This great lens combines a 5 lens group zoom system with an aspherical lens element to deliver sharp high contrast images throughout the entire zoom r
This great lens combines a 5 lens group zoom system with an aspherical lens element to deliver sharp high contrast images throughout the entire zoom range. Using Sigma's unique apochromatic lens design and three SLD glass elements, the aberrations usually found in ultra-telephoto lenses have been eliminated. And with Sigma's new focusing system, the front lens group doesn't rotate, which makes using polarized filters a snap. A convenient built-in rotary tripod mount eliminates vibration during shutter release.
Summary: My experience has been a bit different than most others here, as I find this lens to produce very sharp images. I use it on a Nikon D70, and shoot RAW files. I've shot mostly in the focal length range of 400mm to 500mm, still good and sharp.
It does suffer from chromatic aberration (CA) in high-contrast situations of very bright (overexposed) backgrounds with darker foreground objects, had that happen when shooting birds in trees a few times, but under most conditions, CA is negligible-to-non existent. I've used this lens mainly for nature stuff, but have also shot a couple college football games with it, and it worked great for that, sharp, great contrast, no CA.
It does demand that your technique be almost flawless. It definitely requires a sturdy tripod or monopod and ideally an f/stop in the range or f/8 to f/11 for the sharpest results. For the money, I am very happy with this lens.
Strengths: Sharp images, reasonable price
Weaknesses: Very unforgiving of less-than-perfect technique, zoom creep if the lens is pointed downward, CA in certain situations with overexposed or very bright background with darker foreground objects.
Summary: This is a good lens for what it is - a "consumer zoom". You would have to spend a lot more money to get significantly better image quality such as provided by a Canon L zoom such as the 100-400 L. It can be hand held with an appropriately high shutter speed but I find its best used with some sort of support, even if its a monopod. I find I get the best images with the lens mounted on a sturdy tripod, stopped down a bit and using a remote shutter release. I use it on my Canon DSLRs but haven't used it on my film bodies.
Strengths: Zoom range, quite reasonable image quality, price - it includes a tripod ring, a hood and a carry case.
Weaknesses: No zoom lock, filter size, though mine (used) came with a uv filter, noisy focus.
Similar Products Used: Canon 70-200 f/2.8L with 1.4x teleconverter, Canon 70-300 IS
Summary: Useless lens. This is my second attempt to "save" money on a non-nikon lens and it has been a complete waste. I have shot with this lens on a tripod, mirror lock-up and remote trigger and still can not get an image I would even consider offering for sale.
Strengths: None
Weaknesses: not capable of producing a sharp image
Summary: I've been dissapointed with this lens from the time I've spent going from amateur beginner photographer to semi-pro/expert. I bought it a few months after my first SLR: a film Canon Rebel 2000 (EOS 300)
It's never really produced sharp images at anything beyond 400mm. I've mainly used it for wildlife photography, originally on the Rebel 2000, then film Canon EOS30, printing to as large as A5 (at most). After I upgraded to a 20D, I really noticed the shortcomings of the lens: softness that not even Photoshop can fix.
The UV protective lens for the Sigma was not that expensive, but the circular polariser was quite expensive. Not terribly difficult to find lens filters: I phoned around in an afternoon and found some.
I've never really had focussing issues on any of the Canon cameras I've used. I simply set the focus to centrepoint and away it goes, with minimal hunting. Maybe I got lucky? Tracking focus is -however- unrelaible.
Strengths: Price (for a new lens). Its a budget means of getting closer to sporting events, but not a professionals lens.
It takes great photos for postcard size prints, even up to 10x12.
Looks the business and if you accept the limitations, you can work around them. In this vein, try renting a variety of lenses before committing to buying one.
Judging from the limited successes I've had, this lens does well in photographing sports events (fast cars/F1, hockey, etc). Not so great for wildlife, unless there is full sun (which kind of defeats the purpose).
No flare that I've ever noticed (I've never really experimented much). Just use the supplied lens hood. I would however reccomend coating the inner (plastic) surface of the hood with black felt.
Weaknesses: Price: You may get a better match with a new 100-300 lens and a second hand 500mm prime with an adapter. But you will need dedicated research and reading up on blogs to find lenses that meets your requirements.
Soft focus when aperture wide open. Admittedly, I have gone as far as using this lens on a bean bag with a remote release (never a tripod) but as far as I've been able to determine even in extremely bright sunny weather, stopped down and at 1/000th second exposure, you still get soft images.
Does not enhance the advantages offered by high res (8MP+) digital photography at anything beyond 300mm.
"Floppy" lens. It does wobble about a bit when the tube is extended. I've never fiddled to see if that significantly alters the focus.
Despite being a heavy monster, it feels plasticky. You get what you pay for.
Hopeless as a macro lens (1.5m? focal length)
I don't think this should be your first zoom lens.
Chromatic abberation abounds (at least Photoshop can fix this)
Some vignetting noticeable at long reach (500mm). Recommend using only a UV or only a circular polariser at any one time.
Using a 1.4x image extender is a hopeless excercise with this lens; don't even consider it.
Poor storage case design. Yes, you get a bag with the lens, but it's a tube (lens fits in one end of tube and you slide the lens out). I forget about the lens creep so often that I have had to put a label on the lens cap to warn me when I remove it from it's bag. If you try remove it vertically, if frequently creeps unexpectedly from 170mm to 500mm in a splitsecond. Hopeless for astrophotography with that kind of creep!
Dust specks are a problem inside the lens now. I'll have to take the lens apart to clean it. I have not had any other experience to say if it's a poor design, or if I've been unrealistic in expecting it to stand up to the beaten tracks that I travel.
Focus is loud and mechanical. Loud enough to scare timid wildlife subjects a couple of meters away. About as loud as rubbing your hands together quickly.
Similar Products Used: Recently I bought the Canon 100-400L IS USM lens. This lens is fabulous on the 20D reduced sensor size. Every bit as sharp as a L series lens claims to be. Understated genius in design. Sure, the L lens broke the bank at $1800 (I had to ship it in :s, but no more fuzzy details in images. For me, it is quite important to be able to creatively crop a poorly framed image at (say) 400mm and not have to really worry about softness ruining the resulting crop. I've managed to take some pretty amazing hand-held images in next to no light thanks to the image stabiliser. Is this lens three times better than the Sigma? Yes. If you can find one second hand for $800, then go for this rather! The L lens has made the Sigma obsolete overnight and Iit is now being sold.
My first zoom is an early 70-300mm EFII Canon lens which is much sharper in the 170-300 range compared to the Sigma lens. I will also suggest that with a high quality good lens extender (1.4x or 2x) on the 300mm zoom, I can get about as sharp an image as the Sigma lens (but with much less light entering the lens and using a 20D smaller-than-35mm CCD)
Customer Service: Have never sent it in. - No comment.
Summary: This lens has been a big disappointment. I have owned this lens for 5 years and have yet to take a photo that I would consider sharp. Even stopped down, tripod mounted, mirror locked up with cable release still will not produce a sharp image. I would not consider this lens usable at 500 mm. Acceptable soft images can be achieved around 450 mm.
Outside of bright, sunny days I could only rarely use the autofocus. It is always slow and regularly hunts. The micro servo motor is noisy. Manual focus is made difficult due to the sensitivity of the focusing ring.
When extended out past 300mm there is significant wobble in the barrel (at least 1/8"). Color and contrast are just OK. I have had no problems with flare. Reliability has been excellent.
This lens is not recommended for professional photgraphers or discriminating enthusiasts. Images taken with this lens may be suitable for low resolution web or newsprint. However, the softness of this lens is very apparent in high resolution web and printed images over 4x6. This is a good lens for taking snapshots of the kids playing outdoor sports. However, once you enlarge the images to 8X10 or larger, the optical shortcomings are evident.
Other options are the Sigma 50-500 ($1,000), Tamron 200-500 ($900) and Canon 100-400 IS L ($1,400). I do not have any experience with the Sigma or Tamron, but the Canon is outstanding. The $1,400 price tag was offset by the $450 trade-in on the my Sigma 170-500.
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