Close Non-Macro Focusing!
Extremely close marco-focusing!
Magnification of 1:2 on FF sensors and 1:1 on M43 sensors!
Very sharp for a lens of this class across it's entire zoom range!
Inexpensive!
Fairly compact.

Plastic bayonet mount,
Macro available only at 80mm,

I recently purchased a GH1 and 14 mount adapters to play around on the M43 format. I went to e-bay and purchased a bunch of lenses for $1.00 each. The Sigma 28-80mm 3.5~5.6 Macro Aspherical had a broken or stripped AF mechanism. On the GH1 this is inconsequential. I'd like to remark on this lens's sharpness however! For about $150.00 (new) mini-zoom it's sharpness is relatively remarkable!

Another reviewer here mentioned that his was quite soft. My copy however is not. It's not as sharp as some of Zeiss glass but it's not in that price range either. How sharp is sharp for a mini-zoom in this price range? Here's a permanent link to a sample image:

http://tesselator.gpmod.com/Images/_Flowers_n_Foliage/_1000840.jpg

The includes a 100% crop like you're likely to be printing with and also a 25% scale of the crop so you can see what it's like for posting images on your favorite photo sites. In all I was impressed with it's sharpness over it's entire zoom range at it's largest apertures (wide open) enough to look up how much it sold for new and to write this review - which I almost never do.

I can't comment on the autofocus functionality of this product but if you are looking for a wide mini-zoom with the optical characteristics of lenses many times it's price this is likely a very good choice.

Similar Products Used:

Many!

Practical zoom range.

Cheap and light, but the materials feel pleasant in one hands

No real issues with distortions considering its price

Can focus up close and even closer with the macro mode on

Colouring job comes across pleasanlly

A bit soft in sharpness, best use at apertures f8 to f16 probably

Flares. Use the hood as much as possible

probably not a stayer to move on to a higher level of photography

Looking for a replacement for the rather dull and cheap 35-70mm kit lens I went to the local camera store. My aim was to upgrade that lens while staying in the same zoom range for a budget price. the man who helped me at the store advised me this lens, because for this price you couldn't break a leg. At that time I wasn't a enthousiastic photographer. Actually I purchased the lens new and the type was the mini zoom mark II, but the construction of this lens does not differ from the lens above.

Soon I was on the verve of becoming one, all due to this lens. Why? Because it is a versatile lens and it has atractive features and characteristics considering its price. Still it is a budget lens and it is not fair to compare this lens to more expense and advanced lenses lie the 2.8 G's, EX,'s DC's etc etc.

The following features are handy especially for beginners who wish to explore their photographic tendencies:

1. The lens has a versatile and smart zoom range from 28mm to 80mm. 28mm is good for wide angle shots for buiildings and landscapes for instance with keeping a acceptable real life perspective. Zoom in to 80mm the lens is good for portraits, close up etc etc.

2. The lens has a very close minimum focus distance that aving to much helps not getting expermental shots in the way. Good for close out of perspective and wide angle shots at 28mm for instance.

3.The macro lens, that can be activated at 80mm enables you to even get closer to a subject. At this specific setting the lens enables extra magnification and the sharpness is also tweaked a bit.

In the field this lens performs like all other budget lenses. For beginners and people who do not have a need for high and very very high image quality this lens is a great tool. It is lens that produces slightly soft images and when able one should set apertures values from f8 to f16 at all focal lenghts to achieve perfect sharp images. Further like most Sigma lenses this lens displays slightly plain colouring. Meaning the colours can be suddenly heavily saturnated, but the spectrum in which colours are displayed is not so wide relatively. The result is image, that is soft in contrasts and heavy in colours.

This all sounds like a lens better to stay away from, but in the land of underdog and the budget lenses this is the LENS to be considered in its class. Images can best be stopped down to boost the contrast and in comparison to slightly higher indicated lenses this lens is actually a very good lens. For people who take pictures mostly for enjoyment and for whom picture quality comes at a good second place, this lens is good fun.

Build wise this lens can last some time, when normally used. The lens consists of plastics and rubber and a metal bajonet. Further the lens displays a scale in ft en metres and the zoom ring and the focus ring turn smooth and there is little to no slack in the rings. Overall the build is secure and looks well thought. A lens hood is delivered with the standard package. I would use surely use this item on the lens on a sunny day.

My verdict: a perfect lens for people on a budget, people for whom the image quality is of lesser essence. One can learn and grow with this lens to get some experience and perhaps to get on a higher level. This lens is really good value for the money.

Customer Service

No customer service needed for the lens till now.

Note: The other day I got very good experiences with the Sigma customer support in the Netherlands. I experienced some malfunctions with a second hand DL telezoom. When I contacted the particular customer service, the people there in a very pleasent manner! In the and They were unable to help me, but their customer service left a positive impression!

Similar Products Used:

Minolta 35-70mm kit lens

Minolta 50mm f1.7

super sharp almost at all aperture. accurate macro.

not recommended for a manual mode.

Im not an avid fan of third party lenses. but when i got the chance to try this lens, it really caught me by surprise! It produces really sharp and ideal for everything from landscapes to close-ups! macro really captures close ups of accuracy, portraits are defined, landscape picture quality is superb!!! I use mostly my canon lens ( 24-70 L but heavy to carry arround for an every day use) which i gave a perfect "10" for its rating in terms of optic quality. But to give you an idea how will i rate this sigma, " 8.5" for its performance. This is a great lens i should say and can sparingly alternate your prime or expenssive lens same with my tamron 70-300 ( great toys to keep!!!)

Customer Service

none

Similar Products Used:

canon 70-200 L, canon 24-70 L, canon 50 1.8 mk 1, tamron 70-300 zoom (new toy)

Reasonably sharp when stopped down and in perfect lighting conditions. Distortion not so great (od APS-c dSLR). Macro. Price.

Horrible built quality - very shaky, plastic mount and body, feels very cheap. Loose focusing ring. Heavy flare. Very slow and noisy AF.

Cheap, plastic lens. Optically acceptable, except for the heavy flare. Built quality is very bad, plastic mount and body and very loose focusing ring make it totally untrustworthy. Nice macro feature though. On the whole, nothing more that a "better kit lens". Collect some money and buy a real one.

Customer Service

-

Similar Products Used:

Tamron 28-80 (better than Sigma), Minolta 28-85 3,5-4,5 (great lens)

1:2 Macro, Veratility, Price, Excellent quality as compared to price. Aspherical.

Plastic feel.

purchased this lens in a kit package along with a Canon EOS Rebel Ti and a Sigma 100-300mm AF DL Telephoto Zoom for $299.95. I feel I got a great deal. This is an excellent and very versatile kit lens. I love the macro feature. As a matter of fact this lens got me into the excitement of photographing close up pictures of flowers. I have now purchased a Sigma 50mm EX Macro and a Sigma 105mm EX Macro for true 1:1 Reproduction.

Customer Service

Sigma Customer Support via email has been very good.

Similar Products Used:

Canon EF 28-200mm AF USM, Sigma 100-300mm AF DL Telephoto Zoom, Sigma 55-200mm AF Zoom, Tamron 19-35mm Wide Angle Zoom, Sigma 50mm EX Macro (Prime), Sigma 105mm EX Macro (Prime).

Price Zoom range

Too short of a lens for macro work and looses image quality at this point.

A nice compact lens for a cheap price. This was the first lens that I bought around 5 years ago when I first started photography. The zoom range is good but the f-stops will limit you shooting during morning and dusk. The lens needs to be shot at f11 to get the best results and the marco feature is nice. The problem with the macro is that you get too close to your subject because the lens is only 80mm and causes shadows and you get too much background.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 24-120mm

Relatively sharp for the price. Decent construction. Another competent, if uninspired, Sigma product.

Very slow lens, but you get what you pay for.

If you can get enough light, this mini-zoom will produce reasonably good results. Of course, it's real slow, so you can forget low-light and some natural light shots. Construction seems decent enough, pretty sturdy (and I beat the hell out of this thing too).

The most obvious is the 1:2 macro at 80mm. I don't notice in loss of sharpness and none of the usual spherical aberration commonly found at such magnification ratios. Flare ( a big hang-up of mine) in negligible, even at critical angles to the sun. Overall image quality is quite acceptable, particularly at this price. I was expecting a plastic lens flange, but this one's metal.

None you wouldn't expect-not made for heavy use, but overall operation is fairly smooth. Focusing, as with most AF zooms, is under-damped, but no worse than any others I've seen. If you want best sharpness, keep it in the "sweet" zone of two stops down from max. aperture in it does a creditable job.

If the price seems unbelievable, let me emphasize it was packaged with a Maxxum XTsi body (also reviewed) and that was the price Samy's showed on the receipt. This is not a "refurb" but a new lens with USA warranty.

Customer Service

Not required yet

Similar Products Used:

Maxxum 28-85 Canon EF 28-105

cheap (don''t care what happens to it-no worries) lightweight macro function sharp, but probably wouldn''t compete with a prime lens

that stupid focus ring is much too loose in manual focus!!!!!!! feels like a toy

This is the lens I started with to use on my first Nikon. it is reasonably sharp in all occasions it''s been used for. Have not done a sophisticated test of sharpness at each f stop, but I have never noticed any unacceptable photos with it. In time I''ve upgraded to better lenses,but I still find myself using it quite a bit. This is because 28-80 seems to be the most useful focal length for me.The Sigma 20mm is too wide most of the time. The Nikon 50 is my favorite, but many times I need something a little longer or a little wider. It''s not a fast lens at all, handheld shots in low light are just about of the question. The thing I hate about this one is focus ring is so loose,manual focus is a big headache!

Customer Service

not needed yet

Similar Products Used:

no other zooms of this range

Macro facility Accurate AF with macro applied. Weight.

At a push, I would say loose focus ring, but really at this price, who is complaining!

This lens is ideal for everything from landscapes to close-ups! Very popular zoom ranges, and the macro facility allows close ups of accuracy, when documenting flowers, grass etc. I bought this one second hand and in perfect condition. Its not to heavy, and although the focus ring is quite loose, lets face it, you get what you pay for. It really functions well with AF, making it ideal for the biginner or casual photographer. Portraits are well defined, landscape picture quality has made me a fortune, and close up is ideal for my ecology studies. Well done Sigm

Customer Service

None needed.

Similar Products Used:

Pentax 35 - 70mm