Great zoom range
Clear, Crisp Focus
Sturdy Tripod Mount that is removable (Nice)
Lens Hood included

Slightly heavy - Not very hand-holdable
Expensive/Hard to find filter size (86C)
Slow focusing

This lens is worth the money. With the purchase of this lens, my bird shots have improved in focus and quality. The focus is slow, but not an issue (most of the time).

I would highly recommend this lens to anybody needing a variable zoom this is a great deal for the cost.

Customer Service

Never used

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 28-200 (NICE!)
Quantaray 70-210
Canon 50mm

Great focal length range, sharp, contrasy, well-built

Sluggish autofocus

I bought this lens primarily for wildlife photography, especially birds. I really value the fact that it zooms out to 500mm, yet the aperture is a relatively fast f/6.3, and close focus is 10 feet. Handling the lens can be a chore, and has taken me a lot of practice. Since the autofocus is rarely of value when the subject is a bird, I'm forced to manual focus. The focusing ring is close to the body, and very close to the tripod collar ring. This leaves little room for my fingers to grope and focus. As is typical with most AF lenses, it's not easy to manually focus, but the more I use it the better I get. I always shoot it from a tripod and wouldn't even attempt a handheld shot due to its bulk. The lens performs well wide open and fully extended. It seems to render color ever so slightly on the cool side. I don't shoot with filters as I don't want image degradation, but I'm sure the filters for this (size 86c) would be pricey. All in all, this is a great value and I would recommend it. But do plan on spending some quality time with it to master its handling.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 100-300, Sigma 75 to 300

Value for money for a 500mm zoom lens

AF is Slow and Noisy
86mm Filter is expensive
Manual Focus ring too narrow

When I wanted to purchase a zoom lens that can reach 500mm, it's either this or the more expensive Sigma 50-500mm. In the end I chose this lens because it lighter and much cheaper than the 50-500mm which I find to be much too bulky (Try handling both lens before you buy - the 50-500mm weighs almost 2KG!! although the Auto Focus is much faster) . For those who are are still undecided over which of these lens to buy; my advice is this: Choose the 50-500mm lens only if you intend to use it togther with the Sigma 1.4x and 2x teleconverter and if you require faster AF. Otherwise 170-500mm is a better buy.

Customer Service

N.A

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 50-500mm

Great focal range, easy to zoom, excellent optics,great value for the money, fast reliable autofocus

autofocus slows down a bit in dim light, manual focus on Eos a little trickie to get to

Excellent lens for the money. If combined with a Kenko 1.5 SHQ tele-convertor, auto-focus will work, giving you 750mm @ f/8, effective f/stop. Such a deal!

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Tamron 200-400

Sharp for its price. Well-built and sturdy.

Autofocus is loud...need to turn off when photographic wildlife in close proximity.

Good lens for the money. Is as sharp, or sharper as fixed focal length 5.6 lens I used.
Wish it's focusing was even 1/2 as quiet as the Canon USM. I find lens size makes it hard to hand-hold even when shooting at lower focal lenghts

Customer Service

Excellent! I upgraded camera to Canon 7E. The "software" in the lens would not stop-down w/new camera. Sigma was very helpful on the phone. I sent Lens
to LongIsland and got it back w/free "upgrade" within one week.

Similar Products Used:

Tokina 400 5.6

excellent sharpness from 170 to about 425, and good the rest of the way

like all monsters, it is heavy, and nearly impossible to hand hold

Incredible value - hard to beat

Customer Service

not used

Similar Products Used:

70-210 nikkor
80-200 vivitar

Crisp, Clear, Great colour, Great Zoom Range, Well Balanced, Good contrast, Sturdy tri-pod mount, Pinsharp, Great lens

Bit bulky, but hell it is a 500 mm, so it comes with the teritory. I will not call this a weakness - You do not call this a weakness.

This is a great lens. I just got back from the Kgalagadi Transfrontier park in the Northwestern part of South Africa. I used this lens almost exclusively on this trip. Results look great. I took about 9 rolls of 36 exposures and I am very satisfied. I used the lens the majority of time from a bean bag or a tripod - this also comes with the teritory - and the results were pinsharp. Got a few Springbok and Gemsbok that look great. I used the lens for the most part at f6.7. At times the light was good enough to push the aperture up to f8 and even f11. This is overall a very good lens. I will recommend this lens to anyone that usually take outdoor photographs.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

75 - 300mm Sigma DL Macro

75 - 300mm Minolta

It's infinitely better than my old Sun 80-240 that I used with my old Minoltas. (No shame attaches to those Minoltas, only major aging)

It autofocuses slowly. I can't say I'm surprised.

For the price, you're not going to beat this. First thing I did was take pictures of some red and orange leaves at the top of a tree last fall, into a bright blue sky. Unlike what I expected, there was no noticable bleed or softening of the edges, either colourwise or edgewise, in a 5x7. I wouldn't push it to 16x20, though.

It's used on N70's, btw, you ought to include a field for "what are you using this lens on". :_)

Customer Service

Unncessary

Similar Products Used:

None for this length.