Customer Reviews

Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 EX DG IF Aspherical Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an excellent lens. I have used it extensively on the 1D, Rebel XT, and the 20D. The lens is acceptably sharp for many purposes at f/2.8, and EXTREMELY SHARP stopped down a bit to f/3.5 or f/4.0, at all focal lengths. I have compared it to the Canon 85mm f/1.8, the 50mm f/1.8, and the 35mm f/2.0, all renowned lenses. I find this lens very competitive with - and in some instances, superior to - all of them in sharpness, contrast, and color. Focusing is fast enough for most action purposes, impressive for a non-USM lens.

I also compared this lens to my Canon 28-135mm USM Image Stabilizer lens. I found the Sigma 28-70 f/2.8 to be significantly superior in image quality. I sold the 28-135 IS. This Sigma is virtually always on one of my digital SLR's.

A significant note - INFORMATION AND PICS I HAVE SEEN INDICATE THAT THIS LENS IS SUPERIOR IN IMAGE QUALITY TO THE MORE EXPENSIVE SIGMA 24-70MM F/2.8. I WOULD RECOMMEND SAVING SOME MONEY, GETTING THE CHEAPER LENS, AND GETTING BETTER PICTURES OUT OF IT.

I HAVE USED A LOT OF SIGMA AND CANON LENSES ON MY DIGITAL SLR'S, AND THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST, BAR NONE.

This lens is an amazing piece of glass at a remarkably affordable price. While I will readily admit a preference for Canon's signature lenses, especially the IS line, this lens is very tack sharp and shows little or no blur with small jitters. For a closer range lens this is a perfect economical choice for those who want to take better portraits.

This lens is a little heavy on the xti (compared to the 35mm and 50mm primes I normally shoot with). It feels very well made and can focus very close. I think it is a great lens for the money and it performs well.

Purchased to take pictures of High School basketball games and very pleased with the sharp, crisp stop-action pictures.

I am a professional filmmaker and the majority of the video I shoot is with Canon 5D mkII DSLRs. I first purchased this lens used on craigslist. After using it a couple months I dropped it from 6 feet to concrete. It didn't survive, nor should anyone expect it to!!! However, I loved the lens and immediately bought another from B&H to replace the broken one. Since then I have bought 2 more for a couple other rigs.

This is my primary lens for shooting events. It's f2.8 all the way. At least for shooting video there is little to no chromatic aberration. As you can expect on a less expensive lens the focusing is less accurate, but in my opinion, for video, this is a good quality. When you want to rack your focus the less accurate the focus of the lens the fewer degrees of rotation on the focus ring required to achieve the rack. This means less movement of your wrist, which causes less opportunity for shaking your camera, especially good for hand-held rigs or monopods.

Zooming and focusing with this lens is quick and easy. For live events this is a big plus. The only complaint I have is that the zoom after some use becomes very loose and if you are not holding on to the zoom ring tilting the camera forward or backward will cause the lens to zoom. Unfortunately it is a characteristic of this type of lens body and something you have to put up with. There is a lock on the lens to lock it in full wide to keep from damaging the lens when not in use.

This lens is now discontinued from Sigma, SO BUY THEM UP QUICKLY!!! Your next best option from Sigma is their 24-70 f2.8 EX DG at more than triple the cost!

If you want to see the resulting video from this lens check out any of the videos on my website. Anything shot at medium or close range was shot using this lens. burkartstudios.com

Excellent but to heavy
it weights, but its fast and usefull ,its a smart lens
i can take pictures in every condition ,it hunts only you have difficult situations like some light ray between your position and the target nad not always, and man you can see the stars trough this lens ,great quality ,only deffect is that its to heavy
good manual focusing
perfect for my t3i -sometimes to refractive

I ran the 28-70 2.8 through the paces and it's off to SIGMA for calabration after one day. I read many reports of focus issues from 2.8 through about 4.5. I rolled the dice and lost. The autofocus missed on 99% of the shots running up to about f 4.5. From f4.5 through f-11 the images improved as expected. The build seems very good, just a calibration in my case ( I hope ). I will let you know with an update once the lense comes back from service. Now I do believe this lens will perfrom if the calibration works, because my f7 shots looked great for a lens at this price. The lense did overexpose about 1/3 stop, but it was easily fixed. This was my first Sigma and I am going to give it a chance and re-review once it gets back, just seems the quality control issue people have with this lens is true.

I am a amateur photographer, but was encountering situations where I needed a lens of this focal length which could accommodate less available light. My Canon kit lens only goes down to f5.6, and I had heard it was in general a poor quality lens. Well if it is, that makes this Sigma lens nothing but junk.

After receiving the lens, I noticed most pictures were very soft, almost out of focus. So a ran a number of controlled tests against my Canon kit lens, using both Auto focus and Manual focus with the Sigma lens (on a tripod, of course). In all cases, the Canon lens produced MUCH sharper pictures. How could this be, I asked myself.

So I sent the pics and an explanation, along with the lens, to Sigma for repair / adjustment. Two weeks later they returned the lens indicating they had adjusted the AF, and tested the lens, and all was now OK.

I beg to differ. I ran more tests, and guess what! The Canon lens wins again. Needless to say, if you want sharp pictures, forget this lens. You'll probably pay twice as much for the similar Canon lens, but you'll probably get pictures twice as nice.