70-200 2.8 lens

Danger_Mouse

Danger_Mouse

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wayne
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Hi,

im looking at getting a new lens for my 40D, i was thinking of a 70-200 2.8 canon L, but i have found the 70-200 2.8 sigma for about £300 less.

so i will be going for the sigma if it is a good lens? any positive or negatives to the lens?

i want it for sport and wedding photography so is it fast enough focusing?

cheers

Wayne
 
I've had by Sigma for 3 years & have not had any reason to wish I'd bought the Canon.

I use it for motorsport / wildlife / anything else and it works, what more could I want :D
 
I was in a similar situation to you a few months ago - I was very tempted by the sigma due to the saving, but I read a lot of reviews that said it had a lot of issues with quality control. Lots of people getting front/rear focusing versions, I also read it was to soft wide open, and towards the 150/200mm end compared to the canon. However this is only "what I read" - I'm sure its a cracking lens and your making a saving. I'm personally incredibly happy with my canon 70-200 2.8 - its fast and very sharp, worth the extra in my personal opinion :)

EDIT: go and try both - you cant go wrong then :)
 
Wayne you had me worried there.thought my Dangermouse was after another lens :lol:
 
I did notice another DangerMouse on the site, i joined with that name a long time ago.lol

i think i will have to try a sigma lens out, my cousin has the canon and its a fantastic lens but £300 is a lot of money as im still a student.

thanks for the advice so far.
 
babytiger said:
Wayne you had me worried there.thought my Dangermouse was after another lens :lol:
Click to expand...

:lol::lol::lol:

I've had the Sigma when I was Nikon.
It was ok, but had to be stopped down to F5-F8 to get a sharp shot. F4 was acceptable.

Now I'm Canon I use the 70-200mm F4 L, and it's a cracker. Will give you a sharp shot pretty much every time at F4, very light and compact and fast focusing.
But if you can afford the F2.8 version, that would be your best bet :thumbs:
 
Both My manageress and I have the sigma 70-200 f2.8 lens, hers is the Canon version and I have the Nikon version. Neither of us have had any problems with this lens but it is a heavy bit of kit, maybe this is an advantage to keep the camera steady hand held. Would have preferred to have one with Sigma OS but they havn't manufactured one yet. If it didn't matter about how much a lens like this cost then we would have gone for the respective manufactures makes.

I do have the Sigma1.4 converter which doesn't seem to deminish the picture quality when connected to this lens if that is any help.

I have the Nikon D300 and together with this lens does take very good pictures ( well to my eyes anyway) and the speed of focus is fast. Overall I am happy with it considering what it cost over the others.

Realspeed
 
I have had both the Canon and the Sigma and will try to do a breif evaluation

Canon

Pros

Sharp at 2.8 and right through to f8

Build quality exeptional

Lightning fast focusing speed

No worries if I want to change my body to a full frame as that was what the lens was designed for

Cons

Price the IS version is even more expensive

Weight,
it is heavy

Past f8 it is a little soft

Sigma

Pros

Price it is cheaper than the canon

Extended Gtee if purchased through sigma UK

Works well with its dedicated 1.4 converter

Sharp at 2.8 and through to F8

Cons

Slowish focusing ( compared to Canon )

Varible batch quality ( I used to work in a camera store and there were variations)

Desiged for APS-C/H sensors not sure how it would perform on full frame


I own the non Is Canon now and would not swap, I am looking around for tidy 1DSII and will not have sleeples night worrying about compatibility issues

Hope this helps
 
Over the years I have owned 4 Sigma lenses, 3 of them have suffered either back or front focusing problems. I have now totally lost faith with Sigma. I will only buy Canon in the future. I know there is a lot of people that will disagree, But when faith in a product is lost it has gone forever.
 
I own a Sigma 70-200 f2.8 II and have been very happy with it, some sample images in the flickr sig link (chester zoo / knowsley).

If I could afford it I would definatley go for the Canon, the one i've played with (f2.8 non IS) focused faster, was a bit sharper (little bit) and produced better contrast.
 
I had the non macro DG. I preferred it to my Canon F2.8IS. In terms of quality control with new lenses I've had more problems with Canon than Sigma
 
just for arguments sake, where people are saying the canon is faster focusing. that may be the case but that doesnt mean the sigma is slow. its certainly never had issues tracking rally cars or other motorsports for me.
 
thanks for all the input, i have tomorrow morning off so will go to the local camera shop and see if they have a sigma in stock to try out, see how fast the focusing is.
 
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