( 13 reviews )
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: 07-10-2009
I am quite new to photography--at least "serious" photography, but as much as I tend to go overboard with new hobbies, I knew that I had to put certain restrictions on myself when buying gear. There was no way I was going to spend 1500 dollars on a Carl Zeiss lens in the vague expectation that I would find it useful. So, along with the 18-55mm zoom that came with my a230, I bought a 50mm 1.4 prime, and then, after a bit of internal debate, decided I really needed a good telephoto zoom to get me some reasonable range on photographic outings. I finally decided on this 70-300mm zoom, and fortunately, I had just read a passage in a photography manual mentioning that apochromatic correction was a really nice thing for a telephoto lens to have, and could make the difference in whether or not a shot would be seen as successful to a trained eye. My results so far have been outstanding! If I can figure out how to provide images from my flickr account, I'll put some into the customer images section here. I've seen some reviews elsewhere criticizing the lens for being slow. Well, it's a 200 dollar lens. If you're a professional sports photographer, or professional nature photographer for that matter, go buy the 8000 dollar Zeiss lens that has a max aperture of 2 and speed on loan from God. If you are like me and you simply want to be able to take a hobby seriously without constantly running into the frustration of needing to be closer to something without being physically able to stand there, then this lens is a good idea. And a word about the macro setting: outstanding! Often, I just don't have the patience to set up a tripod to take flower shots, especially if I'm some place where photographing flowers is not the sole aim. So, many of my macro shots with this lens have been hand-held, and I have STILL gotten good sharpness. It's true that I don't always get sharp focus when my subject is moving (bees, for instance), but my suspicion is that this is more my not fully understanding the a230 yet, rather than the lens itself (for instance, I know that "continuous focus" is supposed to be something the camera can determine from what the subject is doing, but I'm not always sure that is what I am getting there). So yes, this lens is highly recommended here. Oh, and by the way, the dealer I got this from shipped it with a lens case. That's an extra 40 or 50 bucks that I'm not having to spend (it's a Sigma case, so maybe Sigma is just classy enough to send their stuff in lens cases anyway).
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: 07-06-2009
i use this lens in the 70-200 range for portraiture or general telephoto photography, in the 200-300 range for near macro photography, and at 300 with a 50mm lens reversed onto it for extreme (6x's lifesize) macro shots. in all instances i've been generally pleased with the quality. it's a little soft at 200-300mm for telephoto work. bottom line is if you're on a budget, you can't go wrong with this lens. fyi: sigma has a couple versions of the 70-300 in circulation. this APO version is reputed to be sharper than the newer, non-APO version.
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Posted: 06-28-2009
Purchased from 47th Street Photo on 4/6/09. I would buy from them again, the shipping was super fast. However, after only having the lens for a couple of months, I must report that the lens no longer autofocuses! I was at the RI Air National Guard Air Show yesterday, 6/27/09, and the lens just stopped focusing. I tried everything under the sun to get it working, no dice. When I swap to my kit lens, autofocus works, therefore it is the lens. I must mention that the images that I took, handheld in sports mode on a Nikon D80, came out awesome! Image quality is fine when there is a good amount of light in order to take fast shutter speed images. Now I have to look for a means of getting the lens repaired or replaced. Bummer =( I did a search for AF issues for this lens and it seems common because of the cheap white plastic gears Sigma uses for the AF mechanism. I can report that my AF doesn't work, but I can't confirm what's wrong. FYI- I normally don't review unless there is something wrong with a product or if I have a good luck with a product that has lots of negative reviews.
