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Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro Aspherical Large Aperture Standard Zoom Lens for Nikon SLR Cameras | List Price: $499.00
Discount Price: $429.00
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Brand: Sigma
Binding: Electronics
Very good lens [Posted on 2007-09-05]
I have been using this lens with my Nikon D50 for over 8 months and I have taken very nice pictures with it. It's solid, reliable, good resolution, constant 2.8 minimum aperture, comes with its own bag. However there are a few things I don't like: it's quite heavy, 24mm with DSLR is not wide enough for many landscape situations, there is a shadow when using the D50 built in flash, noisy with autofocus (but very smooth with manual focus), D50 AF light is partially hidden by the lens hood. Anyway a very good lens for this price.
Outstanding Lens [Posted on 2007-09-16]
I use this lens on my Pentax K10D and it performs great. I took it with my on a trip to Antelope Canyon, AZ and it was fast enough that I didn't need a tripod to get beautiful photographs. As mention in a earlier review, if you use the built in flash on your camera and forget to remove the lens hood you will get a shadow at the top of your picture. The macro function produces equally amazing results as well. I would highly recommend this lens to anyone who wants a truly fast and versatile high quality lens. For the price and quality you cant beat it.
sent it back [Posted on 2008-04-22]
I was really excited to get this lens and mayyybe didn't give it a long enough chance but I found it was heavy and way tooooo big. The few pics I did take with it came out ok but it wasn't worth it to me to not want to pull it out and use it so back it went
Great lens for the Money. [Posted on 2008-05-03]
I looked long and hard for a wide angle zoom for my Nikon D80 and after a lot of searching I decided on the Sigma 24-70. I have had it for a few weeks and I have take over 600 photos with it. The constant 2.8 is a nice plus but I found the images to be slightly soft and it's the reason I gave it 4 stars. The lens is sharp anywhere past 2.8 so its not much of and issue. When using the pop up flash with the lens hood on it does leave a shadow at the bottom of the image, but the way I see it if your going to buy a lens of this caliber you should dedicated flash anyway. The lens is huge at the front it's 82mm and it is quite heavy but it's a nice compliment to my D80 with a battery grip. I have not found the autofocus to be loud or inaccurate. Filters aren't cheap but you want to protect your investment. I am a passionate amature photog and I really like the way this lens looks, it looks really impressive on your camera and draws alot of attention. I compared the images my freind took with his new Nikon N wide angle zoom that he paid $1700 for and could not see enough of a difference to justify the price. The build quality is excellent and I am really glad I purchased this lens. For the price and build quality its really hard to beat.
Just buy it [Posted on 2008-05-28]
I had read quite a few reviews of this lens before buying it for my D300. Some were great and others not so great. I picked it up to use as a portrait lens for location shoots. I haven't experienced any problems whatsoever. Some say it's soft at f2.8. Not mine. Tack sharp at all focal lengths. Some say the Autofocus is noisy(loud.) Not mine. Or maybe I'm just not that picky. If noisy means you can hear it then...yeah it can be noisy. Some say that the autofocus hunts. Not mine. In fact this lens focuses so fast I was amazed. Color rendition is good. Contrast is good. Bokeh is nice and smooth.
People raved about the Nikon 18-200vr so I bought one. It's soft and slow in my experience. It was "ok" on my D70 but its flaws were multiplied on my d300. So even with the good reviews of this lens I was really worried about buying it but the price made me give it a try. I'm so glad I did. I could easily slip into another good Sigma or halfway decent Nikon lens with the money I saved over going with the Nikon equivalent. It makes me wonder how their competitor to Nikon's 18-200vr stacks up.
My only "complaint" about this lens is that the zoom ring is small, stiff, and at the base of the lens. It's sometimes hard to get to and a bit backward from what I'm used to. A minor annoyance is that switching to manual focus is a 2 step process. The lens will stay in autofocus even after locking the clutch down as long as the camera is still in autofocus. Be careful with this because you could damage your camera's motor drive if you have a tight grip on your lens. You'll know the lens is set to manual when you try to focus and the focus ring turns on its own. I also found it odd that the lens is at it shortest when zoomed all the way in and longest when backed off to 24mm. Strange...maybe I'm missing something here but all my other zooms are the opposite.
It's big and bulky. I actually like this because I have big hands and find it easier to stabilize heavier equipment. And as dumb as it sounds...it looks good on the camera. Those out of "the-know" will judge you based on these types of things at times.
Nice big lens = professional right?
As long as you're a potential paying customer...um...yeah! Of course!
I haven't had a chance to try it out yet but I've heard some people complain about lens flare and that hood is useless to protect against it. I like lens flare and use it creatively in my own photography so it's not anything I would consider a minus. For me a lens hood is something I use to keep from bumping the end of my lens into stuff. I can see though how people could get annoyed if it's unexpected. But if you're getting unexpected flare in your shots you're not doing your job as a photographer and paying proper attention to your scene.
Update 6/17/2008
I've been shooting with this lens for a few weeks now and my above observations are accurate. However the lens flare issue is a bit more than I thought. I had a hard time getting the "touch of flair" I like in some backlit shots. It was more like "holy crap that's a lot of flair!" The hood does seem a bit useless but I tend to bump into stuff so it's good to protect the end of the lens. I'd still buy it and fully recommend it at 5 stars.
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