( 3 reviews )
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Posted: 09-19-2007
I was given this lens as a gift from my father after he'd used it for about 5 years. Between he and I, this lens has broken 4 times. Three times the aperture mechanism would begin to stick, causing error messages on my EOS 10D. Currently, the autofocus has stopped working all together, though the manual focus still works just fine. When it works, it's a nice lens. It is sharp, had good color and takes good pictures. In fact, I really enjoy it. Be prepared to spend a lot of money on filters, though. At 82mm, good filters don't come cheap. This is a good lens, but it is likely to give you headaches. Consider buying Canon's 16-35mm or 17-40mm first; it may be worth the extra money. In fact, Sigma has another version of this lens that has a 77mm filter size for less money. I'd certainly take that one over this one.
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( 2 of 2 found this review helpful ) Posted: 01-10-2005
I had this lens for about a year. Its optical quality is good. Sharp image in both ends of the zoom range. The service of Sigma USA is the best. I got a problem with the HSM of the lens after one year, just weeks after the warranty expired, so I called their customer service to see what they can do. They offered to fix the problem and treat it the same as within warranty. So I mailed the lens to them. To my surprise, the lens is fixed and shipped back to me within one week, without charging me anything, even the shipping. This is truly outstanding customer service.
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( 43 of 43 found this review helpful ) Posted: 02-15-2001
I purchased this lens for my Canon Elan IIe in June, 2000. I've run about 50 rolls of print film through the camera with this lens and have been very satisfied with this lens. Please note that if you get the Canon EOS mount, the HSM is "micro-HSM," which like Canon's "micro-USM" does not allow full time manual focus (you must toggle a switch on the lens barrel to go from autofocus to manual focus). Filter size is 82 mm, which is large and increases the price of filters. The up side is that I have had no vignetting with a Hoya HMC skylight filter (normal, not thin width) a very good performance with an ultra wide angle zoom. Minimum focus distance is 0.5 meters (about 19"), slightly longer han one would like. Flare seems well controlled with the included hood and ghosting is minimal when shooting into the sun at f/8-f/16. Lens has very usable depth of field scales for f/11 and f/16. Nice sharp and contrasty results with this lens make it a bargain when compared to some of its competition.
