / 4▼ of 16 · low (contested)
- Handling+31%18▲ / 8▼ of 32 · low
"is lower than you might expect for a lens with such a huge Zoom capability as I mentioned though it only offers an apsc image Circle so if you're shooting on a full-frame camera you will have to revert to its lower resol…" — Christopher Frost
Strongest reviewer support on Optical Performance and Handling.
- Optical Performance+11%23▲ / 17▼ of 53 · low (contested)
- Build Quality-17%4▲ / 6▼ of 12 · low (thin evidence, contested)
- Chromatic Aberration-7%2▲ / 3▼ of 15 · low
- Handling+19%8▲ / 5▼ of 16 · low (contested)
"a pretty competent variable aperture soom lens but what am i five reasons why this is far more than just a kit lens [Music] first up is it's solid and versatile picture quality the image quality that you get from the 28 …" — 120fps Ingaf Far
Strongest reviewer support on Handling.
- Optical Performance-15%15▲ / 23▼ of 55 · low (contested)
- Build Quality+0%2▲ / 2▼ of 7 · low (thin evidence, contested)
- Handling+27%8▲ / 4▼ of 15 · low (contested)
"same picture quality as lenses with shorter Zoom ranges or prime lenses that don't Zoom at all another problem with super zoom lenses is that they're not very fast they don't let in a lot of light their maximum apertures…" — Christopher Frost
Strongest reviewer support on Optical Performance and Handling.
- Optical Performance+30%27▲ / 11▼ of 53 · low
- Build Quality-40%1▲ / 5▼ of 10 · low (thin evidence)
- Chromatic Aberration-25%0▲ / 1▼ of 4 · low (thin evidence, contested)
- Handling+15%5▲ / 3▼ of 13 · low (thin evidence)
"[Music] howdy everyone now a little while ago I made a review of Canon's 100 mm f2.8 USM macro lens and you can watch that full review by clicking on the link below or the link in the description I tested it on my apsc c…" — Christopher Frost
Strongest reviewer support on Handling and Optical Performance.
- Optical Performance+7%42▲ / 35▼ of 94 · low (contested)
- Build Quality-22%6▲ / 10▼ of 18 · low
- Chromatic Aberration-33%1▲ / 3▼ of 6 · low (thin evidence)
- Handling+24%10▲ / 5▼ of 21 · low (contested)
"fantastic but what about image quality I'll be testing this lens on a Canon EOS R5 with its full frame 45 map sensor with in camera Corrections turned on at 100 mm and at 5.6 sharpness and contrast are very good in the m…" — Christopher Frost
Strongest reviewer support on Handling.
- Optical Performance-25%23▲ / 43▼ of 80 · low
- Build Quality-14%3▲ / 4▼ of 7 · low (thin evidence)
- Chromatic Aberration-100%0▲ / 2▼ of 2 · low (thin evidence)
- Handling+100%2▲ / 0▼ of 2 · low (thin evidence)
"the 18 through 55 is it does zoom out a little more 18 is of course a bit more zoomed out than 28 but of course 28 is more than wide enough I would not complain about that at [Music] all now image quality wise I'd say th…" — Jordanphotoaudio
Strongest reviewer support on Optical Performance.
- Optical Performance+30%5▲ / 2▼ of 10 · low (thin evidence)
- Build Quality-50%1▲ / 3▼ of 4 · low (thin evidence)
- Chromatic Aberration-50%0▲ / 2▼ of 4 · low (thin evidence)
- Handling-33%1▲ / 2▼ of 3 · low (thin evidence)
"Focus this lens being a prime lens has almost no Distortion forr users will notice slight V getting at f1.8 and F2 but DX users won't notice it at all like I said at the beginning of this video this lens is the sharpest …" — Alex Lynch
Side by side
| Camera | af_performance | Optical Performance | Build Quality | Chromatic Aberration | Handling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Sony 100 400mm f4.5 | — | +60% | +59% | +50% | +72% |
| 2. Sony 100mm f2.8 | — | +54% | +73% | +37% | +68% |
| 3. Canon 70 200mm f2.8 | — | +59% | +56% | -12% | +48% |
| 4. Sony 20 70mm f4 | — | +33% | +55% | +17% | +36% |
| 5. Sony 85mm f1.4 | — | +31% | +56% | +17% | +33% |
| 6. Sony 70 350mm f4.5 | — | +35% | +42% | +0% | +47% |
| 7. Sigma 85mm f1.2 | — | +55% | +0% | +0% | +53% |
| 8. Panasonic 70 200mm f4 | — | -16% | +67% | -20% | +71% |
| 9. Canon 200 400mm f4 | — | +44% | +45% | -100% | +55% |
| 10. Sigma 16 300mm f3.5 | — | +1% | +30% | +0% | +31% |
| 11. Sony 28 70mm f3.5 | — | +11% | -17% | -7% | +19% |
| 12. Canon 18 200mm f3.5 | — | -15% | +0% | — | +27% |
| 13. Canon 100mm f2.8 | — | +30% | -40% | -25% | +15% |
| 14. Canon 100 400mm f5.6 | — | +7% | -22% | -33% | +24% |
| 15. Canon 28 105mm f3.5 | — | -25% | -14% | -100% | +100% |
| 16. Nikon 85mm f1.8 | — | +30% | -50% | -50% | -33% |
Net reviewer sentiment per criterion (share positive minus share negative). A blank means no reviewer evidence on that axis for that camera — a gap, not a zero.
Not ranked — outside the criteria
- OM SYSTEM 12 40mm f2.8 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 40
- Sony 35mm f2.8 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 35
- Canon 35mm f1.4 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 35
- Nikon 16 50mm f2.8 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 50
- Leica 50mm f1.4 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 50
- Sigma 35mm F1.2 DG DN Art — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 35
- Canon 45mm f1.2 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 45
- Sony FE 35mm F1.4 GM — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 35
- Leica 50mm f2 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 50
- Zeiss 35mm f1.4 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 35
- Olympus 12mm f2 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 12
- Canon 50mm f2.5 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 50
- Sigma 14 24mm f2.8 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 24
- Sony 16 25mm f2.8 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 25
- Sony 12 24mm f2.8 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 24
- Sony 50mm f2.8 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 50
- Sigma 56mm f1.4 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 56
- Nikon 28mm f2.8 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 28
- Panasonic lumix s 35mm — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 35
- Canon 50mm f1.8 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 50
- Sigma 35mm f1.4 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 35
- Canon 16mm f2.8 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 16
- Fujifilm 16mm f2.8 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 16
- Rokinon 35mm — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 35
- Olympus 60mm f2.8 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 60
- Tamron 12 20mm f2.8 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 20
- Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art II — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 35
- Sigma 23mm f1.4 — require focal_length_mm >= 70: got 23
Pending — a spec we're still sourcing
These earned a review card but are held out until we confirm a spec the criteria gate on. That is a data gap on our side, not a mark against the camera.
- GoPro hero11 — focal_length_mm: focal_length_mm not present on card
- DJI DJI Air 2S DA2SUE1 — focal_length_mm: focal_length_mm not present on card
Every position above traces to the reviewer claims on each product's card. We don't write opinions — we synthesize theirs, and we present fit rather than a verdict.