Sigma 24-70 2.8 HSM - been repaired in Japan and still rubbish

rbrown74

rbrown74

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Rick
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Bit of a rant more than anything else but needed to get it off my chest a bit.

Got this lens from Sigma direct about 18 months ago and for the past six months I've been noticing more and more shots being soft whereas my hit rate was previously pretty high.

Sent it in to Sigma UK who recognised there was an issue with the lens which would have to be sorted by Sigma Japan. Waited a month and got it back. Had to micro adjust to get it looking decent on inanimate objects and then went on a late evening shoot. Disaster!! Images were not even remotely close to being sharp most of the time - the very occasional one is usable at best but mose are worthy only of the bin.

Sent an image to Sigma UK at their request - Japan have examined the image and say its a back focusing issue due to them not having my body to pair the lens with. What a load of garbage - are they really saying their tolerances are soooo wide that it can stop a 5Dii from taking usable pictures and still not be their fault because they didnt have my particular camera body to match it with!?!??

Took out an old budget 24-70 on a 700D the next day (combined cost of around £500) and got very good pictures - completely embarrasing the results I got with their £500 lens on my £1200 body!! Funny enough I didnt have to send away my 700d to get it calibrated with the old lens - or the kit lens - or my 70-200 etc.etc..

Anyone else had similar experiences with Sigma? Lens behaved for about a year then went funny - is this likely to be a never ending cycle of calibration???

Rant over!!
 
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Yes, unfortunately I have with quite a few of their lenses. Luckily mine were within the returns periods, only claimed once on warranty (without sending body) and thankfully they calibrated in the UK and it came back perfect. They do recommend you send body along with lens if the first calibration fails. Your situation is a total PITA and I would've thought they will calibrate the replaced part in the UK now instead of sending it away.
 
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Don't forget that back focussing isn't a lens issue, it is the lens-body combination that needs calibrating.
 
Yeah but it really is crazily out of focus most of the time. Be better off with a compact camera! They will be calibrating it in the UK thankfully but I really think it's ridiculous that the lens is so bad as the tolerances are bound to be so small in that price range.
 
Just have an old 70-200 which they also calibrated with the body at the same time I bought the 24-70 about 18 months ago. It's pin sharp. Love that lens and it only cost me £250. That's why I'm so disappointed with the 24-70 playing up. :(
 
Have you tried the 24-70 on another body to see if it's as bad on that as your 5D2. I had a Sigma 24-70 HSM until I sold it to get a Canon MkII but I didn't have any particularly bad experiences with it on a 5D3, 70D, 7D, 60D or 1D3 that I used it with and it didn't need any MF on any of the above apart from -2 on the 7D to get it pin sharp. It wasn't pin sharp at f2.8 on any body though, it needed stopping down 2/3 of a stop to get it pin sharp but it was useable at f2.8.
 
I really should have tried it on my 700d as well but I was that annoyed I just got straight onto the phone and sent it back to them. If it did work on the 700d that would open a different can of worms but the body and lens is away to Sigma now to see what they can sort. Lost all faith in the brand now though.

What you said about using the same lens on all those different bodies is the point I was trying to make to Sigma, that tolerances just aren't as wide as what I experienced. It simply could not have been within normal tolerances being so blurry. I just feel fobbed off at the minute but I'm sure they'll come good for me. (If they don't Sigma and half the world will hear about it!!) :)
 
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rbrown74 said:
I really should have tried it on my 700d as well but I was that annoyed I just got straight onto the phone and sent it back to them. If it did work on the 700d that would open a different can of worms but the body and lens is away to Sigma now to see what they can sort. Lost all faith in the brand now though.

What you said about using the same lens on all those different bodies is the point I was trying to make to Sigma, that tolerances just aren't as wide as what I experienced. It simply could not have been within normal tolerances being so blurry. I just feel fobbed off at the minute but I'm sure they'll come good for me. (If they don't Sigma and half the world will hear about it!!) :)
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You lost faith after 1 lens repair, thats pretty harsh, I lost faith after about 5+ dodgy Sigmas in different mounts but I still recognise that they produce some lovely lenses for decent prices (when you get a good copy!)
 
Harsh? Perhaps, but when I spend that much money on a lens which was calibrated to my body 18 months ago and then goes very soft, gets sent to Japan for a month and comes back no better (maybe even worse), then have to send my body and lens back to them again after being told what they seen is within normal tolerances and they need my body to fine tune it.

I work in purchasing and am used to working with companies and the guy I've dealt with at sigma has been an absolute gentleman so I'm sure there will be a happy ending but at the minute I'm feeling suspect about the company as a whole.
 
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