Customer Reviews

Sigma 24-60mm f/2.8 EX DG IF Aspherical Wide Angle Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First I really wish people would post reviews for only Canon copies of this lens since the copies for Nikon and other bodies can not be properly compared. I purchased this lens to use as a walk around lens in place of a more expensive 24-70 L lens. No, this lens is not as well built and it is not as fast to focus as the L, but you should not expect it to either. The lens is a good value for the price you will pay, and it beats the heck out of worrying about someone stealing your L lens when you travel. I did require two copies in order to receive a "good" copy of this lens, the first copy shipped to my door had a nasty front focus issue. The company I purchased the lens from did however take the lens back and replace it with another copy that worked very well with no real issues to speak of. The pictures I obtain with this lens are very nice, and for trips and general photography will make most users very happy. If your looking for a lens to use for special events such as weddings however, this is not the lens to use. The focus is very slow compared to an L lens and sometimes has a habit of hunting a little bit. Overall though, a nice value based lens and with a 2.8 aperture hard to beat for what you pay.

I love this lens. Bought it to replace my EF-S 17-85 for the kind of shooting I do. I highly recomment this lens as an upgrade to the Canon kit lens on the Rebel XT/XTi, it's great for indoor shooting.


Pros:

High image quality- near that of Canon "L" lenses such as the 24-70L
Very sharp, lovely color.

Constant f/2.8 aperture makes it perfect for a budget wedding lens, or for use indoors with no flash. I was able to shoot at a carnival at night handheld at ISO1600 and get a fast enough shutter speed.

Nice Depth of field, Lovely bokeh (background blur).

Built extremely well, does not feel cheap and the zoom is nice and tight. Nice finish to it, comes with a nice bag and lens hood.



Cons:

With a wide angle of 24mm, it is more suited for a full frame camera. With the Rebel series and 20D/30D/40D some may prefer a zoom lens with a wide angle of 17 or 18mm. I personally don't find this much of a problem, however, just take a few steps back. This lens is great for portraits.


My suggestion- if you are a beginner photographer or on a budget and can not afford lenses that cost $400 such as the Tamron 17-50 f/2.8, or $1000 on Canon's 17-55 f/2.8 IS or 24-70 f/2.8, then this is the lens for you!!

Great pictures. Used outdoors for fall pictures. Beautiful! Action shots are a bit of a challenge because the autofocus is not the best. Overall, a good lens for the money.

I have owned this lens for several years and have shot 1000s of photos with it. I really wanted the Canon 24-70mm L lens, but the price was out of the question for me. I ultimately selected this lens because I had read good reviews and I was willing to trade 10mm of focal length for a more compact size, as this was to be my walk around lens. It does weigh more than my Rebel XT, but that doesn't bother me, as it is smaller than the other lenses in its class (Canon & Sigma 24-70mm 2.8, Tamron 28-70 2.8). I have worked with the Canon 24-70mm L, and the Sigma 24-60mm's image quality is remarkably close, if not equal, for a third party lens that costs much less. The autofocus speed is where the real difference occurs, but if you don't work in low light or need a lot of speed, it shouldn't be a problem. You can shoot almost anything with this versatile lens and it will look good (I've shot mostly still life and outdoors), but I think it's really well suited to portraits. If I'm taking pictures at a gathering with this lens, my people pictures always blow everyone else's away. I would reccomend this lens to anyone who wants L quality on a budget and isn't concerned with the slower AF. You won't be disappointed.

This lens is Sigma's hidden little secret. My version is extremely sharp, even at F/2.8 and has no focusing issues. It is extremely well made and comes with a lens hood and a case - both of which more expensive Canon lenses don't come with in the box.

Focusing speed is very reasonable and accurate, it has no trouble in low light like some less-expensive lenses. Build quality is amazing. Metal construction, smooth rotation on both the focus and zoom rings, even a zoom-creep lock to help with storage. I have used this on both a Full Frame 35mm camera and a Canon 1.6x Digital SLR and it has worked perfectly

The negatives - inconsistent quality control - some get great lenses, others aren't, although Sigma will happily fix and return the lens within a week or so. 77mm filters are also a pain, especially since they could have used 72mm filters which are less expensive.

Overall, I'd recommend the lens, and is a GREAT step up from the standard lens that comes with the camera.

I absolutely love this lens. It barely ever leaves my camera, gets great sharp images and is pretty fast and quiet. It's HEAVY and pretty huge overall but I recommend it to anyone wanting to upgrade from a kit lens but still can't afford L glass.

Really shines around f 5.6 to f 8.

How can I complain? It's a cheap lens @ under $300. I bought it mainly for video on a Canon 5D mark II.

Don't expect L quality results and you will be happy. You're wallet will be happy too.

I received my lens about 1 month ago and the first thing I did was test the focus. My version had a slight front focus problem so I sent it to Sigma for calibration. After about 2 weeks I got the lens back and focus is now spot on with my Canon 40D.

Performance:
Sharpness: Slightly soft at 2.8 but very sharp at 5.4. At 5.4 it's very sharp from corner to corner across the focal range. I would compare the sharpness to that of the Canon 50mm 1.4 prime when below 2.0 apertures. The 50mm prime at 2.8 is clearly sharper.
Contrast: Nice, similar to a Canon 50mm 1.4 prime that I tried out in comparison.
Focus: Quick and accurate. Noise is not loud but it's not USM or HSM quiet. I would say that focus speed and noise was on par with the 50.
Build: Study and robust. It's not all metal or L quality but it's a well built, formidable lens.
Bokah: Much better than the Canon 50mm 1.8 prime.

For the price you can't beat the performance of this zoom lens, definitely much better than any of the kit lens you'd get with the camera body and clearly a step up from the kit lens. It's not the nirvana for zooms around this range but to get that you'll spend 4X more than this. I doubt you will find a better zoom around in this range at this price. People can complain about focus quality control but it is correctable and it's easier to address with Sigma directly than playing the odds on a replacement.

I bought my lens from Cameta Camera and it would seem that a great number of lens people are receiving from Cameta have been having front and/or back focus issues. I used my lens for awhile in spite of its focus issues and found it to perform quite well, especially for the nice $200ish price. It's not on par with Canon L lens by any stretch of the imagination but I think this is great throw-on lens. It's very sturdily constructed and I actually prefer its lens hood to the ones Canon makes. I finally sent my lens in to Sigma a few weeks ago for servicing and it's been there since so I will update this review once I receive it back. Anyone who is looking to buy this lens or has bought it - I would highly suggest running some focus tests on the lens to see if your lens needs servicing . . .

EDIT - Well I've had this lens back for several months now and let me say that I love it. The focusing can still be a little "off" at times, but generally speaking, the images that come out of this camera are decently sharp. I've been recommending this lens to my friends in lieu of the various kit lens Canon includes in their kit sets. This lens is my default lens - it produces high quality images and I don't have to constantly worry about possibly damaging it because it's so affordable. HOWEVER, I see Cameta currently is not offering this lens for $200, I am not sure I would pay $500 for it to be honest . . .

I had this lens for a few months before I acquired a Canon 24-70 f/2.8L. Let me say that this lens is much better than the Sigma 24-70 in both size, weight and image quality. It offers a constant f/2.8 aperture and focuses relatively fast for a non-HSM lens. I was more than happy with the quality of the images that this lens produces. I believe the only flaw with this lens is the fact that Sigma didn't make it a HSM version. This is a tough competitor for Canon's 24-70 but it's still in second place to the Canon. You can't beat the price for the lens either. Given the build quality, image quality and overall functionality of this lens, the price is a steal!

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who asks for a budget lens like this.