Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro

[mikechandler]

Jessops are selling it £100. I am not expecting fantastic results for that amount but it does seem quite reasonable. Does anybody have first hand experience of this?

Thanks,
Mike

[Famous Graham]

It's "ok". As soon as I bought a 400 prime and a 24-105, though, it never saw the camera again.

Build qualities ok, bit plasticy, but not too bad. The zoom ring can stick occassionally, but that might be my treatment of it.

At the time I was using it, I had no idea how sharp lenses could be so I didn't really pay attention to that.

Might give it a go on my 1D actually, I've still got it somewhere

It's mediocre really - not great, not ste. For a ton, if the range is good for you, then it's probably worth getting. I'd save and go for a 70-200 though.

[Bernie-the-bolt]

From memory my one hunted quite a lot and was soooooo slow sometimes whilst focusing.

However, gave it to my son and he's dead happy

[VxDuncan]

No.


... It's a lens that works, fine for pottering around and learning with, but don't use it for an shots that are important to you. Used to have one of these (canon fit for the 300D), and the better APO version (Nikon fit with the D80). Put quite simply it ruined my photos of Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda and various other wildlife. Was a bit guted when I got home tbh. Bought it last minute before I went away after being on the waiting list for the canon IS 70-300 (which was new at the time). The 1:2 macro is good (very good macro introduction actually), but the Chromatic Abberation is completely and utterly awful. Save the extra money and buy the APO version, which is leagues ahead.

Check out the multicoloured fur (all my mountain gorilla pics were like this), there is a lot of grain from the old 300D at 1600ISO, but the fur is terrible...


Not many people get to see Leopard in the wild. Not many people get such a bad purple fringing (and this is Photoshoped a lot to get rid)...


(hopefully my photography has gotten a bit better in the last 3 yrs btw!)

[mikechandler]

I am stepping away from it as we speak

Thanks for the advice guys.

Edited by mikechandler on Tuesday 3rd February 22:33

[9.3]

For a hundred quid it's perfectly adequate - of course the 300 end becomes a 450mm on your digital:

[Red Firecracker]

What fitment are you after? My Nikon fit APO version is currently boxed up as a sale fell through...

[Andy888]

Jessops have the APO version of the same lens for Canon for £147 iirc.

Check out camerapricebuster.com or hotukdeals sites.

[VxDuncan]

As I said - go for the APO if you possibly can. Avoid the basic version. APO's acutally pretty sharp and has the same good "macro". Make sure it's the newer version with motor if your camera doesn't have a drive motor (ie d40/D40x/D60)

[Mr E]

I received a Canon fit 70-300 APO for Christmas. I quite like it, but I'm nowhere near a decent photographer.

[Furyous]

Nikon D70S and Siggy 70-300 APO...is capable of being very sharp, I just havnt "quite" got there yet. But Im happy enough to stick with it for another season before I sell for a Nikkor ED.

Click to big up, it looks worse here.

Edited by Furyous on Wednesday 4th February 20:50

[mikechandler]

I am edging towards the APO version now with the comments on here and the reviews I have read online.

Red Firecracker - I have a Canon but thanks for the offer

[big_peaches]

Apo is where its at tbh

Edited by big_peaches on Wednesday 4th February 23:16

Edited by big_peaches on Wednesday 4th February 23:16

[mattsayle]

All of the shots on my site have been taken with this lens. It is OK but the focusing is realy slow and hunts like a bh.

www.mattsayle.co.uk

[dapprman]

I rather liked my APO on my Nikon D70 and D80, however with my D300 I'm finding the results decidedly soft.

[VxDuncan]

dapprman said:

I rather liked my APO on my Nikon D70 and D80, however with my D300 I'm finding the results decidedly soft.

AF fine tune is what you need....

[Simpo Two]

VxDuncan said:

AF fine tune is what you need....

It may just be the lens. The better the camera, the more it shows up lens performance - like hi-fi and speakers...

[VxDuncan]

Simpo Two said:

VxDuncan said:

AF fine tune is what you need....

It may just be the lens. The better the camera, the more it shows up lens performance - like hi-fi and speakers...

Yeah but AF fine tune is the new love of my life and I've choosen to ram it down as many peoples throats as physically possible. (However it does work and if you have it give it a go)

Granted it could be just the D300 showing up the lens flaws, haowever it seems to do the opposite, the sensor helping to remove any softening caused by ahromatic abberations (though any spherical abberations still exist).

[dapprman]

It's almost certainly the fact that it is a cheap lens. When I got it, the reviews had it as good value for the cost and it's results were better than the el cheapo Nikon equivalent. However these days it does not score well, though the tests tend to be on pro-sumer camera bodies.

For a D70 the lens will work well (the APO one) and I'd go this route again.

I will, however, have a play with af fine tuning as it may well improve things, though I should add some of the shots I complain about being soft were actually taken with manual focus.