Sigma Lens Reviews | Photocrati

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro AF 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 at Amazon: Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro Aspherical Large Aperture Standard Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

Digital Picture

The Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG Lens is a well-built, well-spec’d lens with a decent price. It does not outperform (physically or optically) Canon’s similarly spec’d EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM Lens, but it costs less than half as much. The Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG Lens’ AF is very loud but reasonably fast (although the noise makes it sound slower). The Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG Lens is sharpest at the wide end of its focal length range. At 24/28mm, the 24-70 is very sharp in the center at f/3.2. However, performance gets progressively worse as the focal length is increased. To me, 70mm f/2.8 is not usable on this lens. At 70mm f/4, center performance becomes useable. Corners (1.6x FOVCF corners included) need an extra stop at all focal lengths to become very good – generally becoming very nice at f/5.6. … If the prices were the same, I don’t think anyone would choose the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG Lens over the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM Lens. But, the Sigma is less than half the price of the Canon. And for that reason, many people are willing to overlook the physical and optical quality differences between these two lenses. READ FULL REVIEW

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Sigma’s 150-500mm F/5-6.3 DG OS APO HSM Review Round-Up

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Get information and user reviews for this lens from Amazon: Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 AF APO DG OS HSM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

Photo Review

An affordable long-zoom lens for DSLR cameras with ‘full-frame’ or ‘APS-C’ sized image sensors. Sigma’s APO 150-500mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM lens is a telephoto zoom with a 3.3x magnification ratio that will suit photographers who enjoy taking close-ups of sports or wildlife. Although not particularly fast, it is reasonably portable and has an affordable price tag for its build quality and optical composition. READ FULL REVIEW

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Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS AF 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 AF 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS (Optical Stabilizer) Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

Photo Zone

The Sigma AF 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS is an extremely versatile lens but performance-wise it is a bit of a mixed bag. The resolution characteristic varies significantly throughout its immense zoom range. Interestingly the extreme ends are actually the sweet spots of the lens whereas the 35mm setting is downright miserable at large apertures. The quality recovers at 50mm before dropping somewhat at 100mm again. To be fair the lens is capable to provide a decent quality if you avoid large aperture settings and stick to ~f/9 regardless of the zoom position. On the positive side vignetting and CAs are quite well controlled and distortions may be a problem at 18mm only. The quality of the bokeh (out-of-focus blur) is sometimes less than stellar though. The AF speed and accuracy is pretty fine and the image stabilizer can give you an advantage equivalent to about 3 f-stops in field conditions. The build quality of the Sigma is surprisingly good and above average for a lens in this class. READ FULL REVIEW

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

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Digital Photography

The Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG Macro HSM II is a prime example of an independent manufacturer producing a design which can challenge the camera companies’ own lenses in most aspects of optical and operational performance, but at a much lower price. In almost all regards it performs well in everyday use, delivering good quality images across a broad range of situations. The optics are perfectly competent, if not outstanding; indeed the lens is really very good towards the short end, but weaker at 200mm, where it’s slightly soft and suffers from relatively high levels of chromatic aberration. Vignetting is impressively low, even on full frame (presumably a benefit of that broad and stubby barrel design), and geometric distortion reasonably well controlled. verall, if you appreciate the limitations of this lens and stick within its practical limits, it provides much of the performance of the camera manufacturers’ equivalents at a much lower price. READ FULL REVIEW

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Sigma 14mm f/2.8 AF Review Round-Up

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Luminous Landscape:

Resolution is, as expected, very good. In a large print small chips in the central concrete buttress are clearly visible. Contrast is fine and at f/11 at least there is no visible fall-off in the corners. The sun is out of the frame so flare isn’t visible. The lens cap is well designed. Because the front element is so huge designing a protective lens cap can be an issue. Sigma has come up with a neat solution by providing a pressure-fit ring that first fits on the end of the lens, extending beyond the sculpted integrated lens shade. The standard lens cap then fits on the outside of this ring. Simple and effective. Like all lenses of this type, as you can see from the photograph at the top of the page, the front element is exposed. This makes it susceptible to fingerprints and other more serious hazards so keeping the lens cap on when not actually shooting is probably a very good idea. Based on my experience using the Sigma 14mm with my D30 and D60 over a period of a couple of years, I’d say that if you’re looking for a moderately priced ultra-wide angle lens to give your DSLR wide angle capability, the Sigma 14mm f/2.8 is a decent performer for the money. Initial impressions of this lens are very favourable. READ FULL REVIEW

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Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG Macro AF Review Round-Up

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Get information and user reviews for this lens from Amazon: Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO-M DG (Motorized) Macro Telephoto Zoom Lens for Nikon AF D Cameras.

Photo Zone

The Sigma AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG macro came close to a surprise but it still hasn ´t won the cigar. It delivered pretty decent results in most aspects, specifically at 70mm and 200mm, but at 300mm the border resolution is nothing short of dismal – certainly not apochromatic as claimed by Sigma (nor would we really expect that from such a budget lens). Nonetheless you may argue that the center performance of the lens is on a very high level throughout the range and for many tele applications your main subject is often located close to the center so the border problems may not be all that obvious in the real life. As such it still remains an interesting budget solution. If you prefer a sharp border to border quality look elsewhere though … and prepare yourself to invest quite a bit more. READ FULL REVIEW

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Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX HSM DC AF Review Round-Up

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Get information and user reviews for this lens at Amazon: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM Wide Angle AF Lens & Filters & Close-Up Macro Set & 9 Year Warranty for Pentax SLR

Photo Zone

This lens showed a very good performance during the tests especially in terms of resolution. There’s some softness towards the extremes at 10mm @ f/4 but otherwise there’s really nothing to complain here (within this specific lens class anyway). The vignetting and distortions are quite comparable to the rest of the gang. Lateral CAs are generally well controlled except in the extreme corners of the image field. The Sigma offers a little extra kick regarding the widest setting (10mm vs 12mm of the Nikkor or Tokina) so the quality is fairly impressive regarding the increased design complexity here. The build quality is very good and the AF is both fast and virtually silent. If you’re looking for a candidate in this class the Sigma is worth a look but watch out for sample variations. “¦ READ FULL REVIEW

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