Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6...

starky987 · March 16, 2008

Does anyone have any experience with this lens
Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG Macro
OR
Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 EX DG

Just wanted to know if they were any good. Most of the reviews were positive on b&h but wanted to hear it from some dgrinners.

thanks

thegridrunner · March 17, 2008

http://www.photozone.de/Reviews/Canon%20EOS%20Lens%20Tests/45-canon-eos-aps-c/326-sigma-af-70-300mm-f4-56-apo-dg-macro-test-report--review

Tee Why · March 17, 2008

Sigma 70-300mm APO DG Macro is a fine consumer grade 70-300mm zoom lens.

The APO version is better than the DL version from what I've read and I 've had the APO version a while ago. If you are looking for a 70-300mm zoom around $200 it's a good lens.

OrvSal · March 17, 2008

I adree with Tee Why, it is a good consumer lens for the price. I have the non APO model, used on a D70S and it works fine. Sometimes a bit slow and searches while focusing, a bit softer at 300mm. I like it best in bright sunny days and shoot mostly at F8 or higher. Overall, I like it but would like to upgrade someday. (Sigma 50-500 APO)

starky987 · March 17, 2008

Thanks for the review site, I love it.

I'm trying to decide between

Tamron 18-250 f/3.5-6.3 ($479)

OR

Canon 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 IS & Canon 55-250 f/4.0-5.6 IS (total $475.00)

Both had similar reviews but I don't know about having 2 lenses vs. just one. It would be more convenient to just have the one for all purpose shooting but the other 2 lenses both are Canon which is nice and have IS. Any input is appreciated.

thegridrunner · March 17, 2008

well, the two canons both got good optical quality scores and should give you very good results. The tamron optics is slight lower but you save in weight and convenients.... personally, I prefer optical quality even if it is a slight edge.:D

Tee Why · March 17, 2008

starky987 wrote:

Thanks for the review site, I love it.

I'm trying to decide between

Tamron 18-250 f/3.5-6.3 ($479)

OR

Canon 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 IS & Canon 55-250 f/4.0-5.6 IS (total $475.00)

Both had similar reviews but I don't know about having 2 lenses vs. just one. It would be more convenient to just have the one for all purpose shooting but the other 2 lenses both are Canon which is nice and have IS. Any input is appreciated.

I've owned the Canon 18-55IS and have tried out the Tamron 18-250.
Personally, I would go with the two lens kit for two reasons. One is that a 3x zoom makes less optical compromises than a 11x zoom. Optics on the Tamron isn't too good, especially near the long end and if I recall, had more CA than the 18-55IS. The Canon's also come with IS as well.

I think photozone.de has reviewed all of them as well.

Chrissiebeez_NL · March 18, 2008

i'm sure there are better lenses out there but for the money, the sigma 70-300 (APO) is a nifty fellow.

here is a series of shots i made a while back in the rotterdam zoo. all with sigma 70-300 APO

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=73680&highlight=rotterdam

I'm not familiar with the other lenses so cant help you there..

Robinivich · March 18, 2008

The APO does what it's supposed to, a moderate quality, slow telephoto zoom. I quite like the lens, but you have to realize, you need to prepare to deal with the downsides, virtually all the 70-300s are soft at the long ends, for optimum performance you need to shoot at f8, which means you need a bright day and high ISOs to have the speeds to get sharp photos at 480mm equivalence.

AF is not slow, but not fast, the front end rotates, and you need to be careful putting the hood on that you don't tweak the motor.

Sharpness could be better, but could also be a fair bit worse, the real trick is that good exposures at high shutter speeds can show a lot more quality than you even knew the lens had, when it's sunny this lens can surprise me.

If you can deal with all this, congratulations, your wallet thanks you already, and the sigma comes with a good hood, soft case, and a macro mode down to 1:2 which can be a lot of fun (think 300mm working distance macro guys!)

The build of the sigma is nice, too, nothing too fancy, but I've a 17-85 and the sigma simply feels more solid, which I gather is usually a failing of these kinds of zooms. This lens will survive as long as you feel like keeping it.

Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6...

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