Cheap, very good construction, comes with the hood and lens case

soft, 300 mm end is bad

This lens was a major dissoinment. It's quite soft on the 300 mm end, where I needed most. Sigma made too many 70-300 lenses of variable quality and I thought I was buying the one that rated 3.1 at photodo. In fact, this lens has 2.4 rating. I shot USAF target with this lens using different zoom/apertures settings. Found that I have to stop it to f11 to get the same sharpness as with my Sigma lens, 28-135.

Customer Service

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Cheap, superb quality when compare with price and other expenesive lens

Hot and humid climate users have to well keep the lens.

Surprisingly to find out that the quality of the picture by this under USD 300 Sigma 70-300 APO lens can certainly compete with more tha USD 1000 Pro-Line Lens. It could be because of the "APO" which let the lens comprised of 3 extra-low-dispersion glasses contained in the lens. The power of resolution at 300mm indeed stunned me as I did not expect to see any much details at 300 mm telephoto, but it did gave all the details as you can find from 28-200 mm pro lens. Color also is another point I liked, color came out to be true. In the low light part such as in the shade, the lens can also generate details and clarity. The only problem to be worried for those who used Sigma lens in the hot and humid climate like me is the componded lens which might disassembled (I do not know if any one ever experience that, but a lot of people in Thailand talk about it)

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Nikkor 80-200/F2.8 Nikkor 70-300/F4-5.6 ED

Excellent value for money. Sharp and contrasty all the way to 300mm as long as you use a tripod. Macro is useful. Build solid enough for regular use as long as you''re not uing it to hammer in nails underwater.

Mechanically not quite as good as a decent Nikon.

Having bought a Nikon F80 (N80 outside Europe, fabulous bit of kit) and their excellent 28 - 105 zoom to take decent holiday pictures, I wanted a lens that would let me get closer to wildlife. My choice was a toss-up between the Sigma and the Tamron 70-300, but with Tamrons hard to find I went with the Sigma, and I''ve been completely happy with my choice. A consumer lens is obviously not going to compete against a huge prime worth more than 10 times as much, so my comparisons have been against the quality I get from the Nikon 28-105, which I find to be a truly excellent lens for a critical amateur photographer. On 7" x 5" prints, there''s no difference in quality against the excellent Nikon glass and the Sigma has provided shots at 300mm that blow up fine to 8" x 12", unless you insist on staring at the enlargement from an inch away, which frankly isn''t realistic viewing conditions. Sharpness is still more than acceptable at 300mm, but I always use a tripod. I have a feeling several reviewers have hand-held at this length, ensuring hand shake adds a bit of blur to the shot. Colour saturation again is just as good as the Nikon when using the same film stock and light conditions. I''ve not tried either through slide film yet, but intend to do so soon. The build quality is not quite so high as the Nikon. Although bigger, the lens is slighty lighter and the barrels move with a little more freedom than with the Nikon. However, grip tight and you''ll feel the rush of air from the gap between cylinders, which indicates a good fit, and I''ve yet to experience any excess play or zoom extension when the barrel is tilted down. Whilst not a Nikon, this is still well-built for amateur use, and certainly better than the cheap G Lenses from Nikon. An aperture lock allows the lens to function fully with the camera''s built-in aperture control, and focusing is generally fast enough, although noisier than on the 28-105. The lens hunts a bit in poor light, but manual focus has proved easy and accurate. The macro works well and is a useful addition, and the lens comes with a hood and a good case (although not weatherproof). All in all, I''d have no hesitation in recommmending this lens to anyone other than a pro wildlife photographer. I think there''s more than a few critics who fail to judge on a lens''s real merits against it''s direct competitors

Customer Service

Not needed, but understand it''s excellent.

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Nikon 28-105 Tamron 70-300 (tried) Nikon 70-300G (tried) Nikon 70-300AF-D (tried)

Good Clarity & little overall distortion up to 250mm. Nice firm zooming & nicely finished. Not cheap looking. No noticeable flare problems or vignetting. Nicely balance on my CANON Elan 7E.

Soft when compared to a prime lens or a "pro" grade zoom. Determine your needs first.

Purchased this lens for "snapshots" of school functions, vacation photos and outdoor shooting. Expected good performance & sharpness with moderate distortion based on the reviews I read. Tested the lens on architecture and scenics with people shots intermixed. Surprised to see very good clarity and less distortion than expected. Unless photographing buildings or linear objects, distortion between 70-200mm is not noticeable. Distortion at 200-300mm minimal to moderate in most pictures in my opinion. Color saturation is a little less (softer) than I expected, but acceptable. Overall I feel this lens a "good" value and a little better than I expected it would be. Zooming is firm & smooth if not a little too firm at 200-300mm. But better to be too firm than too easy and slick. Had to have SIGMA add an opoerational chip for CANON EOS - Elan 7E operation when first purchased. SIGMA service was prompt & courteous. Very satisfied with this lens based on my expectations & intended target use. Nothing irritates me more than enthusiasts who downgrade a fine lens like this when they compare it to a "pro" grade - CANON/ NIKON or SIGMA EX series lens. For its price & application, this lens is a very good buy. I would say it is 90% as sharp as my SIGMA 28-70mm EX aspherical Lens / a very good performance. If you need utmost clarity & saturation for critical work, buy the SIGMA 80-200mm EX pro grade lens. Otherwise, this lens is more than acceptable for any other application. Grade / B+.

Customer Service

Very Good & Prompt. Call them "before" sending your lens in to insure attention to detail!! It works.

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SIGMA 2.8 28-70EX Zoom TOKINA 3.5-5.6 19-35mm Zoom CANON 1.8 85mm fixed CANON 1.8 50mm Fixed SIGMA 1.8 20mm Aspherical Fixed

Price. Good image quality for price. Seems durable? Fairly light. Useful macro mode. Haven''t had any flare problems yet.

Vignette problem. Slow slow autofocus on my canon elan 7, I usually manually focus. Seems a little bit soft at 300mm. Distortion definitely present.

Great lens for the price, but I have definitely noticed some weaknesses, the biggest being a strong tendency to vignette. I''ve had a few beautiful shots pretty much ruined by this, usually when the aperature is wide open or close to it. And stopping down a few stops is tough sometimes, considering you start at f5.6 @ 300mm.

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Extremely good optics, macro capabilties are very good but cumbersome (very long barrel)

Can be used as a murder weapon (think heavy blunt object) Very long macro length, loud autofocus

Definately worth the buy.

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Canon 80-300 USM III

Versatile length. Very sharp at most lengths and apertures. Macro is good for a non-macro dedicated lens. Zoom barrel has good solid feel in your hand.

Manual focus is not damped enough - creeps when lens is pointed down. Noisy and slow AF - needs lots of light.

I got this lens used at a great price so take that into account with this review. It's actually the APO Macro, not the APO Macro Super, but I've heard the differences are negligible. I have been very happy with the color representation and sharpness at just about every setting. I took a some pictures of a water spider at 300mm fully open and the detail was very good, if not perfect. Obviously anyone who wants to do a lot of macro work should buy a single focal length macro lens, so don't fault this lens. It's certainly better than the similar Canon offering in all respects and 1/2 stop faster than both Tamron's and Sigma's 28-300. Unless you're picky about only using expensive 1st party lenses, take a look at this guy.

Customer Service

Haven't needed it.

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Tamron 28-300
Canon 75-300

This lens is OK for an amtuer but it can hardly satisfy a pro. I only like this zoom when I use it in between 100-200mm range.

The construction is awfully bad. The zoom creep is pathetic.

This zoom is not a good performer. The macro feature is useless since it does not go upto 1:2 also. This zoom is only for those who buy cheap lenses without knowledge.

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AF Nikkor 70-300 ED zoom lens which is fantastic.

Cheap, come with macro function.

Image doesn't appear so sharp on 300mm

I love this lense, but the quality come out is not as good as I think. What u paid and what u get!

Customer Service

Don't have a chance to use it yet!

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Super Pictures and a very fast focusing lens. (It keeps up with my Minolta 700si, which is the fastest focusing camera I own.) This lens is great for intermediate and semi-pro photographers.

Very Few... Would like it to be 1 stop faster

Great value for the money!

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