Very well built, solid, cheap; good sharpness and contrast at 70 and 200 mm, 1:2 magnifying ratio for makro photography (at 300mm), apochromatic close-up lens for 1:1 ratio available,

slow focusing, not that sharp at 300 (except makro setting)

High quality lens for a low price, good sharpness and contrast, lens screen included, makro setting, a little bit slow in focusing;
In tests from photography magazines it's better than comparable lenses from Canon, Nikon or Minolta - and you can save some money, at least.

Customer Service

not needed yet

Similar Products Used:

Canon EF 80 - 200 mm; Tamron SP MF 75-250 mm;

Well Built, Solid, good sharpness and contrast, macro option

Very slow focusing, zoom ring very hard from 200 on, not very sharp at 300

Very good lens for the price. Some of my best photos taken with it. Macro option to 1:2 very useful. Go for it

Customer Service

not needed (touch wood)

Similar Products Used:

Sigma FD 70-210

- large focal range
- inexpensive
- quick, helpful service (Sigma)
- Compact, light
- quick autofocus in strong light
- 1:2 macro, or 1:1 with the $60 diopter (haven't tried this yet.)

- build quality is... okay
- slow to no autofocus in low light
- small aperture

This is a great all-around lens. A little slow for some things, but fine for most daylight photography. If you plan on shooting wildlife in a redwood forest though, it may be a little slow.

I plan on getting Sigma's 28-70 f/2.8 and a nice 50mm 1.4 to go with it. Add a teleconverter and you've got a range of up to 600mm! Note: Sigma says this lens WILL support a teleconverter, but be careful not to back it out any shorter than 135mm, or the glass will touch! Fortunately, it won't be that expensive to replace, even if I do. *grin*

It seems to be a little sticky when zooming in and out in the 200-300mm range. It does this more often when I haven't used it yet on a give day. Then again, it may be due to the fact that I just bought it.

I give it four stars because of the light gathering, and the zoom issue.

Customer Service

Haven't needed it other than some technical presales and use questions. Very quick to answer the phones, and very knowledgable. (When they're open, normal business hours only.)

Similar Products Used:

None

Inexpensive
Good Optical quality
Value for Money

Image is soft at 300mm

Bought the lens because of good review from magazine and the low price (also could not afford Manufacturer's lens which cost almost double the price). Did not expect much from it. But to my surprise, when i got the first roll of negative developed, the image quality of the pictures produced by the lens was way beyond what I had expected from a lens at this price range. I would recommend this lens to anyone looking for a second lens in addition to the lens that came bundled with their camera. Anyway, the Sigma will replace my Minolta 28-80mm as my main lens from now on.

Customer Service

N.A

Similar Products Used:

Minolta 28-80mm
Sigma 170-500mm

Cheap
Macro

Soft on the Tele side
Manual focussing is difficult

This lens is a good choice for those who cannot afford the costlier telephoto zooms. I used it with my Nikon FM10. So, I never used the auto features. Manual focussing with this lens is difficult, especially in low light. But after all, it is not meant for that. Very good as a macro lens and comes in handy for copying. Produces good pictures even in the early morning/evening light. Use a tripod with this lens at all lighting conditions and it will give you better results than you expect. I am very satisfied with this lens because nothing comes better than this at this price. But I am trying to trade it off for the expensive Nikkor counterpart, because sharpness do matter when you take out large prints.

Customer Service

Never required

Similar Products Used:

Sigma AF 100-300
Canon EF 80-200

Many

None

Use this lens most often!
Took my Son's graduation pictures with this lens and they turned out just as good as the pro's, but we save a ton of $$.
Use for outdoor horse events and nature photos, works great!

Customer Service

Had trouble with separation due to weight of lens, sent to Sigma, XX cust service! They repaired and even sent back $$ required for return shipping!

Similar Products Used:

Vivitar 28 -210

* Reasonable optical performance from 70mm to 200mm.
* Quite good Macro capabilities.
* Good construction.
* Good handling.
* Excellent value per money.

* Optically weak @250-300mm.
* A somewhat limited aperture range.
* AF could be better - tends to "hunt" in dim light or not too contrasty subject.

This lens is, no doubt, one of the best value per money consumer lenses to be found today. Still here are some considerations:
Optically - this lens delivers the goods when it comes to details, portraits (would love bigger max aperture but ...), and tele-depictions. Reasonably sharp and performs quite well even wide open up to 200mm focal length. Quality drops around the 250-300mm mark - but it improves when stopped down to at least f:8.
It will show its weaknesses in two situations:
it's not fit for landscape, remote subjects - then the finer details tend to "soften". The other weakness is AF which will become slowish and "hunt" when subjects are not too contrasty or dimly lit.

To sum it up: very useful for portraits, detail-shooting. Won't do for landscapes or far away details. VERY GOOD VALUE. It performs as well as any 70(75)-300mm lens around and costs MUCH less.

Customer Service

None needed

Similar Products Used:

Quite a few Canon, Tamron and Nikoor zoom lenses.

Inexpensive
D-chip (for Nikon)
macro
Hood included

Bit soft at 200-300 mm, but nothing I can't live with at that price.

I am on a budget, and when I decided that I wanted an x-300 mm zoom I first went to the shops and asked for the Nikkor 70-300 mm f/4-5.6 G. I had sort of accepted that I wouldn't get much on my budget and was ready to buy the Nikkor. Thank God I didn't! The build was shockingly cheap. I can live with plastic...but this was ridiculous. The plastic was very thin and had obvious casting marks on it. It had no manual aparture ring, a plastic mount, no macro and no D-chip (at least I was told that).

The Sigma is still plastic, but A LOT sturdier. And it has all that the Nikkor lacks. Metal mount, D-chip, macro.
I make the comparison because the Nikkor and the Sigma cost exactly the same...at least where I get my equipment. And apart from all the things that matters when it comes to taking pictures..it looks good and feels very nice in the hands. Considering the price I can't do anything but love this lens.

Customer Service

Not needed

Similar Products Used:

70-200 mm Pentax F

Price
Macro at 1:2

Focus search especially in macro.

Lens has been very satisfactory for most uses. Seems a little soft on some of the longer shots, even at f8. Like it for portraits and macros. Macro size of 1:2 makes it a true macro lens. It does tend to search in AF while in macro mode, but most would focus manually.

Similar Products Used:

None

LOW PRICE,
LIGHT WEIGHT,
COMPACT SIZE,
GOOD ZOOM RANGE,
1:2 MACRO AT LONG END

HUNTING A LOT, PLASTICY,
SOFT AT LONG END OF THE LENS

A LIGHT AND COMPACT TELE-ZOOM LENS WITH REASONABLE PERPORMANCE AT A REASONABLE PRICE. GREAT FOR TRAVEL SHOOTING

Customer Service

NONE NEEDED

Similar Products Used:

OLYMPUS 65-200MM,
TOKINA 80-200MM AT-X PRO