Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG HSM Lens Review

[cowboystuff]

<p>Thanks for answering my question.<br>

Boy, I'm sorry to hear you had such bad results with that lens. You should send a copy of your review and findings straight to Sigma.<br>

I'm leaning more and more towards my Nikon choices.<br>

17-55 f/2.8 or 17-35 f/2.8, now.<br>

Thanks</p>

[bill_tuthill]

<p>Rich, when you say it didn't focus at 70/2.8, do you mean it didn't autofocus correctly, or even when manual focusing it was so soft it still looked out of focus?</p>

[bsxphoto]

<p>There is always the tamron 17-50 2.8 which I hear is a great lens. I'm heavily considering selling my sigma 24-70 in order to get it.</p>

[richard_sullivan2]

<p>Bill, I did try to manually focus the lens and it did get a little better which tells me the AF is off. However it was slightly better and still blurred. Not just soft. I am calling Sigma today before I return it to complain. We'll see what happens.</p><div></div>

[phule]

<p>[[i just reaized that the Sigma is a DC lens, meaning it's a full frame lens.]]</p>

<p>It does not matter if the lens is "full frame" or not. All lenses are sold with their actual focal lengths. All lenses mounted to cameras with sensors smaller than full frame will provide a more narrow field of view. This is true of all lenses, period. You always need to take into account the field of view factor when using a non-full-frame camera.</p>

 

[bruce_margolis]

<p>Just to clarify, the Sigma 24-70 is a DG lens, not a DC lens. They use DG for lenses that are optimized for digital cameras. Think FX with Nikon. Their DC lenses are optimized for cropped sensor bodies, like Nikon uses DX. These lenses are smaller and lighter than the full frame lenses and generally cost less.</p>

<p>It might make a difference if someone is shopping for a lens. If you have a crop body, the smaller/lighter/less expensive DC/DX lens might be a good thing. However, if you flip between a crop sensor and film or if you really think you will go FX in the near future, you might not want a DC/DX lens because of some of the compromises. </p>

<p> </p>

[robledo]

<p>Rob,<br>

I was told that you can't use a crop sensor (1.5x,1.6x) lens on a full frame camera. Regardless of "focal lenght" as you said before, you do have to think about the circular image field of these newer lenses. The image projected on a big sensor will be a small circle with dark corners correct?</p>

[bill_tuthill]

No, Francisco. This is not a "newer" lens, it is a redesign of a redesign of a full-frame lens. Sensor = camera. You can use full-frame lenses on crop sensor cameras, but you get dark corners trying to use partial-circle lenses on a full frame camera.

[cowboystuff]

<p>Richard, did you contact Sigma about this lens? If so, what might you have found out?<br>

Also, I would try photographing something othe than that plant, which has too many surfaces for the lens to focus on.</p>

[richard_sullivan2]

<p>Larry, I had my camera set for single autofocus rather than auto or continuous as well as center area. I wanted the camera to be focused on the subject I was choosing and not be searching all over. The picture I uploaded was the result. I then mounted my Nikon 85mm and shot the same Flower Pot at F2.8. The difference was night and day. Also know that I took a few shots of the pot with the Sigma lens. Not just the one and they were all blurry.<br>

Yes I did contact Sigma. Sent them an email explaining my experience with the new lens. No Reply. I am quite surprised about that since this is their latest and greatest and no one seemed concerned. I mentioned to them I was posting my displeasure with the lens on different online forums. I guess they dont take it that seriously. I also contacted the service department and spoke to someone and explained everything I have written here. They were nice, and wanted me to be happy with my purchase. They asked me to send the lens to them along with my camera (which I didnt like) because they wanted to make sure the focus wasn't off. However, if I did that, and they sent it back to me stating the lens was fine, I couldnt return it for a refund. Obviously I didnt want to be stuck with a $900 blurry monster of a lens. I returned the lens the other day. It should arrive back at B&H tomorrow.</p>

[cowboystuff]

<p>Well, I'm disappointed. I was hoping that it would be a good lens.<br>

I think when I decide to make the purchase, that I will get the Nikon Zoom AF-S DX 17-55 f/2.8 ED-IF. I know that's a good lens and it's not that much more than the Sigma.</p>

[sean_shen]

<p>It is not that bad. The autofocus has a bit problem but I use 50D, so I adjusted auto focus using the camera settings. The only real problem with that lens is shot a subject at 10Meter away with 70MM and F2.8, it will become blur. but if you use any setting any than that particular one, the image is very sharp.<br>

<a href="http://www7.xitek.com/forum/200904/8322/832215/832215_1238901561.jpg">832215_1238901561.jpg</a></p>

 

[michaelavaloke]

<p>Richard Sullivan."They asked me to send the lens to them along with my camera (which I didnt like) because they wanted to make sure the focus wasn't off. "<br>

I'm sad that this thread stop months ago. Richard, Sigma do calebration with the lens and the camera . Any one have the lastest input about this len?</p>

[don_putnam]

<p>I just received my new Sigma 24-70 2.8 EX DG HSM and attached it to one of my D300 bodies. At 2.8 it is sharp as a tack with great contrast and color. Quiet motor and responsive auto focus. It is shorter than the Tamron 28-105 2.8 it is replacing while the Tamron is in the shop (got soft on me) and a few ounces lighter, but not much. I really like the constant manual focus. I don't have to make any changes on the barrel, just turn the focus ring to change the auto focus choice. Get a lot of opinions before deciding to junk this lens!</p>

[lance_jacobs]

<p>What a wonderful lens the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG HSM is! I have had mine for a week, and am very impressed with how it is performing on my Nikon D90. Autofocus on my lens is very fast and absolutely accurate!<br /> Some reviews of this great lens are starting to come out now, showing just how very good it is. Checkout this comparison review here:<br />

/> And here is an even more in-depth review, with many excellent sample photos that show off the ability of the lens:<br /> http://lenstip.com/172.1-Lens_review-Sigma_24-70_mm_f_2.8_EX_DG_HSM_Introduction.html</p>

<p>The bottom line is that this lens is both shorter and lighter than the Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8, yet comes very close to it in image quality.<br /> Here is what it looks like on my Nikon D90:<br /> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3629/3619572353_5bec4ec212_o.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="859" /></p>

<p>Here are a couple of snapshots that I recently took with it:</p>

<p><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3653/3648571001_955ee016ba_o.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3408/3652761045_ca865924b6_o.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>IMPORTANT NOTE: Click with your RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON on the above photos, and then select the menu option VIEW IMAGE, if you would like to see the photo at 100% size.</p>

<p>-</p>

[joshua_mcminn]

<p>I recently bought a D700, which meant my loved Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 had to be replaced with full frame glass. I sold the Nikkor, and based on the fact that Nikon's 24-70mm is out of stock everywhere, and twice the cost in any case, I took a chance on the Sigma. I can say that I don't miss the Nikkor 17-55mm, nor do I wish I had waited/saved for the Nikkor 24-70mm.<br>

The focus on my copy is quiet, fast and accurate, and sharp as a tack even wide open. The corners might be a little soft wide open, but after several hundred shots I couldn't tell you because if I'm wide open, I'm using it to blur the corners intentionally (incidently, the lens has a nice bokeh). That said, I have shots that fill the corners that are stopped down to 4.0 or so, and by there the corners are definately sharp (and note, I'm shooting FX -- your results will be better on DX)<br>

A friend has the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8, so I know first hand that the Sigma is MUCH smaller, albiet still quite heavy (but it's pro glass, so it's expected to be heavy). The lens extends when zoomed to 70mm, but looking at it another way, the lens retracts when zoomed back to 24mm which makes it smaller to carry. The lens handles well, although it is a bit quirky in that the 24mm is on the left side of the zoom range (in other words you turn counter-clockwise to zoom "in" which is backwards from every other lens I own). The backwards zoom ring is really my only nit to pick -- I could complain about the filter size, but $900 cheaper than the Nikon buys a lot of filters.<br>

I highly recommend this lens for FX, or even on DX if you already carry a 12-24 wide angle or plan to upgrade to FX at some point. I'd personally prefer the Nikkor 17-55mm and a Tokina 11-16mm if you need ultrawide for DX, but that is based on prefering the Tokina to any of the competing DX ultrawides, or not carrying an ultrawide at all, and thus wanting the "normal" zoom to go wider. On a quality comparison, I find the results on this Sigma to be the same quality as what I was getting with the 17-55mm Nikkor.<br>

In summary, buy the Sigma if you want the smallest "pro" 24-70mm zoom out there; if you want to save $900 for not much (if any) loss in quality; if you can't even find a Nikkor 24-70mm for sale. Splurge on the Nikkor if you have more money than skill, and do silly things like shoot landscapes in bright sunlight at f/2.8 and then look at the corners at 100% (laugh). Kidding aside, the Nikkor is a GREAT lens, and I wouldn't fault you for getting one over the Sigma if you have the budget, but for my use, the HSM Sigma gets me the same results in a smaller package, for $900 less. I am sure there are edge cases where the Nikkor is going to do slightly better, but I can say definatively that I am getting great shots with this lens in both low light wide open, and outdoor stopped down cases.</p>

[guido_ersettigh__milan_]

<p><a href="http://review.fengniao.com/123/1231810.html">http://review.fengniao.com/123/1231810.html</a></p>

<p>take a note of the idiograms used for canon and sigma to distinguish them through the whole review charts</p>

[bill_tuthill]

Thanks, Guido! All factors considered, I would say the Sigma 24-70/2.8 HSM is best and the Canon 24-70/2.8 is worst, although the 24-105/4 has big problems with chromatic aberration at the edges. Hard to say whether random samples of these three lenses would perform as in the test.

[william_bray1]

<p><a href="http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/1236/cat/31">http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/1236/cat/31</a></p>

[william_bray1]

<p >I don’t believe the results in that review, maybe the own shares in sigma. If Canon made lenses of that quality at that price no body would buy them, I have got better results from far cheaper consumer lenses then the 24-70 if I went by that test. I have a Canon 24 70 and it is nothing like that. It’s slightly softer wide open but all lenses are. Edge sharpness if great. What I can gather is that the Nikon 24 70 is only a little bit better than the canon and you would only notice it if they were side by side, and the Nikon is at least £250 more expensive then the Canon.</p>

<p > </p>

<p >Take a look at this test of the sigma 24 70 hsm this is on full frame and crop sensor </p>

<p ><a href="http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/1236/cat/31">http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/1236/cat/31</a></p>

[timothy_xie]

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>I just got my copy of the Sigma 24-70 HSM and have been getting soft and back-focused pictures at 50-70mm f2.8 just like Richard in his earlier posts. The pictures look like I had applied a soft filter effect to them. However, I did notice that this problem becomes really apparent when shooting a subject 5meters or so away. Image quality improves as the subject gets closer.</p>

<p>While I am no pro at determining how badly front or back-focused the lens is, or at what distance the problem really starts setting in, I do believe that such AF problems are a usual case of Sigma's quality control issues and I will be sending the lens back for calibration. Hope that rectifies the problem.</p>

<p>Congrats to those who did get a good copy of the lens!</p>

<p>Cheers!</p>

[oscar_jimenez]

<p>I just purchased this lens to use as a walk-around lens on my Nikon D90, I've used it for a week now, I haven't experienced any problems in focusing but sometimes it displays an error message (f-err) when the lens is retracted to 24mm, the error is corrected zooming out, in adition to this the mirror has flipped up by itself without pressing the shutter in the same 24mm position, this has only happened 3 times so far, does anybody know what could be causing this?</p>

[oscar_jimenez]

<p>Update on my error messages...I got my camera out of the bag and when I turned it on it displayed the same error message, it sounded like the mirror flipped up inside and when I pressed the shutter it recorded a blank photo with weird information on the lens used, it shows a 7800mm lens, f/25.7, manual focus (it was set to auto) and VR on even though this lens is not a VR model. I took the lens off, tried all my other lenses and none showed any errors, I put my 24-70 back on and have not had the error appear again, I'm concerned that something is wrong and I won't find out until it is too late to return it. I'll appreciate any feedback or advise.</p>