Sigma 70-210 f/4-5.6

foodpoison

foodpoison

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Sean
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So, after selling my 70-300 sigma ages ago after having no use for it, I find myself wanting a telephoto. Again.

Was at my girlfriend's house, and she was telling me how much she loves her film camera, and that it was £40 - bargain! she also told me she got loads of extra add ons that were rubbish, so I said i'd have a look.

In there was circular polarisers, a remote release, uv filters galore, a 2x converter, and a sigma 70-210 telephoto!
I couldn't believe it, calling it junk, so I kindly took it off her hands (although she demanded that she have it back if she wanted it. not likely considering she doesn't know what ANY of it does :naughty: :woot: although i feel a little bad. perhaps i'll give her a few lessons :p)

So the Sigma 70-210 looks old. It's got the 100-400 style pump zoom rather than twist zoom, and it's f/4 at 70mm and f/5.6 at 210mm. The focusing is awful, but then it's only about as slow as the 70-300 was.
Now what I really want to know is is this lens any good? Have you heard anything about it in your extensive history of photography?

Is there anything I should watch out for?
I know the best way is to try it, but eh. Easier to ask everyone than test in ALL conditions :p
 
Does it deffo work on your dSLR? Many early Sigmas wouldn't work and need re-chipping...

I used to have one when I bought my first (film) camera, but I don't ever remember using it ;)

Cheers,
James
 
Moos3h said:
Does it deffo work on your dSLR? Many early Sigmas wouldn't work and need re-chipping...

I used to have one when I bought my first (film) camera, but I don't ever remember using it ;)

Cheers,
James
Click to expand...

Yeah it works, I tried it on work's 40d and for some reason it worked on everything except for Tv :shrug:
Which is fine because if I ever needed a long exposure it would be in manual mode anyway.

See I never used my 70-300, because I found the 18-55 was sufficient.
Sold the 70-300 to fund a 10-20 as I was starting to stray from extreme sports since it wasn't as accessible, and started on landscapes. And so after taking landscapes for a year I've realised that I want a telephoto for my landscapes, not an extreme wide angle. Grrr! :bang:
 
Oh no :(

Bad news.

The lens works fine wide open. Anything else and it doesn't work - Err 01. Probably a firmware/contact problem. Ah, well I suppose that's the end of that then.
When my overtime and christmas bonus come through I might treat myself to a 55-250 IS. That should do the trick.
 
Have you given the contacts a clean? If it's that old they might have some dirt/corrosion on them.
 
It's as I feared....you CAN send it to Sigma for sorting, but it'd be prohibitive I think...

Cheers,
James
 
Joe T said:
Are you sure it doesnt have an aperture ring?
Click to expand...
Even early Sigmas to fit Canon didn't have one - the EOS system never utilised it.
I had the very same lens, with the very same problem on my old 10D
edit, no, that was my EOS33 that had the problem!
 
lucky sod i brought 1 off ebay and it only works on a few canons unfortantly not mine
 
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