My Sigma 24-70 f2.8 EX DG Macro (rah!) is 13 months old, and yesterday I noticed that for some reason it refuses to focus shorter than about 0.9m. I can't say how long it has been like that for, as for the past few days I've been doing mainly landscapes. However, I'm 100% confident it's only been like that for a week, tops.
I tried to take a picture of something close up, and noticed that the AF would stop if it tried to focus on the object. I put the camera into manual mode and tried to move the focus ring. It was fine up to infinity and came to the natural stop, but when I tried to move it past 0.9m, it just came up against a very firm barrier that prevented it from going futher. It's as if something has broken off in the lens and is physically preventing it from moving. It also feels like if I were to force it further, I'd break something quite badly.
Optically, the lens is fine, and performing as it should. The AF works, and the images look fine. It's just the focus issue.
So, I have three options:
a) Live with it, and not use it as a macro (I do some macro, not a lot though). It'll just be annoying having it broken and knowing it's broken.
b) Send it back to sigma, who'll charge me more than the lens is worth to have it fixed.
c) Move my upgrade path closer to the present and buy me a Canon 24-70L
Personally, I'm thinking that I live with it for a few months, save up and get the canon. That said, if it's a common problem that people have seen before with an easy fix, I'll just fix it. So, any ideas?
I tried to take a picture of something close up, and noticed that the AF would stop if it tried to focus on the object. I put the camera into manual mode and tried to move the focus ring. It was fine up to infinity and came to the natural stop, but when I tried to move it past 0.9m, it just came up against a very firm barrier that prevented it from going futher. It's as if something has broken off in the lens and is physically preventing it from moving. It also feels like if I were to force it further, I'd break something quite badly.
Optically, the lens is fine, and performing as it should. The AF works, and the images look fine. It's just the focus issue.
So, I have three options:
a) Live with it, and not use it as a macro (I do some macro, not a lot though). It'll just be annoying having it broken and knowing it's broken.
b) Send it back to sigma, who'll charge me more than the lens is worth to have it fixed.
c) Move my upgrade path closer to the present and buy me a Canon 24-70L
Personally, I'm thinking that I live with it for a few months, save up and get the canon. That said, if it's a common problem that people have seen before with an easy fix, I'll just fix it. So, any ideas?