Sigma 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 Asph. Mini Zoom Macro

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.

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

Minolta 35-70mm kit lens

Minolta 50mm f1.7

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!

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!!!)

super sharp almost at all aperture. accurate macro.

not recommended for a manual mode.

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

none

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.

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.

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

-

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.

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

Plastic feel.

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).

Sigma Customer Support via email has been very good.

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.

Price Zoom range

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

Nikkor 24-120mm

N/A