Low price

Poor production quality

I bougt this lens with my Nikon F80 because i tought it was a good value for money. I came home and i try to find out the possibility''s of the camera and the lens. When i inspect the lens i saw a little black piece of hair inside the lens. I expected a clean and proper lens. So i had to bring it back to the shop, the sales men agreed that this is not the way to deliver a new lens. He wanne give me a new one but it was out of stock. I took lens back home and after a week he called me that he had a new one. So i pick it up and at home i inspect the lens of course very accurate. And then i found again a small blond hair at the inside of the front lens. So my trust in Sigma was going down to below zero. After this i had bring it back and excanged it for a more expensive Nikkor 28-105 3,5-4,5 D and I''am very happy with it.

Customer Service

good

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 28-80 3.3-5.6G Nikkor 70-300 4-5.6G Nikkor 28-105 3.5-4.5D(IF)

Low price

Poor production quality

I bougt this lens with my Nikon F80 because i tought it was a good value for money. I came home and i try to find out the possibility''s of the camera and the lens. When i inspect the lens i saw a little black piece of hair inside the lens. I expected a clean and proper lens. So i had to bring it back to the shop, the sales men agreed that this is not the way to deliver a new lens. He wanne give me a new one but it was out of stock. I took lens back home and after a week he called me that he had a new one. So i pick it up and at home i inspect the lens of course very accurate. And then i found again a small blond hair at the inside of the front lens. So my trust in Sigma was going down to below zero. After this i had bring it back and excanged it for a more expensive Nikkor 28-105 3,5-4,5 D and I''am very happy with it.

Customer Service

good

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 28-80 3.3-5.6G Nikkor 70-300 4-5.6G Nikkor 28-105 3.5-4.5D(IF)

Fast Aperture, Sharpness, Value for price, great lens shade, IF

Vingetting at 28mm, expensive filter size,

I do a lot of shooting for a small college and shoot a variety of subjects, from sports, to portraits, to some studio, and photojournalism. I bought it to replace my Pentax 35-80 4-5.6. In many situations I really appreciated the fast aperature. I shoot about 50/50 manual or auto focus, and with my Pentax ZX-5 the auto focus was very fast in good light, OK in low light. The sharpness is very good, comprable to Nikon and Canon lenses used by other people at school. I try to avoid shooting at 28 and 105 because quality is not as good, but in most cases, it is sufficent for my purposes. Filters are expensive new, but a common size. Recommended for those who are on a budget who can''t carry many lenses or change lenses often.

Customer Service

Not Used

Similar Products Used:

Pentax 35-80 4.0-5.6, Tokina 28-70 3.5-5.6

Fast AF, well built, decent performance stopped down but the real advantage is the larger aperture without the Pro price.

Soft edges, distortion, soft at 105mm, light fall off is bad, colours wash out wide open and flare is horrible.

I got this lens new at a store closing sale, after seeing other reviews I knew it wasn''t going to be too good but it also wasn''t too bad. It is well made, I like stiff zoom rings and it feels ok to manually focus, the AF is rather fast and I needed the extra F stop. At 28mm it isn''t that bad stopped down, actually usable but there is distortion so don''t use it on anything with straight lines. The lens improves alot between 35 and 70mm but gets soft 90-105mm which actually makes it a good portrait lens IF you want the softness. The edges are bad thru out with light fall off and softness. For my use at night with flash this is acceptable since the extra F stop is what I needed. It is acceptable for snap shots and 8x10 only where straight lines are not present. Value rating is 4 for what I paid for it but overall 3, there is worst out there but also better at the same price.

Customer Service

not needed

Similar Products Used:

no other zooms in the zoom range tried yet.

Aperture range 2.8-4 Size and weight Non-rotating front barrel PRICE!

A little soft on closer objects

This was the first lens I bought at the time with my new Canon A2. What appealed to me the most was the good aperture range, 2.8-4. It is a very nice lens and has some really nice features and feel. The lens however, is not as sharp as it could be. Image quality can sometimes be a little soft. What funny is it''s usually the center image that is a little soft. The edges and backgrounds are sharp. Overall though, this lens provides excellent quality as an all around multipurpose lens. It''s especially great if you don''t want to take a lot of gear, and just want something simple and versatile. The softness usually surface with relatively close objects though. Landscapes are nice and crisp. Having said this, what makes this lens great is it''s price. There are quite a few other lenses out there that are much better than this in terms of image quality, but they also fetch a price usually at least double. A great starting lens, and can have some good application even in a pros bag because of this slightly soft effect.

Customer Service

Haven''t had to use them, but they are supposedly pretty good.

Similar Products Used:

Many various lenses in this zoom range

Price, size, weight

not very sharp, distortion especially at 105

This is a rather nice lens for the amateur or beginning photographer, but if You are looking for real good sharpness, contrast and the lowest possible distortion, You should look somewhere else. That is why I exchanged this lens for the Nikkor 28-105, which is a far better compromise (of course all these wide range zooms are a certain compromise) in terms of sharpness and contrast. Visit my homepage: www.troeszter.com

Similar Products Used:

Nikon AF and AI-S lenses

Great Size, Weight and handling.

72 mm Filters($$$$$), Bound Up out of the box. Got better as time went on.

I have taken some limited rolls with this new lens on a Nikon6006. Not real happy with sharpness. Will be taking more rolls with new N-80. Hope for better results.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

None

Satisfactory resolution, good color reproduction, satisfactory construction quality

Not very sharp when wide open

Not bad for the money, especially for those who don't have highest ambitions

Customer Service

Never used

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 28-70 f/3,5-4,5
Sigma 28-105 f/4-5,6
Tokina 28-70 f/2,6-2,8
Canon 35-80 f/3,5-4,5

Price, weight, quality

none that i can think of

I am very pleased with it. Great standard lens. Great for portrets. I have had it for a couple of years now, and it never dissapointed me! Great sharp pictures! I think it is even better than the Canon USM. Go get it

Similar Products Used:

Canon EF 28-105 f/3,5-4,5 USM

Relatively good value for money, good working range, relatively fast lens.

Pincushioning at long end, not the sharpest lens. Zoom creep.

The bottom line is that this lens gives you 2.8-4.0 at 28-105mm, which, for a consumer-priced zoom, is pretty good. This lens is pretty sharp, but still quite a ways off from Canon-L quality. I noticed in some pictures taken in the telephoto end that there is quite a bit of pincushioning; short end seems fine. Very little problems with flare, AF can be a bit faster. Seeks a bit.

Customer Service

Haven't used.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 28-105, 28-135 IS.