Review 1 of 7
Price Paid:
$400.00
from Foka Summary: Bought the Sigma (new DG version) after a disappointing quick lens test of the two Canon professional lenses 16-35L and 17-40L in the shop.
Both lenses were not very sharp and not very contrasty at full lens opening. I am an available light people photographer so I would use F2.8 and F4 a lot.
The Sigma 17-35 2.8-4 EX DG however did have a nice sharpness ,contrast and vivid colours (in the low light of the shop)
I have mixed feelings about this lens. Real sharpness at big lens openings can only be found in the center. You would need to stop down
to at least F8 to get some sharpness at the (far) edges (I use a full frame Canon , EOS 5D). But then again I expect the Canon L lenses to show this also ( I have not tested them at smaller
apertures I must say, but have seen full rez sample-photo's from Canon ).
Also this lens has some problems with counterlight. In some situations, it looses a lot of contrast.
Other more positive aspects of this lens are its (still very usable) big 2.8 aperture at 17mm, very very low distortion , it is superbly build and HSM AF-motor . Strengths: -better range than my old 20-35mm
- big and usable 2.8 aperture at 17mm
- good contrast and colours in normal lighting conditions
- good center sharpness at all apertures
- virtually non-existent distortion
- build
- very quiet HSM motor
- nice lens for (advanced) amateurs and architecture photographers Weaknesses: - contrast loss in counterlight
- needs to be stopped down a lot when out of center sharpness matters
- sometimes shows some front focus, but not too problematic
- not for pro's mostly due to the problematic counterlight problem Similar Products Used: Tokina 20-35 F3.5-4.5 (excellent cheap lens for full frame digital (and 35mm) use !
Sigma 24mm 1.8 EX DG (usable @ full aperture !)
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