Customer Reviews

Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Nikon Mount Digital SLR Cameras

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I own a great deal of glass... lenses litter my office. Most of the lenses I'm glad I purchased and a few, well, those go to the Land of Ebay. This one, however, will never be far from my camera(s). I owned the predecessor, the 17-70 f/2.8-4.5 HSM, an excellent lens and a supreme value. Effectively, a 25-105mm, perfect walkabout lens with Macro capability - equally adept at the candid portrait as well as the quick nature shot. Images post process quite well. So, it was a bit of trepidation that I purchased the updated lens... would it perform as well? Would the OS (Image stabilization built into the lens) be effective? Is it still a great value Nikon lens? Fortunately, the answer to all three questions is a resounding yes. If anything, images are a bit sharper out of camera. OS is effective from 2-3 stops. And absolutely, this lens is a phenomenal value especially compared to the fantastic 17-55mm f/2.8 NIKON lens priced at a healthy four figures. So unless you're loaded and/or totally convinced that only Nikon glass can work effectively on Nikon bodies, consider this lens for your arsenal. It's a strong step up from the kit lenses and a healthy competitor to the venerable 17-55mm.

I recently bought this lens to be used on a D80 Nikon body. It is a replacement for a Nikon 18-70 lens. In the time that I have had this lens I have been real pleased with the performance of the lens. I have had no problems with the auto-focus system. It is fast and locks solidly. I have had no problems even in low light conditions.
The os works good but it doesn't always release right away. If I shut off the camera it releases right away but if left on it takes approx.30 seconds to turn off.
This lens is quite sharp when stopped down to F5.6 and destroys the Nikon 18-70 lens across the entire focal range. It has a fair amount of distortion at wide angle but not as much as the 18-70.
One thing that I'm going to have to get used to is the focus ring rotates when zooming in or out and I tend to have my hand touching the focus ring accidentally. Hopefully I can adjust to this.
I think for this price range lens it is built very solidly.
Unless the durability is less than I expect I will be quite happy with my purchase. I would have given this lens a 4.5 stars if it had been offered but I think there are other lenses that are faster and better so I couldn't give it a 5 star rating.
Since this lens was bought as a replacement for my Nikon 18-70 I am happy with the results. It has less distortion,a little more wide angle, a stabilized lens, and better picture quality. Life is good!!!

April 1, 2010
After spending a lot more time with this lens I have upgraded my rating from a 4 to a 5 star. This lens is able to take some incredible images. I am really impressed with the sharp images from this lens. It appears to me to be a real gem!!

I have no brand loyalty so after spending many hours debating and comparing the sigma 17-70, nikon 16-85, and the tamron 18-50 2.8 I settled on this one due to the features and my past experience with some great sigma lenses. After selling my 18-55 kit lens from my old d5000, I wanted a good all around lens for my d7000.

I am comparing it to my $200 35mm prime, a 10-20mm sigma HSM, and the 18-55 kit vr lens. The first thing I noticed after a day of shooting in overcast skies is how bad the purple fringing/chromatic aberration is. While I did expect some as per the reviews, particularly at wide open at 17mm, this was quite significant. Even after lightroom adjustments it was still noticeable. Then there is the sharpness. The center is good, but the corner sharpness is not. I'm not talking about just the distant corners, but about 40% of the actual image. Basically anything not on center. The sigma 10-20mm is far better. The 35mm nikon f1.8 trumps both. I could not find it acceptable to have this degradation of quality on a $1200 camera.

The fit and finish are a bit of a let down as well. The Sigma 10-20 EX HSM that I use feels much better. So does the Sigma EX 150mm APO f 2.8 macro (EXCELLENT). This non-ex 17-70 feels flimsier and more plastic. The fact that the focus ring does not override would not be such a big deal, except that it is so big that there's not much else solid to grab onto on this lens. For this price range I would think it ought to be more inline with the EX line of lenses.

I suppose if you must have the big aperture at 17mm its a good buy, but if it was my only lens I would spend more or buy used (which I did). I really tried to like it because it seemed just so perfect with the zoom range, OS, semi-macro capability...but if its not sharp what's the point?

Maybe I just have a bad copy who knows...I regret taking the chance though, now I'm out $25 for shipping. Nikon 16-85 it is...I'll just stick to my 35mm f/1.8 when I need low light.

UPDATE: My Nikon 16-85 came in and I had a chance to compare the test shots. The 16-85 is significantly sharper then the sigma copy I tested. The nikon is 98% as sharp as my 35mm prime, and the sigma would rate maybe 80% as sharp. (Tested at 35mm f/5 for all in same indoor light) I'm not sure if you would notice this on a less megapixel camera such as the d40 or maybe even the d90/d5000/d300. But on the d7000 at 16mgpx you can clearly see the difference. The chromatic aberration is also better with the 16-85, though still not perfect. While wide open it does have it, lightroom was able to eliminated nearly entirely whereas on the sigma wide open it could not be eliminated due to the higher amount of purple fringing.

UPDATE 2: I went ahead and gave the sigma 17-50 f/2.8 OS HSM a shot. WOW what a nice lens. Give that one a shot if you want the f/2.8. Even sharper than the nikon!

All of the my experience with this lens has been with it mounted to a D80 body. I have had this lens for about a week now.

The autofocus on the Sigma seems to be quite good in low light situations although not quite as good the AF on my Nikon 18-200mm. Subject acquisition with the Sigma is fast and precise, even in low light. Low-light tracking on the other hand is very mediocre. I wasn't ever able to get the Sigma to refocus on a moving subject once the focus locked on the target. This was with the D80 set to AF-A mode. When I switched to AF-C, the lens tracked just fine. The strange thing to me is that most (or all) of my other lenses will refocus on moving subjects in the AF-A mode. Also, the Sigma could not seem to guess my intended target when I tried to photograph a chickadee in a bramble. Miraculously, my Nikon 18-200mm would often be able to lock onto these small, low contrast targets in the middle of messy scenes. The autofocus is quiet but not silent. My only real gripe with the focus system so far with this lens is that you cannot override or fine tune the lens's AF by turning the focus ring. You have to turn the lens mounted AF switch to the off position in order to manually focus.

At 17mm, the lens displays a fair amount of distortion. On par with the Nikon 18-200mm at its minimum focal length. From 24mm through 70mm the distortion is very well controlled, to the point of being unnoticeable.

The optical stabilization on this lens seems to be excellent. I have some success (less than 50%) using the lens around 1/10 second at 70mm and very close to the subject. 1/20 second at 70mm seemed to be usable although not 100% reliable .

With regards to the zoom creep issue, this lens will not creep when pointed straight down at any focal length. I couldn't even get it to creep when I jostled the camera. So the zoom lock on this lens is unnecessary in my opinion.

The image quality produced by this lens is perhaps its strongest suit. Wide open at all focal lengths this lens produces sufficiently sharp images. Sharpness begins to degrade slightly at f/11 (you'll have to view at 100% and then it's not obvious). Also, out-of-focus details are rendered very nicely. Chromatic aberration is extremely well controlled. I haven't yet needed to tweak the CA on any of my pictures taken with this lens.

Photography is not my profession. I have been using the older version of this same lens on my D300 for the last year and have loved it. Could not resist the OS version and went for it to test it. But without second thought, I am keeping this.
- The OS works really well as suggested.
- Color reproduction is better than the non-OS version
- Very well built as its predecessor
- Extremely quite OS motor.

I just got this lens yesterday and tested it a number of different ways.
I bought this lens primarily for the faster 2.8 aperture and the close focus of 8 inches plus OS. The close focus delivered as promised with no need to refocus after zooming in ou out (it held focus and sharpness). Color rendition was natural and pleasing and the OS seems to be doing the job promised. Images are sharp at all focal lengths (I have not noticed any serious image degradaton based on focal length. I uploade a photo showing two shots at close focus changing the zoom and maintianing the close distance. The shots were hand held. using daylight/ambient through a window and no flash. The shutter speeds were 1/60 and 1/30 sec, single point focus and center weighted exposure using auto focus. My camera is a Nikon D300s.
* Close focus is great.
* The lens holds focus through the zoom range without having to refocus.
* color rendition including saturation is natural with and without flash.
* having a max aperture is a definate plus.
another review mentioned that you loose that quickly after leaving the shortest focal length (well of course) but that one stop gain is progresive through the zoom range.
* the OS is a little noisy but you know that it's working.
* focus is as fast as my Nikon 18 to 105 but you can get a lot closer to the subject.
I have purchased a lot of glass for my camera and was really wondering if i needed to take this step. I'm glad I did.
I have lensed that claim close focus and or macro.... this one is better.
AFTER THOUGHT.... One review menioned that it was to easy to accidently grab the focus ring and accidently turn it while zooming. This has been a problem for me in the past.
Note that I do this more with my Nikon lenses that with my Sigma's. Nikon has there focus ring closer to the camera body (your face). Sigma has there's in front of the zoom ring. I prefer this (it's not as easy to accidently grab). It also has a stiffer action so you notice it sooner. I like this design better. THANX for listening.

This is my first non Nikon lens in thirty years and I was sceptic boy, with all the focus and decentering problems reports around.
But my Nikon 16-85 was somewhat less sharp than my Nikon 70-300 at 70-85mm. So I ordered the Sigma to compare in Wide Angle node. And..was knocked of my feet.
The Sigma is sharper at all focus length compared to the Nikon 16-85. The only little downside are the weak extreme corners at fully open only however. But remember the aperture that you get for it.
However, just one stop down the lens performs incredibly well. At one stop closed it reaches a level that the Nikon cannot cope with even one or two stops more.
The vibration reduction works excellent, as well as the focusing is silent and swift. Macro images are stunningly sharp and the bokeh is beautiful. So far I could not identify any chromatic aberrations either.
I have thoroughly tested the lens with my D300S body for focusing accuracy and have not found the slightest deviation. The pictures are sharp from the center to the border so I would guess that the lens is well centered too.
This lens is a gem especially for the price you pay for, it is also built very solid and does not need to shy away a comparison with the Nikon lenses.

I recently perchased a Nikon D90 from Amazon. A Nikkor 18-105mm lens came with it. All pictures were good except when I took close-up photos, like flowers. I tried a close-up lens set but there wasn't any variation. I ordered the Sigma 17-70mm DC Macro OS HSM lens from Amazon. What a difference! The wide angle is great for Family photos and close ups of cars. The MACRO is good enough to capture the pollon on the pistol of the flower. I love the performace and the price of the Sigma 17-70mm DC Macro OS HSM!

It took me quite a while to decide on this particular lens. For a long time, I thought about the Tamron 28-75 for the fixed 2.8 aperture. But, all the talk of focusing issues swayed me to look elsewhere. The Sigma offered a quick and reliable focusing system (hsm) along with an updated vibration reduction system (os). Sigma also updated the aperture assembly (f2.8-4.0). Probably the single biggest factor was the reportedly excellent bokeh. This kept me from spending much more on the Nikon 16-85 (reportedly average to poor bokeh). Initially, I was worried about the possibility of misfocus. After a short period of testing and several weeks of shooting, I can report that the lens lives up to all the advertising. The focus is swift and sure. Pictures are sharp starting at 2.8 and covering the entire range. The os works fine although I am not prone to test this in any methodical way. I get late afternoon, lowlight pictures with rich, natural colors. Most importantly, the closeup focusing is superb and the bokeh from selective focusing is creamy and smooth. I got the free extended warranty upon registering and am just loving this lens. My nature shooting is going to a new level due to this inexpensive, wide-normal zoom. If these qualities appeal to you, get this lens.

I'd been researching and saving up for a multi-purpose wide-angle/zoom lens for the last year or so. I'd had my eye on the NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, and was about drop the cash when I decided to do some last-minute online shopping around, just to see what other options were available. I'm glad I did. I stumbled upon Sigma's version of the same (similar) lens, yet their's is faster (2.8 instead of 3.5), it has macro capability, yet it's substantially less expensive. I know Nikon makes great lenses, but so does Sigma, so if the latter's going to save me $250, then Sigma it is!
My only complaint is that the lens is very heavy (tiring my hands quickly), but considering that it's got an image-stabaliztion motor in it, this was to be expected. If anything, the weight of it is a reminder that I've got a quality piece of equipment in my hands.
Long-story-short, I'm extremely happy with my purchase.