Sigma Lens Reviews | Photocrati

Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 EX DG AF Review Round-Up

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Get information and user reviews for this lens from Amazon: Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 EX DG IF Aspherical Lens for Nikon SLR Cameras

Digital Picture

Like the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG Lens, the Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 EX DG lens is a well-built, well-spec’d lens with a value price. But, giving up 4mm of focal length range on the wide end results in a much more compact lens. In addition, the 28-70 is priced noticeably lower than the Sigma 24-70. Autofocus is loud but reasonably fast – and is consistently accurate on stationary subjects. AI Servo performance on active subjects proved to be poor – with few keepable shots. The Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 EX DG Lens is very soft wide open – especially in the upper half of the focal length range. … This lens performs best at 28mm where the results are decent. CA (Chromatic Aberrations) are very well controlled, flare is not. … Vignetting results are normal for lenses with specs similar to the 28-70 with full frame users noticing some corner darkening when shooting wide open. Like the Sigma 24-70, I find the Sigma 28-70 to overexpose by about .2 f-stops on average. The Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 EX DG Lens is a very well built lens for a reasonable price. Primarily due to mediocre image quality, I do not intend to include this lens in my Canon General Purpose Lens Recommendations. If you consider this an f/4 or f/5.6 lens, you *might* be happy with what you get for the price. READ FULL REVIEW

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Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX HSM APO DG macro AF Review Round-Up

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Photo Zone

The Sigma AF 70-200mm f/2.8 EX HSM APO DG macro is pretty impressive large aperture tele zoom lens. The resolution figures are on a very good to excellent level and neither distortions, vignetting nor CAs are really field relevant on an APS-C DSLR. The bokeh (out-of-focus blur) is pretty smooth and buttery – certainly an important aspect here. The mechanical quality of the lens is excellent and the HSM AF drive is both fast and near silent. As such it is a viable alternative to the Nikkor AF 80-200mm f/2.8 ED (or the Canon EF 70-200m f/2.8 USM L) although not necessarily a superior choice. READ FULL REVIEW

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Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 EX HSM DC (Nikon mount) AF Review Round-Up

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Photo Zone

The Sigma is an impressive lens with only few weaknesses. The resolution is excellent at 50mm and 100mm and (roughly) very good at 150mm although the quality could be a little better at f/2.8 here. While not formally tested the close focus performance (@ 150mm < 1.5m) seems to fairly poor. Distortions and CAs are well controlled. Vignetting is a slight problem at 150mm @ f/2.8 only. The bokeh (out-of-focus blur) is pretty good especially for a zoom lens. The build quality of the lens is excellent although some may miss a tripod mount. The AF is a bit unsure at times but the AF accuracy of the (serviced) sample was generally fine. The question of the day is probably – Sigma or Tokina ? That’s too close to tell I think. READ FULL REVIEW

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Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 II EX DC HSM APO Review Round-Up

If you own or have used this lens, let us know what you think! Leave your comments and thoughts below. Get information and user reviews for this lens from Amazon:…

Sigma 100-300mm f/4 EX HSM DG AF Review Round-Up

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Photo Zone

The Sigma AF 100-300mm f/4 EX HSM DG is one of the most impressive Sigma lenses tested to date. It is able to deliver a near-flawless performance with great resolution figures, low vignetting, low distortions, low CAs and a very decent bokeh (albeit slightly underdeveloped regarding the moderate max. aperture unless your main subject is fairly close). It works reasonably well with the Sigma AF 1.4x DG EX converter but there’s no free lunch here for obvious reasons. The Sigma is quite a monster of a lens but the combination of speed and focal length range simply takes its toll regarding size and weight requirements. The build quality is exceptionally high and combined with the snappy AF it was a joy to use the lens in the field. READ FULL REVIEW

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Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3 EX DG HSM AF Review Round-Up

Get information and user reviews for this lens at Amazon: Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3 EX DG HSM APO RF Telephoto Zoom Lens for Sigma SLR Cameras

Digital Picture

Any 10x SLR zoom lens (50mm x10 = 500mm) is going to be attractive, but one that ends with a 500mm focal length is going to get an especially high amount of attention. … AF is accomplished via Sigma’s HSM (Hypersonic Motor). It is quiet, does not extend (rear-focusing), fast and has proven accurate to me even in AI Servo mode shooting sports. Colors appear accurate, but contrast is not as good as some of the other options – none of which have this focal length range of course. Vignetting is well controlled through the middle focal length ranges, but will be noticeable at 50mm and from 300-500mm with a wide open aperture. CA (Chromatic Aberration) is well controlled with some showing in corners at 50mm and from 400-500mm. The Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3 EX DG HSM Lens shows a little barrel distortion at 50mm and moderate pincushion distortion over most of the rest of the focal length range. … The Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3 EX DG HSM Lens is not cheap, but it is a decent value. And nothing else gives you 50-500mm in one lens. READ FULL REVIEW

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Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM Review Round-Up

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Get information and user reviews for this lens from Amazon: Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 EX DG IF HSM APO Telephoto Zoom Lens for Nikon SLR Cameras

Digital Picture

The Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM Lens is unique in it’s capabilities – at this time, no other Canon-mount zoom lens can maintain an action-stopping f/2.8 aperture beyond 200mm. This lens has action-sports written all over it. Unfortunately, the Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM Lens has a significant shortcoming that affects action sports photography – Autofocus can’t keep up with action rapidly moving toward or away from the camera. Image quality from the Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM Lens is decent. It has decent sharpness wide open and gets really nice stopped down a stop or so. Sports photography is the primary market for the Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM Lens, but there are other good uses for it. … Basically, any requirement met by the 120-300mm focal length range with a fast aperture and not-extremely fast AF where size and weight are not an issue can be met. Though not a cheap lens, it is a decent value. READ FULL REVIEW

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Sigma 120-400mm f/4.5-5.6 DG OS HSM APO Review Round-Up

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Get information and user reviews for this lens from Amazon: Sigma 120-400mm f/4.5-5.6 AF APO DG OS HSM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

SLR Gear

Sigma has produced a nice telephoto zoom here, and the inclusion of optical image stabilization will be a welcome upgrade from its previous offerings in the similar range. This stabilization is necessary, as good image sharpness in the telephoto range is only obtained when stopped down to Æ’/8 or Æ’/11. Using a smaller aperture in this range usually demands a slower shutter speed, which is usually a recipe for blurry images when using long-zoom lenses. With image stabilization, you get a steadier platform. In the final analysis, it becomes fairly obvious whether this lens is for you; Pentax and Sony users really don’t have any comparable options in this range, and while the Nikon and Canon offerings are slightly better choices optically, they’re more expensive. If absolute image quality at full telephoto is your objective, you may have to invest slightly more money into a telephoto prime, but shooting stopped down to Æ’/8 or Æ’/11, you can get fairly good images out of this lens, and with image stabilization, you don’t even need a sunny day or a tripod anymore. READ FULL REVIEW

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Sigma 55-200mm f/4-5.6 DC AF Review Round-Up

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Photo Zone

The Sigma AF 55-200mm f/4-5.6 DC is a budget lens and it shows in some aspects such as small max. aperture combined with a limited zoom range and some mechanical shortcomings (rotating front element and coupled focus ring). Nonetheless the lens is also capable to deliver quite impressive resolution results. So if you can live with its shortcomings and you just can’t spend more for a faster or longer tele zoom the Sigma is a viable option. READ FULL REVIEW

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Sigma 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 EX OS AF Review Round-Up

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Get information and user reviews for this lens from Amazon: Sigma 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 EX OS APO RF Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

Photo Zone

The Sigma AF 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 EX OS is an impressive piece of equipment. In terms of build quality Sigma seems to have catched up with the genuine brand offerings. Nonetheless the lens didn’t convince completely. In the lab the sheer quality figures are surely good enough with slightly better MTF results than the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 USM L IS but in the field the OS didn’t really feel as reassuring or mature (or I had too much coffee at the time …). The rather odd shutter delay issue when shooting several images in a row didn’t help either to lift the impression. It’s interesting that Sigma managed to implement FTM (full-time manual focusing) combined with a conventional AF motor – this is certainly something that we’d like to see in other lenses as well. On the downside the AF is a little on the slow and noisy side. All-in-all the lens should go through a little extra fine-tuning. READ FULL REVIEW

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