All-around lens, nice range, macro feature Good contrast and color rendition

Build quality not that good (lots of plastic) Zoom creep Uncomfortable macro setting just at 135mm Unsharp

I'm amazed by the good reviews this lens receives. Maybe I had a lemon? Sure I'm not the only one who wasn't satisfied with its performance, French magazine 'Chasseur d'Images' advices not to use it for anything bigger than 10x15 (centimeters, not inches). I bought it because of its range plus the macro feature, I hoped it to be a good travel lens. However, I never liked the chromes I shot with it: nice color, contrasty, but fuzzy. For sure, I didn't expect it to match the Micronikkor's quality when shooting flowers, but at least I expected not to regret leaving my primes at home. Honestly, I think it doesn't do any better than a cheapo old Cosina I had.

Customer Service

Not used

Similar Products Used:

Cosina 28-70, in my early days Nikkor AF-D 35-80 (a dog) Nikkor AF 35-105 Nikkor AF 28 2.8 Nikkor 50 Nikkor AF-D 60 Nikkor 135 3.5

Very sharp, produces contrasty images,Macro feature. very well built for the coin.

None

WOW, Is this ever an impressive lens!! I am very impressed with the sharpness and contrast of this lens.A great buy for an all around lens.

Customer Service

Have not needed

Similar Products Used:

Tokina, Tamron and Nikon

Sharp pictures Good color Nice zoom range Incredible value

Slow (but what can you expect for the price?) On the heavy side (this is a strength for some, since it means more metal usually)

I've been quite impressed with this lens thus far. I just got the first roll back with it, and they look sharp. I bought this with a new Nikon N80, after ditching my no longer useful Rebel G. I had a Sigma 28-80 on the Canon, and was happy enough with it, although it always felt cheap and the focus ring is much too loose. I bought this Sigma 28-135 with the new Nikon after reading reviews here. Since I only have so much money for this already expensive hobby, I wanted a cheap but decent quality lens, and I think I hit the jackpot with this one. Although others complain about the plastic or zoom creep or the loose focus ring, all of these were 10 times worse on the 28-80. This lens is very high quality for the price, significantly better than most under-300 zooms. Mostly I take pictures of my kids (infant and toddler), and I needed a lens that works well for portraits, thus I picked the extra zoom range. Plus, the macro feature is great for close ups of babies. My only problem with the lens is the speed - it's darn slow. It's hard to take indoor shots without a flash and/or a tripod, even near a window on a sunny day. Because kids move quickly, and the shots look best with a shallow DOF in natural light, shutter speed is a problem. This is why I have to supplement with a fast lens - probably the Nikon 50mm 1.8 - and soon. The Sigma lets in a good bit of light through my new Nikon, and this makes manual focusing much easier than with my shadowy old Canon. The lens also works really well for outdoor shooting, and so far I haven't noticed any zoom creep and the focus ring stays put. We'll give it a few months and see if it is still as tight.

Customer Service

never used them

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 28-80 Tamron 70-300

Light weight, sharp, contrasty photos, solid construction, low price, good zoom range.

None so far.

I took this lens on a trip to Greece and Turkey this May, and shot about 15 rolls of slides (mostly Ektachrome 100VS and Provia 100 and 400). The photos are sensational: clear from edge to edge, nice contrast, and very little distortion (lots of photos of columns and such, so barrels and pincushions could be objectionable). The lens seems sturdy, too: I slipped and fell on the marble at Mycenae, and the lens took a shot on the hood strong enough to break the UV filter, but everything works perfectly still and all there is is a little scrunch on the hood. Great stuff.

Customer Service

Not used for this lens, but rechipping of Sigma 100 f 2.8 micro was flawless.

Similar Products Used:

Tokina AT-X Pro 28-70 2.8; Tamron 28-105 f 3.5; etc.

Sharpness Colorful picture quality is great!

Sometimes image soft at 135mm lens zoom getting loose after using for a while

I agree with most of the review. Actually I bought it after reading all the reviews. It do give me great result. I found that the color is very saturated and rich. Sharpness is pretty great. I took some professional quality photos related to dawn using this lens. Much more better than canon 28-80 USM lens provided with EOS 300 kits.

Customer Service

No known yet.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 28-80 USM

Solid build. Smooth zoom. Good zoom for peoples who want a general purpose zoom with a great range.Realistic price.

Distortion and image quality regularity.

I had the occasion to try it twice,for testing .The colors are goods and richs.The built quality is very good.Very smooth zoom mouvement,and what''''s in focus is clair and sharp.I found two problems, first, it''''s distortion, if you take a picture at 28 mm or 35 mm even 50 mm with a post or something straight located on the side of the picture, it''''s will be bend from outside to the inside. And I must say than all the pictures have been taked at F8 or F11. 2e problem is, even at F8 or F11 like I said before, what is in focus is sharp but with very little depth of field, and what is in front become blurred very fast. I took a few pictures of one of my friend at F8 , his face was clear but his hands who was at one feet ahead was a little blurred. With few pictures of a bricks wall, I remarked than the quality is not regular,sometimes there''''s somes unsharps spots often located on the below left side, and it''''s the same with macro pictures.

Sharp Good color Macro Price

Zoom creep

As far as zooms go I don''t think you could ask for a better lens, especially at this price! This is a perfect travel lens in addition the construction seems very good. As most of the reviewers have found I''ve been very happy with the color and sharpness, even at F16. It seems almost perfect between F8 and F11. AF will hunt a little when there isn''t enough light, but MF works great. I''ve encountered some zoom creep, but once you are aware of this it doesn''t seem to create any pain. The macro works great and is quite a bonus for a lens priced under $200.00

Customer Service

NA

Similar Products Used:

Tamron 28-200mm

Very sharp for a zoom from f8 and beyond, Excellent colour saturation and contrast, good macro, good build quality, compact, cheap, fits nicely on an F80

Zoom creep

This is a very good general zoom for travelling and such. The colour rendition is superb, very high saturation very pleasant contrast but slightly warmer than my nikkor prime lenses. This could be a plus for some people (like myself). I have compared it side by side with my nikkor AF 50mm 1.8, which is which known as one of the sharpest nikkor lens (sigma was set to 50mm). I found that for the sigma, the optimum sharpness was at f8 and beyond. Even at f16 and beyond the sharpness is quite impressive for the a zoom. The sharpness is approaching that of the nikkor at the same apeture and shutter speed setting. If you are shooting for prints at normal size, you would have to look really closely , perhaps using a magnifying glass, to really see the difference in the sharpness. The nikkor however retained better shadow details than the sigma. Although I have to stress that shadow details from the sigma is very good. The macro setting is very useful and produces very good result when stopped down. At the long end (80-135)pictures came out slightly soft but still very good (I normally used my excellent nikon 70-300mm G for shot from 70mm and above). Build quality is solid, the ouside of the barrel is made of plastic but the ''zoom'' barrels are made of metal. The multicoating on the elements looks really nice and I guess is responsible for the the high saturation and excellent contrast. There is a very slight barrelling at the 28mm and a noticable pincushion from 40 mm setting. I shoot architecture a lot with this lens and these shortcomings has never been a major problem. Given the price I can easily overlooke these. The weight of this lens is substantial but this adds the ''quality'' feeling to it. The zoom creeps when carried pointed down, which is really anoying. But for the price,build quality and perfomance, I think it is only a small trade off. Manual focusing is a bit loose, typical of an AF lens, but 1/4 of a turn brings you from infinity down to 24 cm ! Sigma does make good lens ....Buy this lens if you need a good zoom and you will never regret it.

Customer Service

Never Used

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 70-300mm G, Nikon 50mm 1.8, F80 Olympus OM10 Olympus 50mm 1.8 MF

*an awesome all in one lens. It''ll rarelt be off my camera. *Feels solid *Good with my F-60 *For the price...it''s amazing

*ok, this is a little gripe, but the zoom works in the opposite way to my Tamron 70-300. The sigma turns counter-clockwise to zoom in. It was weird at first, but It doesn''t bother me at all now. *As others have mentioned, the zoom is kinda loose. This would be a prob of you were trying to take pics of something diretctly above or below you. In my camera case...when I pull the camera out (with sigma lens attatched) the lens has extended itself to 135!! Not really a big deal, just a minor gripe. it might be a pain for some people

Wow...what can I say, I took this lens out to the Botanical gardens, and the Mt. Cootha lookout. I was surprised at the clarity of the pics. A few of them were bad but I know thats because of me. I got this lens after I was unimpressed with my Tamron 28-200. All I can say is WOW. For the price is amazing, and it feels good on my F-60. This lens will raraely be off my camera...unless I want more telephoto shots

Customer Service

Never had to deal with Sigma

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 28-80 Tamron 28-200

-Metal Mount; a plus over the 28-105 -Solid Construction; all metal but not a boat anchor like a Tokina -Macro feature -Comfortable MF ring -Packaged with hood -Great color definition/saturation

-Seems to hunt in low light...but what zoom doesn''t? (ok besides a Canon L, right?) -Got a couple shots w/ unintended solar flare...could have been my filter though

Impressed with the lens. I ventured to a 3rd party lens for my Canon EOS 630 despite popular belief opposing such an action. But I''m a poor college student and I need a travel zoom for my term of studying abroad. After pouring over TONS of reviews at photographyreview.com I decided on the Sigma 28-135.