Sigma APO 75-300mm

themask70

themask70

themask70

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Yet another late friday night, saturday morning to be precise, and i'm browsing the forums again :o

I'm going to hopefully pick up a Sigma APO 75-300mm lens tomorrow, upgrading from my old Canon 75-300mm which has shockingly bad optics. I think that it is going to cost me about £115 and it is second hand. Does this sound like a good price for it?? Also what do you all think of the lens??

Completely random but it also comes with a lens hood, both caps and a case.

It would be great if someone could tell me what they think.

Cheers all, David.
 
you mean the Sigma 70-300?

It's a fair optic. There are many iterations of it, and I beleive the latest is the APO DG.
It is generally considered to be better than the Canon equiv. that you have.. However optical quality varies tremendously from copy to copy.
It's a good lens to pick up new from a local camera store - cos' then you can keep taking it back till you get a goodun. If you're buying second hand, ask to see some images from it from across the focal range.

If you get a good copy, it's really rather nice. Still very much a budget telephoto, but one of the better ones :)
 
u mean the 70-300?

you can get this brand new for £159, which is the newer version.

Sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 APO DG Macro For Canon

the 1 you are buying is this 1 i think

Sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 APO Macro Super II Lens for Canon

which retails brand new for £139.


so £115 seems bit too expensive for a used equipment.
 
For the money the 70-300mm APO DG is a bargain. It can be a bit soft at 300mm. But what I normally do is keep it below 250mm or try to bump up the F-number to around F8 and that usually gives nice results.

I do find myself using ISO1600 quite a bit with the lens, but even in low light levels it's still possible to get decent results.
 
hoodmeister said:
you mean the Sigma 70-300?

It's a fair optic. There are many iterations of it, and I beleive the latest is the APO DG.
It is generally considered to be better than the Canon equiv. that you have.. However optical quality varies tremendously from copy to copy.
It's a good lens to pick up new from a local camera store - cos' then you can keep taking it back till you get a goodun. If you're buying second hand, ask to see some images from it from across the focal range.

If you get a good copy, it's really rather nice. Still very much a budget telephoto, but one of the better ones :)
Click to expand...
Agreed with this. Test one in a shop before you buy to make sure you have a good copy.

If you stilll decide to go with the 2nd hand one, check the model and make sure you test it thoroughly before buying.
 
It is the best budget 70-300mm lens. Macro option is a nice bonus. I have been using it for a few months now, I’m very pleased.
 
Zheka said:
It is the best budget 70-300mm lens. Macro option is a nice bonus. I have been using it for a few months now, I’m very pleased.
Click to expand...
Do you have the super macro or the newer version? I didn't realise they'd brought out a new one until I read PP the other week.
 
ive just this morning bought the 70-300 apo dg macro, and i`m very impressed with it considering it only cost £160 :)

I was after a nice telephoto zoom and I was prepared to spend over a grand, but after reading this months practical photographys review of budget telephotos i decided to try out the above lens and i`m very happy with it

i havent done much testing but all my shots seem to be pretty sharp throughout the whole 70-300 range at the widest f-stop

also its quite light, comes with hood a protective case , has a nice finish to it, quite small compared to the `pro` telephotos and the build quality seems pretty good

the only things that let this lens down for me are some slow focussing or hunting & the awkwardness of using the macro switch , but these are not major problems if time & speed is not an issue

obviously it will never be as good as something like a 70-200 f2.8 is L

but then again its only £160 :D
 
JBuk said:
ive just this morning bought the 70-300 apo dg macro, and i`m very impressed with it considering it only cost £160 :)

I was after a nice telephoto zoom and I was prepared to spend over a grand, but after reading this months practical photographys review of budget telephotos i decided to try out the above lens and i`m very happy with it

i havent done much testing but all my shots seem to be pretty sharp throughout the whole 70-300 range at the widest f-stop

also its quite light, comes with hood a protective case , has a nice finish to it, quite small compared to the `pro` telephotos and the build quality seems pretty good

the only things that let this lens down for me are some slow focussing or hunting & the awkwardness of using the macro switch , but these are not major problems if time & speed is not an issue

obviously it will never be as good as something like a 70-200 f2.8 is L

but then again its only £160 :D
Click to expand...
Would you mind posting some examples? 100% crops at full extension etc. I'd be interested to see them.

I was going to start saving for the Canon 70-300 IS USM, but at about half the price, this one looks quite good. Like I said, I didn't know they'd brought out a new model until recently.
 
Lostkat said:
Would you mind posting some examples? 100% crops at full extension etc. I'd be interested to see them.
Click to expand...


heres 2 i took today when i was checking it worked ok, the compositions arnt great but i think they show how decent the lens is , ill upload some more when i get time to take some more shots


theyre not cropped but they have been resized for uploading


car is about 50+ metres away
testpic_car.jpg



plant is shot on macro mode and is about 6 ft away
testpic_plant.jpg
 
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