Sigma 24-70 EX DG Macro Lens.
Well its been a long time coming but, here goes.
I like to wait a while and live with a lens before commenting on it. I love this lens, it takes great pictures and is a quality piece of glass. It is a substantial lens and well made. It has an 82mm filter diameter which makes it an impressive looking piece of kit, but also makes for very expensive filters as this is a rare size.
Its very sharp at the wide end and gets a little soft at the extreme end but improves from about f/4 onwards. I will upload some more pictures taken with this lens and of it as time allows. Its fairly fast focusing but does sometimes struggle to find a lock in a busy scene also, slightly noisy compared to more modern equivalents.ie.hsm etc.
Now we have a little down side... my copy of this lens has let me down in that it now intermittently refuses to focus at all! Normally you would put this down to bad luck or maybe a little bit of the way its been used or treated but, this is the second sigma lens that this has happened to with me. All my other lenses have so far been impeccably reliable. So a worry for me or indeed any photographer when spending large amounts on a lens! I intend to get it repaired and will update when I have had it back in service for a period of time.
Update.
I have stored this lens in my airing cupboard for a period whilst I waited to send it to Sigma but upon trying it, it seems all is now well! So I can only assume its use through the winter in arduous conditions allowed the ingress of moisture. It is not classed as a water proof or all weather lens so I can thank my lucky stars that it has dried out and returned (hopefully longterm) to full working condition.
I like to wait a while and live with a lens before commenting on it. I love this lens, it takes great pictures and is a quality piece of glass. It is a substantial lens and well made. It has an 82mm filter diameter which makes it an impressive looking piece of kit, but also makes for very expensive filters as this is a rare size.
Its very sharp at the wide end and gets a little soft at the extreme end but improves from about f/4 onwards. I will upload some more pictures taken with this lens and of it as time allows. Its fairly fast focusing but does sometimes struggle to find a lock in a busy scene also, slightly noisy compared to more modern equivalents.ie.hsm etc.
Now we have a little down side... my copy of this lens has let me down in that it now intermittently refuses to focus at all! Normally you would put this down to bad luck or maybe a little bit of the way its been used or treated but, this is the second sigma lens that this has happened to with me. All my other lenses have so far been impeccably reliable. So a worry for me or indeed any photographer when spending large amounts on a lens! I intend to get it repaired and will update when I have had it back in service for a period of time.
Update.
I have stored this lens in my airing cupboard for a period whilst I waited to send it to Sigma but upon trying it, it seems all is now well! So I can only assume its use through the winter in arduous conditions allowed the ingress of moisture. It is not classed as a water proof or all weather lens so I can thank my lucky stars that it has dried out and returned (hopefully longterm) to full working condition.
