-the price is great - especially if comparing to the almighty SUPER expensive L series lens canon offers.

-the built feels solid. the carrying case is a plus - keeps the lens safe with all the soft cushiony stuff around it.

-as sharp as the L series lens

-ring mount is included.

-2 words - OPTICAL STABILIZER

-motor is loud and slow (compared to the L series lens).

-not the lightest lens in my collection.

-colors aren't as vibrant

it was quite nice opening the heavy sigma box from its packaging. once opened, a fairly good quality cush bag contained the new lens. opened it and man is it heavy. i've had the 70-200mm canon L series lens and that lens does not compare to the weight of this sigma. of course, you do get about a 200mm more zoom... the

mounted, it looks like a camera that parents would hide their kids from. it's pretty aggressive looking if you're just a "passer-by-er". anyways - onto the TEST.

i first shot images WITHOUT the OPTICAL STABILIZER... the first thing i noticed is the motor... very loud compared to the 70-200mm L and slow - the result had fairly good quality (7 out of 10). most of the images were fairly sharp at 400mm. though i did get some super sharp images, i weren't all that impress. color isn't as vibrant as the L series lens canon offers but... that's just about it in terms of image quality. < --- it's a good thing

turning on the OPTICAL STABILIZER - BAMM! what a difference. it's like holding a 135mm lens at 400mm. IMPRESSIVE - SIGMA has 2 modes with its OS. both modes work nicely.

WOULD I RECOMMEND? yes - BUT it would of been A LOT better if the lens had a FASTER motor. of course, you can always shoot using the manual mode. = )

Sharp, good portrait shots at 80mm on 20D Passable hand held night shots at 400mm Neck strap on tripod mount (want it on my Canon lenses now !)

Night time, huge starred flare from lights. Reflection of off-axis lights diametrically across image centre. Slow, noisy AF Jerky OS while panning in mode 1 or 2 OS does not work when lens is supported, image drifts about randomly but slowly Heavier than Canon 100-400 Incompatible with Canon 2x extender EX surface is a PITA to clean off dust !

Quite a good cheap super telephoto zoom. OS does what it ought to, for stationary hand held shots. AF does what it ought to, for stationary hand held shots. AF tracks slow moving targets, like people walking. But not suited to my needs - it went back to the shop within 2 weeks. Replaced by Canon EF 100-400 L IS

Customer Service

Jessops: Oxford - avoid like the plague Bromley - very helpful Bournemouth - outstanding

Similar Products Used:

Canon EF 70-200 Canon EF 100-400

Vibration reduction, sharpness, colour rendition, nice finish, can be used where other (prime) lenses are too cumbersome to use, price/quality

a bit heavy (but you get used to it), stiff zoom ring

I needed a long tele prime or tele zoom on my Nikon D70 to take on safari and to use from an open vehicle. After reading lots of reviews and carefully considering what would be the prime use of the lens, I eventually decided to buy the Sigma OS, at about half the price of the Nikon VR.... , and I haven't regretted it yet. Although it's not a lightweight lens it's not too difficult to use it handheld or on a beanbag in a (sometimes crowded) vehicle. The OS is a very usefull function, but is has its limits at about 1/60th of a second. I took some very nice pictures at night with the new Sigma 500 flash unit. Pictures are mostly (very) sharp with nice colour, good contrast and as far as I can see a low degree of distortion.

Customer Service

?

Similar Products Used:

none

1) Sharpness. PopPhoto may not agree, but 400mm produces excellent 8"x10" prints. 2) Zoom ring (for those who don't like push-pull design). 3) Excellent tripod ring which may be used as a carrying handle. 4) Build quality and finish. 5) Excellent pictures !

1) Weight. Heavier than Canon 100-400 (although not by much). 2) Slow AF (on my EOS 30 body). On 1V, however, the AF is FAST, comparable to Canon 100-400 (in a dimly lit interior of the shop where the AF speed might be more dependent on the camera AF system rather than on the type of the AF motor in the lens: in bright light the USM motor may be faster, but the performance of 80-400 on 1V was impressive nonetheless) 3) Price...as usual.

Big, heavy, sharp lense with Image Stabilization. Works nice wide open, and IS is a godsend at 400mm handheld.

Customer Service

Well, never needed, but also they never answered any of my E-mails. Go figure...

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 70-200/2.8 EX HSM

Image stabilisation, sharpness, colour rendition

Weight , stiff zoom ring, tripod collar does not adjust to become a pistol grip.

I had been toying with the purchase of a long telephoto lens after borrowing a Canon 70-200 F2.8 L IS with a 2x tele from a friend. I cannot justify the spend on this actual item and looked at alternatives for my Canon 10D. Very please ownership of a Sigma 15-30 and reading reviews of this lens on this site and others I took the plunge and I am very pleased with the results. My main areas of critisism are the same as others namely the weight and the stiffness of the zoom ring. The gym should sort the former and use the latter! I am very impressed with the IS features and this has enabled me with concentration to shoot as slowly as 1/15s indoors without a tripod at 400mm. The images appear sharp at all focal lengths and the colour saturation is very pleasing to my eyes.

Optical Stabilization sharpness

Zoom ring in front of focus ring. Weight OS needs to be turned of when exchanging lenses.

What stopped me sofar from buying a long telephoto zoom lens for my Canon D60 is the need for a tripod when going beyond 200, 300 mm. Setting up a tripod every time I wish to use a longer lens does not appeal to me very much. I like to point and shoot. Also the steep price of the Canon IS L1 lenses stopped me from going any further. When I found out about this new Sigma 80-400, their first lens with optical stabilization, I finely was tempted to have a closer look at it. I have to add, that I was until now somewhat skeptical on how usable such a lens would be, but after reading the previous 2 reviews here I was tempted, and went out and bought this lens. Those who still have doubts like me don’t doubt any longer! This is an amazing peace of hardware. It’s heavy, but feels very good on the camera. The only thing I have to get used to is the position of the zoom ring. It’s in front of the focus ring which to me seems to be a bit awkward. Often I still grab the focus ring instead. The other controls are just at the correct place. Some lens creeping takes place when in the unlock position. Also it needs some discipline to disable the OS when exchanging lenses. The manual warns for damage when mounting or removing the lens with the OS in the on position. The first thing I did after I got the lens was to shoot a sign on a brick building across the street from were I work on the second floor through a glass window at 400mm. I did not prepare for any fancy stuff, just point and shoot with OS set on 1 for vertical and horizontal stabilization (possition 2 is for vertical only, to allow for horizontal action shots) for testing purposes. Super! I was very impressed, very sharp. http://www.blue-sky.demon.nl/Samples/400mm_b.jpg (1/750 at F8). This is a great lens. The OS really amazes me. The next thing I did was to mount a 2x converter from Sigma and tried it for the second time at maximum focal length of 800mm (manual focus only), handheld! http://www.blue-sky.demon.nl/Samples/800mm_b.jpg Again I could not believe it. With the converter it looses some contrast, but I was impressed with the OS. Download the samples at 1024x768 and zoom in to see the cement in between the bricks. At full resolution of the camera it shows really well how this lens performs. I have to admit, 800mm is not easy without tripod, but without converter at 400 mm is no problem. Despite its weight I think I will carry this lens with me most of the time, next to my Sigma 24-70mm 2.8, and the awesome Sigma 15-30mm

Customer Service

Did not need to make use of it yet.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 75-300 IS Sigma 24-70 2.8 Sigma 70-200 2.8 Sigma 15-30 Tamron 28-300

Sharp images and well placed controls. And the OS, of course.

Auto focus at 400mm does not always work at or near infinity. Also, auto focus is a bit slow.

I recently switched to Canon equipment from Minolta so all new glass was in order. As much as I would love to have all Canon 'L' lenses, that is simply not an option for me, financially. My previous experience with Sigma lenses has been quite good and what I have read about this lens in various magazines led me to place my order. My first impression was that this is a large lens that is not for the faint of heart. After mounting it to my EOS-1N, all of the controls simply fell into place. The focus and zoom rings rotated freely. I played a bit with the OS and auto focus and, while a bit on the slow side, both worked reasonably well. My first use of this lens was to photograph some Trumpeter swans, both at rest and in flight. The lens performed well for the most part but ocassionaly when at 400mm, it would not focus at infinity. I found that backing the zoom off a bit allowed it to focus and then re zoom. I fear that it may require a trip back to Sigma. Other than that, I am very pleased. The images are absolutely sharp, and the colors and contrast true. This has quickly become my 'carry' lens, in spite of its size.

Customer Service

Previous experience has been outstanding!

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 70-200 f/2.8

- Sharpness across zoom range! - Equal to or Sharper than Canon 100-400L at 400mm! - Great Tripod mount/carrying handle - Rotating Zoom Ring rather than Push/Pull - Equals Canon with regards to color saturation and contrast. - that extra 20mm at the bottom end!

- Seems to be 1 full stop slower than the Canon 100-400 IS. - Slower Autofocus campared to Canon - 3.85 lbs. - Zoom ring in front of focus ring?

I've been looking for a nice medium to ultra telephoto zoom lens for my collection and it finally came down to the Canon 100-400 IS, or Canon 70-200 with 2x teleconvertor, until I had the opportunity to try this new Sigma 80-400 OS. I shot head to head photos with the Canon 100-400 IS and the Sigma 80-400 OS. The Canon is very nice, yet the Sigma is noticably sharper at 400mm f5.6. My shots were taken at 1/3000 sec. so I could rule out camera shake. My camera is an EOS 10D. The Sigma seems to fool the 10D auto WB into taking warmer shots than the canon lens produces. When I shoot with manual WB, both lenses are similar. The Canon has a leg-up with focusing, much faster than the Sigma, although the Sigma is not terribly slow. I would say the Sigma focuses about 2-3 times faster than the Canon 75-300 IS. I did a comparison with a Canon 75-300 IS and essentially there is no comparison! The 75-300 IS is VERY soft compared to the Sigma. I also noticed that while I maintained identical Manual shooting parameters, the Sigma is almost one full stop slower than the Canon 100-400 IS in it's light gathering ability. All of my shots with the Canon 100-400 IS were brighter overall than the Sigma shots. The Grip/tripod collar is wonderfull, and much more usable than Canon's (also allows a 10D with Grip to sit perfectly level, BONUS!). The Optical Stabilization is almost identical to the Canon IS system. Same modes, same operation, seems to be same results after factoring in the 1 stop speed difference between lenses. Overall I am very happy with the Sigma. It blows away the Canon 75-300 IS, is almost equal to the Canon 100-400 IS, and manages to sit at just the right price point for a lens of this type. Awesome!

Customer Service

Sigma upgraded one of my lenses for use with my old D30, quick turnaround and friendly service!

Similar Products Used:

100-400 IS L 75-300 IS 15-30 EX Sigma 70-210 f4 Canon 600mm f8 Sigma 70-200 f4 L 70-210 f4 35-135 Sigma 50-500 Sigma