Sigma 70-300 APO DG lens: The Best $200 I've Ever Spent

My new Sigma 70-300 APO DG lens arrived today from Amazon.com, and after taking

some test images, I must say I am highly impressed. I bought it for my 30D for

some backyard bird and "wildlife" shooting (squirrels, etc.). To my untrained

eyes, the images coming out of it look fine and plenty sharp enough. I realize

that this is a budget telephoto lens, and I fully am not expecting it to perform

like something it's not. So, below are three shots, with two images per shot.

The first shows the full image shrinked-to-fit the screen, and the second image

shows 100% crop at the center of the active focus point. ZoomBrowser EX was used

to overlay the active focus point (in red).

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Incidentally, if anyone has any experience with the Canon EF-S 55-250mm IS lens,

I'd very much like to hear about it, especially in comparison to this lens. Even

though most of my shots using this lens will be taken at f/8 or higher with

minimum of 1/1000 sec shutter time (as much as possible), there are times, I'm

sure, where the IS feature will come in very handy. And it's "only" $100 more

than the Sigma lens...

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Since these are screenshots, the EXIF information is obviously not included

within each image. I've supplied them from the originals. If your browser

shrinks-images-to-fit-window, then be sure to view them at 100% (all images are

1280x992 pixels).

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 <p>

First image: ISO 400, f/10, 1/800 sec, @300mm, spot metering:

<p>

<a

href="http://www.ptvavm.com/reviews/2008-03-20_sigma-70-300/2008-03-20_screen_sigma_70-300_test-1full.jpg">First

image, full frame</a>

<p>

100% crop centered on active focus point:

<p>

<a

href="http://www.ptvavm.com/reviews/2008-03-20_sigma-70-300/2008-03-20_screen_sigma_70-300_test-1crop.jpg">First

image, cropped</a>

<p>

 <p>

 

Second image: ISO 400, f/8, 1/1000 sec, @300mm, evaluative metering:

<p>

<a

href="http://www.ptvavm.com/reviews/2008-03-20_sigma-70-300/2008-03-20_screen_sigma_70-300_test-2full.jpg">Second

image, full frame</a>

<p>

100% crop centered on active focus point:

<p>

<a

href="http://www.ptvavm.com/reviews/2008-03-20_sigma-70-300/2008-03-20_screen_sigma_70-300_test-2crop.jpg">Second

image, cropped</a>

 

<p>

 <p>

Third image: ISO 400, f/8, 1/1250 sec, @300mm, spot metering:

<p>

<a

href="http://www.ptvavm.com/reviews/2008-03-20_sigma-70-300/2008-03-20_screen_sigma_70-300_test-3full.jpg">Third

image, full frame</a>

<p>

100% crop centered on active focus point:

<p>

<a

href="http://www.ptvavm.com/reviews/2008-03-20_sigma-70-300/2008-03-20_screen_sigma_70-300_test-3crop.jpg">Third

image, cropped</a>

<p>

 

Not too shabby for $200!

Wow, pretty nice shots I do say! I recently purchased a Promaster 55-200mm, which is a relabeled Tamron 55-200 for $77.77 at our local camera store. I reasonably impressed with it too. Bob Atkins has the review of it on photo.net. I figured I had nothing to lose for 80 bucks.

I've found that this lens is pretty good too. Most of my bird/macro bug pucs are by this lens, and a majority with manual focus!

 

The only problem is I feel that I need more reach, so a 100-400 looks to be my next lens.

 

As a learning stepping stone, I'd recommend it....there's plenty on offer with it!

 

Nice pics, by the way!

Thanks. I've had the Canon EF 100-300 before (which I found to be only a mediocre performer), so I knew the kind of reach I could get with a ~300mm zoom lens. I thought seriously about the Tokina 80-400mm, but in the end decided that the extra reach was not worth the extra money ($650 for the Tokina lens vs. $200 for this Sigma lens) for the occasional use I have for telephoto at this range.

<p>

After I ordered it, but before I received it, I found out for the first time about the Canon EF-S 55-250mm IS lens, and was seriously tempted to return the Sigma lens unopened and get the Canon lens. But after the first few test shots, I was sold on the Sigma lens. Excellent performance at 300mm, between f/8 and f/14.

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Here are a couple more shots of the backyard finches:<p>

 

<p align="center"><img src="http://www.ptvavm.com/reviews/2008-03-20_sigma-70-300/2008-03-21_DR_25000.jpg">

 

 

<p align="center"><img src="http://www.ptvavm.com/reviews/2008-03-20_sigma-70-300/2008-03-21_DR_24999.jpg">

Forgot to add some EXIF info!

 

First picture: ISO 200, f/11, 1/200 sec on tripod, @300mm

 

Second picture: ISO 200, f/11, 1/320 sec on tripod, @300mm

 

... using my 5-year old Digital Rebel. Not too shabby for a five year camera! (which, in digital age, seems like an eternity) The images in the original post was taken with the 30D.