Customer Reviews

Sigma 50-150mm F/2.8 APO EX DC HSM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

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

 

 

You can read all the "specs" doing a Google search so I won't bore you with the geek-tails. The simple answer is that this lens does as promised. It is a very nice, fast lens, for a reasonable price. If you are in a "No Flash Photography" zone, then this lens will get the job done, providing you can take a few steps back from your subject. I took it out for it's 1st "test drive" last night at the local bowling alley. The shots were taken at night with 100% ambient artificial lighting and with the D200 cranked up to ISO 1600 had no problem pulling in 1/125 to 1/180 Sec. shutter speeds with the Aperture notched down a couple of clicks from wide open. While I have definitely not put it through all the paces as of yet, I do have a couple of notations:

- I like the fact that the lens hood completely covers the focusing ring when reveresed (as in indoor use), yet leaves the zoom ring completely wide open. This makes for very comfortable usage being able to use the full length to steady the camera and having unfettered access to the zoom ring.

- Focus is quick & silent, and I haven't yet experienced any auto-focus "hunting" problems.

- Shots so far appear very acceptable. Please note that although I appreciate amazon's customer photo "samples", they manage to compress & reduce them so much that they lose a great deal of clarity. The images I've taken are much better than the few uploaded here. Bottom line, this lens takes quite nice photos.

- Look & feel is professional & solid, with smooth as silk zoom & focus action. This lens does not "telecope" in and out as do many zooms. It's length remains constant from 50 to 150mm.

- The one and only thing I do not like about this lens (and my other Sigma lenses) is that you cannot remove/install the lens cap when the lens hood is installed for outdoor glare protection. Nikon & Tamron lenses have a center pinch design that allows for easy installation/removal of the caps without removing the lens hood. I wish Sigma would do this as well. Some say you do not need a lens cap on when the hood is installed, but they obviously do not live in a dusty (desert) area. I almost knocked it down to four stars for that, but I'm simply too forgiving...

this lens is interesting for nikon dslr users because it fills a gap in the nikkor product line. it's equivalent to a 75-225 f/2.8 on a 35mm camera. does that excite you? it should.
after having this lens for just over a week and shooting 1,000 pictures at a multiday outdoor music festival, i have to say it's worth every penny.
one minor caveat: the color tone differs a bit from nikon's--it's warmer overall but didn't show any predjudice between reds and blues--so if that bothers you get a nikkor.
complaining about the pinch cap is a little nitpicky IMO. you can access the cap easily with the hood reversed. with the hood on, the lens is ready to be pressed into action, and resistant to dust and dings when shooting outdoors. you should have a uv filter on this at all times for protection anyway.
anyway, this thing rocks. a nice piece of glass, as they say.
its best feature is the IF (internal focus) combined with HSM (hi speed motor). this thing is fast, with a smooth zooming action, going from 50-150 with ease. it has no aperture ring or af/mf switch, which just makes the lines cleaner and smoother. all the goodies are on the inside with this one.
you will be surprised at how versatile it is, handling a variety of photographic situations with ease. with the fast af and low-light capabilities, it's more useful than the much-vaunted 18-200, except for wide-angle pics (for that get the sigma 18-50 f/2.8 or the tamron 17-50 f/2.8 for a killer 2-lens combo). it's especially good at pics with differently-lit subjects at differing focal lengths, capturing different colors in different areas of the pic with impressive attention to contrast and detail.
the build quality isn't tokina at-x or nikon pro, but the ex finish on sigma's pro line is durable and solid. if you want a tank, get the nikkor 70-200, which is almost 3x as much. and weighs a lot more.
pics are sharp, sharp, sharp at f/2.8 across entire range--comparable to nikkor 50 f/1.8--which is really what you buy this for. does very well in real-world shots, although some lab tests have indicated a fall-off in corner to corner sharpness at 150mm. i couldn't really tell, although if i was shooting architecture, i'd probably want a different lens, like a 12-24, anyway. but this lens is more people-friendly than my 12-24.
what else? bokeh is nice, not as creamy as tamron 28-75, but still apparent. and with large aperture, it has good to excellent low and available light performance. you might actually find yourself leaving the speedlite in the bag. for the few times i needed flash, i was able to use the built-in flash with no vignetting.
i use this with a d80, but it will also work on a d40 b/c of the HSM.
overall, one of sigma's best lenses.

I shoot Nikon digital cameras (D70 and D80) and I shoot a lot of nature photos and some sports photos. This lens works as advertised and I have no complaints. It is fast, clear and it seems to work perfectly with my Nikon digital cameras. This lens also works well with the Sigma 1.4x teleconverter.

I was a little worry about the purchase of this lens, because of the reports of quality control. However, after using the Sigma 50-150 on my Nikon d40 indoors, I am please with images the lens produces. Good colors and contrast and solid built. My daughter is borrowing the lens for her Nikon for photographing indoor sports and plays for her university newspaper with no problems with sharpness or hunting for focus, but some images still needs a little noise removal in post processing. She is petite, but the weight of the lens compare to the Nikon 70-200 2.8 was fine for her. However she does finds the lens to be a little short for outdoor sporting activities. Pluses for the lens is the fact that the lens does not extend while zooming (minimizing the dirt sucking action of other zooms)and the Sigma uses the same filter size of the 18-135mm Nikkor 67mm.

After quite a bit of research, and after reading many reveiws from owners, I purchased this lens from Amazon. I'm happy with the lens, and Amazon provided a quick delivery. I use the lens on my Nikon D200, which came with the well liked 18-200 VR lens. That lens is very useful, but it is a poor choice for photographing moving objects. For that you need the kind of stop action speed that a 2.8 lens delivers. The effective 75-225 zoom range is very useful for general use, and does an excellent job on kids and animals at moderate distances. With the D200, I can shoot at ISO 400 and 5 frames per second, and I can usually get some keepers of my subject. The moderate weight and size are much appreciated.

Sigma has given us the 70-200 for the digital age. With the 1.5 crop factor, a 70-200 just can't go quite wide enough sometimes when you are in a more crowded space. The Sigma weight about half what the 70-200 does. HSM for quick autofocus, works on my D40. 2.8 allows shooting in low light, and throwing the background out of focus. The lens cap is edge-pinch, meaning you can't get it off without taking off the hood. I've taken to replacing Sigma caps with Nikon center-pinch designs. I wish Sigma would fix this - the small things add up. They do include a nice carrying case for the lens, though. My only wish is for image stabilization, but I knew that when I bought the lens, so it's not Sigma's fault. Overall, a keeper.

This is more of a disclaimer than a review---- because this is an old lens and Sigma now makes an updated version of it, they
DO NOT SELL PARTS FOR IT. Just as a warning, if you decide to buy this lens second hand from someone and part of it breaks, it is essentially
broken. In my case, the lens took a bit of a tumble while in a bag that dropped, and the support base came loose. Everything about the lens is
working perfectly, but the support base is causing the aperture to be "stuck" at f22-32. I was told by numerous photo repair places that I could send it back to Japan, where it would take months and they probably wouldn't have it. It is concerning to me that Sigma seems to believe their products don't have a very long life and therefore they don't feel the need to keep spare parts around to fix lenses that are less than 10 years old. Now an otherwise perfect lens is useless and I have to scrounge around the internet to maybe find parts.

The lens itself was great and didn't have any of the quality control issues I've heard about, so I'm giving it 5 stars because I loved it, when I could use it (but beware Sigma's lack of foresight..). Focusing was always spot on, good picture quality for the price, and light and easy to transport.

great lens for the price, i got tired of carring my nikon 70-200 and this lens produce a great IQ. plus i love the 50mm end.

When this lens came out I was so thrilled that the focal range I'd been wanting became available in a relatively fast lens. I was of course put off by reviews complaining about front-focus problems. Since I've had issues with this in the past, I was particularly careful to check for this. All my tests were done at 150mm/2.8 and with two separate orders (both from Amazon thanks to their forgiving return/exchange policy) I found significant front focus issues. More precisely, at a distance of about 1 yard, the lens would front focus by almost 1". That was enough for me to return the lens, without even looking at other focal lengths. Hence, my analysis wasn't exactly comprehensive, so maybe it's ok at other focal lengths. For the price of such a lens, I expect more, and although maybe with enough exchanges I'd find the right lens, it gets tiring and frustrating pretty quickly. In the end, I ended up getting the Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 for almost half the price (I'm extremely happy with it, btw). I'll also confirm that I'm talking about the Nikon mount version of this lens, since this detail seems to be important. If this quality control issue didn't hold me back, I'd rate this lens highly, since in most other respects this is a great lens with a very useful focal range.

Hi recently got the 50-150. First copy front focus horribly, visible even viewed on screen (without zooming in). Second copy is near perfect. Focal point is just a bit towards the back end of DoF but it's ever so slight and it helps to blur the background so I don't mind. I think most people who think their lens is soft at 150 2.8 really have focus issues. Even mine that front focused, I noticed that the subject's eyes would be soft but the ring on her finger would be incredibly sharp to use an example. The lens is very sharp at 150 2.8 *IF* if focuses correctly. I wish Sigma would get their quality control together.

Also, the min focus distance is 1m but that's for 50mm. At 150mm it will front focus at 1m and that is "normal" for this lens (that's just how it is). I find at 1.5m the focus is fine. Sometimes I like to shoot real tightly cropped portraits so I have to watch out for that so I'm not too close.

If you want to try one, I strongly suggest ordering from a company with a very liberal return policy. Amazon is the best that I know of (and cheapest). Returning my first defective copy was a breeze with amazon and I didn't have to pay shipping charges.

Finally, it's sure the 70-200 2.8 VR is sharper, however, it's twice the size, weight, and price. For me I prefer something I don't mind keeping in the camera bag, and I appreciate the wide end more than the long end especially for portraits.