( 8 reviews )
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jul 30 2009
I purchased this lens about three months ago so I've had plenty of time to give it a thorough testing. Pluses: - this lens gives me nice sharp pictures from f/2.8 to around f/18 - great soft bokeh at f/2.8 - unlike the reviewer of June 2009, my lens DOES shoot at f/2.8 even when I am 2-3 inches from a subject at 1:1 macro - very solid construction. I had the lens roll off of my fanny pack about 4 inches to a gravel surface. Didn't bother it at all. - no perceptible lens creep (even pointed vertically down)unlike my Tamron 18-250. - nice price (I paid $439.00) Minuses: - the weird screw on lens hood!!! Sigma needs to really rethink this design. - the need to move my position not zoom the lens (oops! that's a minus on me for being too used to zoom lenses) On the strength of this lenses pluses, I am considering purchasing, at least, one other Sigma lens in the near future. I am a semi-professional shooting on a Canon 40D (soon to be 5D Mark II)
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Posted: Jun 11 2009
Good value micro lens... better than the Nikon 60mm micro in my opinion...also works well as a portrait lens.
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( 2 of 2 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jun 7 2009
Bought this to pair with my Nikon D90. It's a sharp lens that's very pleasant to use. As the other reviewer said, it's a 'nice' length on an APS-C sized sensor, ~105mm. Sharpness is on par with the venerable Nikkor 50mm f1.8, IMHO. So that's great. Not unexpected though, as this is supposedly Sigma's sharpest prime lens and it's a Macro lens, which by definition has to be tack sharp. Build quality seems very good too. All in all, it's a nice lens at a good price. Focus is slow compared to AF-S lenses, but only because there's such a huge focal range. This lens does seem hunt a lot on my D90, even in bright light. It'll often have to run the focus across the entire range to get a lock, and that's a pain. However, flipping the focus limiter switch solves it and makes it focus just as fast as my other non AF-S lenses. So that's ok. And for macro shots I'd usually be focusing manually anyway, so it's not a big deal. But it's just not quite as quick as my AF-S lenses. I also don't like the fact that the lens cap won't snap on when the sunshade is screwed on. Makes it a bit of a pain when you're out and about and want to cap the lens, as you've got to unscrew the shade (and put it somewhere - it doesn't reverse) to put the cap on. A pain compared to Nikkor shades that allow the cap while they're installed, even while reversed. But there is one major negative that none of the other reviews have touched upon. And it's nearly a deal-breaker for me. This is NOT a true f2.8 fixed lens. It is from 10ft to infinity, but below that the max aperture grows as the subject distance decreases. At 1:1 magnification, 3-4 inches away, maximum aperture is f4.8. This is not really what I had in mind when I bought this lens, and I may return it because it's not going to work as well as I had hoped. I bought an f2.8 lens expecting a constant aperture. I was wrong. I actually think it's a bit of deceptive advertising on the part of Sigma. Since it's primary purpose is to be a Macro lens, they should be clear that it's an f2.8 lens only at decidedly non-macro focal ranges. This is really an f4.8 Macro lens, which isn't so great. So just be advised before you purchase this lens. Followup: Apparently, a variable aperture at decreasing macro distances is common to many macro lenses, including Nikon's own 60mm f2.8 and 105mm f2.8 macro lenses. So I can't pick on Sigma too much for this. I'm new to the world of dedicated macro lenses, and I didn't know this 'feature' was just the way these lenses worked. Taking this into consideration, the 70mm Sigma is perhaps more deserving of four (4) stars, rather than three. I'd edit my star rating but I can't. This also makes me reevaluate my comments about potentially returning this Sigma. I was strongly considering returning the Sigma and picking up the 60mm f2.8 Nikkor Macro instead. I had assumed that the Nikkors would be truly constant f2.8 lenses. I would have been wrong! Since the Nikkor's do this variable aperture thing too, I'm thinking I'll just keep the Sigma - as other than this aperture thing, it's a great lens. Lesson learned! :-)
