Well built
Fast AF on Canon eos
Very sharp even at wide open aperture
Smaller and lighter than competition
Great price!

Noisy AF (compared to canon USM or Sigam HSM)
That's about it.

Great lens and great price. I highly recommend it, specially if using the Canon D30 (1.6x multiplier).
It's tack sharp even wide-open (comparable to the Canon 28-70L)
The only minor problem is the noisy AF, but other than that an excellent buy!

Customer Service

Don't know

Similar Products Used:

Canon 28-70L 2.8
Tokina 28-80 2.8

Fast, 2.8
Felt nice in my hands.
Seemed to be good quality.
Fast focus.

Broke after nearly any water.
Or was it a light impact?
Sigma wanted 200 dollars to repair it, and they took over a month to even look at it.

Don´t Use Sigma if u are in any more or less hazardus envoirment..

Customer Service

VERY bad!
really slow to even open the box to look at the lens.

Similar Products Used:

EF 20-35 3.5-4.5
EF 28-70 2.8 L
EF 70-200 2.8 L
EF 75-300 USM IS
EF 50mm 1.8

Wow...very sharp at all aperatures. Decently fast autofocus even though it doesn't incorporate Sigma's more recent HSM. Very solid, nice hood. Very inexpensive...you can still pick up the non-dual focus version for $300 bucks...an incredible deal.

Slight barrel distortion at 28mm.
Focus ring turns while focussing...not USM.
Wish focus ring and zoom ring were reversed.

Incredible value for your dollar. I don't think you will ever find more lens for less money. This puppy is 1/4th the cost of Canon's own 28-70 F2.8. It has become my favorite indoor lens. It is the lens that resides on my camera most of the time. I give it a 4 in overall rating because a USM type focus drive would be an improvement. The newer "dual-focus" version gets you half way there, costs $150 more, but is still way cheaper than the Canon version. I can't recommend this lens enough. It is the cheapest entry into the elite world of fast F2.8 zooms.

Customer Service

Not required.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 28-135 IS.

F2.8
Reasonably Sharp at F4.0 and above

Very low contrast at F2.8.
Extremely bad at 70mmF2.8

I bought this for low light (F2.8) operation. I was very dissapointed at the F2.8 performance, particularly, as you get close to 70mm. Very low contrast at below F4.0.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 28-135IS
Canon 70-200LF2.8
Canon 50mmF1.8

Fast, fairly accurate lense for a decent price.
Did not experience the distortion at wide angle that I've heard about.

Does not focus sharply every time.
A friend and I shot identical film, filters and stood side by side, taking the same subjects in the same light. I used the Sigma on a Minolta 7000i, he used a Nikon N80. He, with the Nikon 28-80/3.5-4.5 and I with the Sigma. Same focus points, simultaneous release. The Nikon was sharper with less distortion and did not hunt as badly as the Sigma. Also, the Nikon had better, warmer color rendition and the Sigma seemed to lack the Nikon's depth (some subjects seemed flatter with the Sigma).
When I have time to compose, I will focus manually. Kind of defeats the purpose of having an autofocus.

Good enough lense for the price, but you get what you pay for. Don't expect to compete with excellent glass. It satisfies my desire for a faster aperature at a price I could afford.

Customer Service

None needed as yet.

Similar Products Used:

Minolta 28-80 3.5-4.5
Minolta 80-200 4.5
Tamron 28-80 3.5-4.5
Nikon 50mm 1.2
Minolta 105 3.5

This is a good lens, it has the AF speed and the sharpness that I need. And it alsp looks good on my Canon Eos 3 and Nikon F100.

The only thing is that Focus ring moves.

This is a strong lens. It is not as good as Canon and Nikons version. But afcourse, they cost alot of money too.
I have heard that some body is not happy with the frontbarrel, becourse it moves. But the barrel also moves on the Canon version. But it is hidden by the lenshood. It is mounted on the lens and not on the front. Sigma could also have don that, but... you now??
When poeple try to compear to lenses, theres alot of factors to consider. You can't compare a Nikon lens on a Nikon Camera with a Sigma Lens on a Minolta(They have major AF problems). You got to have the same camera!!
There is only on problem, it is a little soft under f4 but what the ....!!
FOR THE PRICE IT IS A GOD GIFT TO PHOTOGRAPHER.

Customer Service

Once but that was my own error.

Similar Products Used:

Canon and Nikon versions.

This lens is sharp, it has a graet look. It can withstand me using it. It is graet on my Canon eos 3 and 7e.

Tends to be slow.
Does not look so great when the frontbarrel moves.( Minor problem)

This lens has minor problems, like the focus speed.
I read in another review that i broke becouse of the rain. Well, that might be true. But i have not experienced that. I was out for 2 hours taking pictures. And it was like a waterfall. My Canon 3 made it and so did the lens.
The focus i sometimes to slow for sports, so thats not so good. Thats why it get 4 stars i overall rating and the same in value rating.

Customer Service

Used one time. Lens was dropt on the floor, when some guy tried to grab it.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 28-70mm f/2.8 L
Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 DF

professional appearance.
inexpensive lens of fast aperture.
lens coating looks really nice.

heavy flares at 28-50mm range outruns those of my other lenses.
also, pictures look dull at its widest aperture when shooting at 70mm, no matter what the lights condition is.

At first, I bought this lens to fill up the missing focal length for my camera. Having taken three rolls of Reala and one of Sensia 100, I had decided to replace it with Tamron due to the above reasons. It was a bit of a contradiction that the overall specifications look professional to me yet it failed to deliver average results; this is certainly true. Think tripple before buying any Sigma' s.

Customer Service

not worth the mention.
I believe every single Sigma owner must have had once.

Similar Products Used:

canon 70-200/4 L
canon 100/2.8macro USM
tamron 20-40/2.7-3.5 (freshly purchased)

Fast aperture, fast focus, sharpness, build quality, lens hood, PRICE!!!

isn't an 80-210 f:2.8(!)

I've tried nearly everything on the market, & under £600, only the Minolta 24-105G (for the Dynax7) comes close. My pictures are sharp & full of life at my standard print size of 6*9" - although they are better when I print them then when they are sent to Joe Bloggs in a lab!
If you want a standard zoom on your camera that is sharp & focusses swiftly, this is it. Unless you're a hack whose newspaper pays for the equipment, & you really want to have the lens sayin the same name as the camera!

Customer Service

not applicable

Similar Products Used:

owned:Tamron mf 135 f2.8, 35-70 f2.8-3.5, minolta af 28-80,28-105, canon mf50mm f1.8, olympus mf 50mm f1.7, but Imanage a camera shop, so I've tried & put films thru a lot of gear!

Price, Sharp at f4.0 and above. Nice finish, comes with hood,case.

Noisy, no focus overide, (like the canon USM's) poor performance at 2.8 especially at 70mm

If you can afford the Canon, buy it. If you are poor like me and need and above average lens. Buy the Sigma.

Customer Service

none required

Similar Products Used:

Canon 28-70 F2.8
(better but a lot more $$$$)