Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM 35mm Zoom

DESCRIPTION

This large aperture, standard zoom lens contains state-of-the-art enhancements, including the companyâ€™s own Optical Stabilization (OS), anti-shake technology that offers the use of shutter speeds approximately four stops slower than would otherwise be possible. Once again, only Sigma has made it possible for Pentax and Sony shooters to utilize an anti-shake system in either the lens or the camera body. With a large aperture of F2.8 on the wide end and F4 at the tele end, as well as a macro function with a minimum focusing distance of 8.7 inches and a maximum magnification ratio of 1:2.7, this lens is ideal for a wide range of photography. The lensâ€™ Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM) also ensures a quiet and high speed auto focus, while its rounded, seven-blade diaphragm creates an attractive blur to the out-of-focus areas to provide the optimal Bokeh effect. The inner focusing system eliminates front lens rotation, making the lens particularly suitable for using the supplied petal-type lens hood and circular polarizing filters. The 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM lens is currently available in Sigma, Canon, Nikon (D), Sony (D) and Pentax mounts.

USER REVIEWS

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[Oct 17, 2010]

Dave Perkes

Professional

Strength:

Versatile and useful Zoom Range 17-70
Image stabilization
Fast at wide angle
Smooth bokeh
Close focus

Weakness:

Annoying Manual Focus switch
A touch soft at wide apertures
No weather sealing.

I bought this lens as a replacement to a Nikon 17-55 F 2.8 damaged irreparably; so consider myself very critical.
Features
Its a moderately fast 17-70 F2.8 – F4 Variable aperture DX or APS Zoom with Image Stabilisation (OS) and good close focusing ability. Its not a true macro but is useful as a general purpose lens

Build Quality
Is good for a consumer lens. It has a split lens barrel. which unlike my Nikon 18-200 is solid and free of lateral movement. The petal lens shade and lens cap looks cheap and detracts from an otherwise good design. Compared to cheap Kit Lenses its large but not too heavy.

Image quality has not disappointed. It may seem a touch soft close up, wide open, but not enough to be a major concern. It has pleasing smooth out of focus areas (Bokeh) with none of the harshness that is present in Nikons 18-200.

Barrel distortion at the wide end is noticeable, but even Nikons $1500, 17-55 F2.8 is not significantly better. At 20mm its pretty accurate and at 70mm, slight pincushion distortion is noticeable. Al of these can easily corrected in Photoshop Lightroom 3 (or CS5)

Image Stabilisation is very useful, but only on static subjects . It’s possible to shoot at less than ½ second at the wide end with sharp results. The F4 aperture at 70mm is a bit of a restriction for portraiture in dark environments, as you need at least 1/30th sec to keep subjects sharp.

One annoyance is the Manual Focus switch which slows the operation down. I prefer the Nikon setup where you can override the auto focus without a separate switch.
There is no weather sealing or gasket on the lens mount so beware of use in the rain!

Overall its a a good, solid general purpose zoom lens which has good image quality which outclasses the longer superzooms like the Nikon or Sigmas 18-200 ans comes pretty close to the quality of Nikon pro glass.

Customer Service

n/a

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 12-24
Sigma 10-20
Nikon 17-55 F2.8
Nikon 18-200

OVERALL RATING	5	★★★★★ ★★★★★

VALUE RATING	5	★★★★★ ★★★★★