well built, good optics and AF with HSM is adequate for most applications.

Weak AF

I do alot of indoor and outdoor music events where stage lighting is the only light source. This AF is a little slow, but I don't use it for my use. Excellent manual focus, for the price, you can't beat it!

Customer Service

N/A

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Tokina 48-840 f5.6

Sharp, decent aperture of 5.6, economical, ergonomics, weight just right for panning, sturdy tripod collar.

Slow AF, AF tendency to hunt in low light situation, flimsy hood, AF/MF switch could have a little more positive feel.

Good inexpensive telephoto lens. The pictures are pretty sharp, color a little on the warm side. Great minimum focusing distance. Good ergonomics. The AF is a little too slow for tracking fast moving objects.

Customer Service

n/a

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Minolta 200mm 2.8

Sharp, sharp and sharp. Did I mention it''s very sharp.

A little slow on the AF side of things.

This is one sharp lens. After reading the other posts about this lens I decided to add it to my arsenal. My first impression, Wow, what a lens! Good solid build, not too heavy. Very very sharp and good contrast. I like it very much.

Customer Service

none

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Sigma 105mm 2.8 macro (This is my baby)

Well build, solid and easy to handle. Good tripod mount. Very good sharpness and contrast wide open and at all apertures. Very good colours.

Manual focusing ring is smooth but, again, too underdamped. AF is slow but you don't have a better choice except for HSM lenses. Quality doesn't reach, anyway, that of 300 f/4 same brand.

Good choice of a lens. Nothing else at this price is on the market. For my photographic purposes (mostly portrait, people, fashion) this is the longest lens i really need. Maybe if you're involved with animals, sports and something the Sigma 500 deserves a look. 300 and 400 are too close.

Customer Service

Never needed.

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Sigma 300 EX f/4
Nikon AF 300 f/4
Tamron SP 300 f/5.6

Optically very sharp. I use it for animal photography. Good grip for manual focus if needed. I like the lens.

Build quality is not the same as Nikon but then again, neither is the price.

Good value. Sharp and contrasty. A good lens for the non-mfg crowd but would be out of place in a camera manufacturer snob's bag.

Customer Service

not needed

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many lenses from Nikon

Very sturdy and wellbalanced.Contrast and sharpness are very good.even at full aparture.Nice manual focusing
Very useful closefocus.

AF a little slow.
The build-in hood has no screwstop.

You can´t get a better 400mm for this prize!

Similar Products Used:

Tokina ATX 400/5,6
Pentax F 300/4.5
Sigma APO 400/5.6
Tamron SP 300/5,6
Tokina ATX 300/2,8
Tokina SP 400/5,6
Tokina 500/8

Build quality. Sturdy tripod collar. Good ergonomic feel. Excellent optics.

Lens hood is a bit flimsy. AF is slow (but shouldn't be used anyway!)

This is an excellent lens, and quite a bit cheaper than a manufacturers equivalent. I use it with a Minolta, generally for Formula 1 photography, and it's excellent at all apertures. I also use it quite a bit with the Sigma 1.4x converter and the difference in quality is very minimal even under an 8x loupe.
If you can't justify spending 1000's for a manufacturer's lens, then try this, you shouldn't regret it.

Customer Service

Never needed

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Very sharp even @ f5.6.
Close focus capability (1:3.
Compact and lightweight.
Very cheap when compared to manufacturers lenses.
Smooth manual focus ring

Vibration from mirror slap and shutter travels through lens making it difficult to get sharp images at shutter speed of between 1/60th and 3secs.
Tripod collar is not very solid.
AF is useless when attatched to EOS 5/A2 - hunts and fails to lock on.

An excellent lens for close up nature work - especially wildflowers with diffused backgrounds.
Also good for landscape details - just as sharp at infinity as at min. focus distance. I use this lens professionally for all types of nature work and see no reason to spend thousands on a faster canon lens when the results that I get from this one are equally sharp and contrasty. When photographing small birds from a hide my results are just as sharp as a colleagues nikon 300f2.8 ed with 1.4x. The lens needs extra support when on a tripod at 1/60th - 3secs - I usually hang my camera bag over the section between the collar and the camera (although it works fine when supported on a bean bag. Be carefull not to over-tighten the tripod collar as it is alluminium and easily shears. I would highly recommend this lens - it is a bargain (although I would probably opt for the HSM version next time).

Similar Products Used:

None

cheap (But high optical qaulity) hand holdable birding and general wild life lens

none whatsoever

This i a fantastic lens for the price it costs !
It is sharp, Not to heavy for hand holding, And i love the wide grippy rubber focusing collor

Customer Service

none needed

Similar Products Used:

None