Great value for a decent, sharp, contrasty lens. I use this lens on my Pentax KP which has inbody stabilization. I find the KP a perfect fit for this short zoom lens. The lens seems fairly sharp throughout it's focal range, although the sweet spot seems to be more towards the 50mm range, that's where I find the photos to be extremely crisp and contrasty. This particular lens is a bit noisy when autofocusing, but there is a quiter HSM version on the market. It's a great lens and I was surprised by its performance. (In a good way of course)

None that I would discuss at the price point of this lens.

I wish I had known more about the OS (optical stabilizer) feature of the lens before I purchased, tested, and returned it for a full refund minus some delivery costs. The lens overall takes excellent photos. The problem is with its vibration reduction feature which is called OS on this lens. Here is how it works and why it did not work for me as a shooter of events and weddings. The OS feature takes about a minute to "kick in" if your camera has been turned off and 1/2 minute to kick in if your camera has "gone to sleep" while you are not using it. Thus, when you see a shot you immediately want to shoot and you have OS selected to be on, you will get an unfocused image if you shoot before the above waiting times...waiting for it to get itself ready. I looked through all of the photos I shot recently with this lens. Not knowing about the delay in focusing, I ended up having the first two photos in a series out of focus and the rest in focus. I have Nikkor lenses that have VR, and I assumed this OS would function the same way. It does not. That said, if you can fix your camera so it does not go to sleep, and if you do not turn it off during a shoot, then it is a good deal. But you have to know about this issue with the Optical Stabilization of this Sigma lens before you buy it. I like very much the images that were in focus. Anyway, I ended up returning this lens and getting the Nikkor DX 35mm f 1.8 lens for half the price. It is for sale on Amazon,too. I use a Nikon D 90 for most of my photography. Two more things. I read a review in which the writer said something just looked wrong with the images' depth of field sometimes. This was true for my lens as well when it was fully working. It can render dark or very light faces flat. Secondly, in my comments above, I failed to state that the camera told me the lens was in focus when the OS was not yet ready. There was no warning that the image was NOT in focus. Very disturbing. I do wonder if this is a glitch in just this lens, a batch of them, or most of them. I am curious about the reviews that give this lens five stars!! They must have gotten their lenses from a totally different batch. kkp Read less

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Very Good Range (17-70) - Very Good Macro - f 2.8 - Sharp Image

AF - this lens is slow and i like the speed of 18-55 is over this

very good lens if u can get easy and fast pic !!!

Excellent value
Small and lightweight
Very good sharpness

No full time manual zoom (must use AF on-off switch)
A bit softer in corners than center (not unexpected for a zoom with this range)

I bought this lens to combine it with my Sigma 18-200mm DC OS lens as a "travel kit". It is small and light for it's zoom range, as it should be since it is DC lens to be used on DLSRs with APS-C sensors.

Photos produced using this lens are sharp. The corners are not as sharp as the center but I expect that with a zoom with this range. Pixel peepers might see the somewhat softer corners, others won't. This isn't a Sigma "EX" lens but the photo quality is just about as good as an EX but it fortunately is lower in price than a comparable EX - it is an excellent value. This works as an excellent replacement for a kit lens and once one uses it, the kit lens will stay on the shelf.

Customer Service

None needed for this lens but I have used Sigma USA for other matters and their service is stellar.

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 17-35mm f2,8-4 EX
Tokina 28-70mm f2.8 AT-X
Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 EX DG

Sharp throughout the focal lengths
Great value
Very handy for walk around and holiday shoots
My most important lens for corportate events
Great Macro feature

Sigma famous coat peeling
Its not about wear and tear, its about bad workmanship.
Peeling renders your lens no resale value
[img]http://www.tommyleong.com/A989827/web1770_crop02.jpg[/img]

Love the lens
Great value and very useable focal length

Customer Service

Horrid customer service
Totally unprofessional
Service technician would simply not turn up for work and refuse to meet customers
Counter receptionist attend to me
This is Sigma Singapore

Similar Products Used:

sigma 12-24 ( no problem with coating )
sigma 70-200 ( peeling )
Sigma70-300 ( no coating )

I use it on 350D

Pro:
price, sharp, useful wide open all across, great contrast and color.

Neutral:
AF speed, no so fast on the long end. Reasonable build quality

Con:
Not as well made as Sigma EX (of course!). 70mm is still short for shooting fast moving baby faces.

This is definitely a keeper for me. Going to try out Tamron 18-250 next week. My fingers are crossed...

Wish it could be more than 70mm on the long end, 120 would be great.

Best bet for standard zoom on Canon crop cameras. The is in different class from the plastic Canon 18-55 that comes with 350D, though the latter is usable as well.
But the upgrade is well worth the $300+ IMHO.

Customer Service

none needed

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 24-70 f2.8EX, was supposed to be sharp, but my copy was a dud, lemon, whatever you like to call it. Sent in for a fix, didn't improve much. But that 24-70 is surely a beauty! I just don't want to get rid of it even though it's a piece of junk...

Canon 18-55 is a few notch below this Sigma 17-70 - color is pale, detail is lacking, zoom range is less as well.

Canon 35-135 from an old film camera - The IQ is comparable to the 18-55, but much less attractive comparing to the Sigma. But Canon AF is better.

Zoom Range
Bright Aperture
Internal Focus (fixed front threads for accessories)

DC, i.e. APS-C only lens. Love to have this range at anywhere near this price in a full frame capable lens.

No Dual-Focusing (no full time manual focus overide, have to throw the switch)

The lens cap issue.

Switchable only over

The 17-70 2.8-4 Macro lens from Sigma is a winner! This relatively low cost high quality lens may not come off your D-SLR for a long time.

At one pound, with a reversible petal hood and less than 4 inches in diameter this is a comfortable sized lens. 72mm filter threads, zoom lock, and Sigma's metal mount complete the technical high points, even if it still comes with a barely adequate style of lens cap.

Macro capabilities with this unit mean that it will focus on object at around 8" from the front of the lens throughout the zoom range. An internal focusing lens, the front threads do not rotate so it is perfect for ring flashes, Circular polarizers/effect filters, the included petal hood or a customized directional shades to name but a few items.

This is a sharp and nicely contrasty optic that focuses quickly across the zoom range and displays only minimal, if any, of the typical zoom optical issues. The wide end at 17mm with an APS-C sized sensor puts you at about 25mm focal length equivalent (depending upon camera, brand, etc) but that is a wide expanse for most anything other than a special need. If you tilt the camera it will of course distort and that can be exploited for enhancing perspective in a well controlled shot. The 70mm length at the other end bookends this as a fine trade off before reaching for a super zoom. Distant sports, reaching for that special nature shot or the like are not what this unit is about. Wider and longer than many of the standard kit zooms, with faster performance and better optical performance (MTF and real world examples) this is a prime contender for your main lens.

Only a constant aperture 2.8 in a narrower zoom range or a fixed focal length and at much greater weight and overall size penalty will provide better performance at the two extremes of this lens. These faster lens cost significantly more, not all are as well matched to digital sensor needs and many of these lens are designed to perform optimally only at one end or the other of their zoom range.

The DC designation from Sigma means that you can't use this jewel on your 35mm film camera without vignetting and if you shoot a full frame digital sensor, this is not the lens you want.

Focusing seems consistent and quick across the entire range of zoom, the coatings and optical performance are outstanding with flash, and of course the wide open 2.8 capability means that manual focusing is that much easier under lower light conditions.

Unit tested was provided by Sigma Corporation as a review sample. Testing and evaluation was performed with the 17-70mm lens mounted on both a SD-14 and a SD-10 D-SLR's.

Customer Service

Not used for this product, but very satisfactory and prompt response from Sigma Corporation when required.

Similar Products Used:

Several 18-50mm units and other zoom macros from Sigma. Also 24/28-70mm lens including constant 2.8 in various mounts on different brands of cameras.

A rather unusual combo of focal lengths and aperture's.

SHARP
well built
Price

Woeful lens cap
zoom ring a little stiff

Was looking for an everyday lens with a useful zoom range. was considering 18-50 2.8 EX but saw a review of this and thought i'd take the plunge due to the extra zoom range. NO REGRETS. This lens is SHARP. The images only need a tiny touch of unsharp mask in PS to make them sing! The images are contrasty and full of colour. For the money, this is a TOP lens. Might not be quite as sharp as canon L glass but on an APS sensor camera, you won't notice the difference. Those of you with 1Ds, 5Ds etc might look elsewhere (you obviously have more money than me - lol!) but for most of us using APS sensors with less than 10MP, this lens is brilliant and, moe importantly, half the price of L glass. OK it's not the fastest lens in the world but for the majority of situations, it's absolutely fine and does go to f2.8 at 17mm.
The lens is well built and feels solid (without being overly heavy) and balances well on my 20D. The zoom ring is a little stiff but this may loosen up with use. The usual problem of sigma lenses applies here as well (minor though it is). The lens cap is woeful! sigma PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE start supplying centre pinch lens caps so we can keep lens hoods attached. Very simple but a massive oversight and a real pain.
In conclusion, if you own a digital camera with an APS sized sensor and need an everyday zoom lens, BUY THIS ONE and save the money you were going to spend on L glass to buy something else.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Lots of different nikon lenses
Takumar lenses

Very good picture quality
Excellent Zoom Range
Smooth Zoom
Fast Focus
Good Manual Focus
Good light gathering
Good CA
Excellent weight and balance
Great do-it-all lens

Edge Softness
Some vignetting at 17mm

I just purchased this lens to use on a Canon 30D as my main workhorse. I like to have one lens that I can carry to cover 90% of my needs and this lens fits that bill perfectly. I just used it at an outdoor wedding in Mexico and the wide zoom range and decent light gathering ability worked well all the way from the bright ceremony on the beach to the evening dancing and fireworks show. Color was very good, CA is no problem. Focus was fast (maybe a little noisy), zoom is very smooth.

You can certainly find better lenses if you spend more and go with a smaller zoom range but if you are looking for a do-it-all lens, this one certainly meets all my requirements.