Registered: July, 2007
Posts: 356
Location: Stockport, Manchester. UK
Lens Review Date: March 16, 2008
I can recommend the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO (AF Lens): Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $600.00
| Rating: 9
Pros:
Sharp, Weight, Size, DOF control
Cons:
Size Weight (I will explain) Low light focusing
I have had this lens for about 12 months now, as a replacment for my 18-55 Kit lens
The sharpness is excellent (a rare thing for Sigma), this is probably due to being an EX model, so has superior optics.
Although at only 24mm, it is not the widest on a DSLR (okay on film), but don't let that put you off. If you need wider get a Sigma 10-20mm as well (I have). The lens is flexible as it goes to 70mm at the long (where it is sharper). The optimum f stop is F11, although wider is still good.
Now the Size and Weight. For me it is perfect as it balances well with the K10D+Grip. However, on anything smaller or lighter (K100D *istD series, or the MZ series film cameras) you might find it a little overwhelming.
The other niggle is the low light focusing. Pentax are notorious for low light, and Sigma makes it worse, it is constantly hunting, only eventually it picks up a point.
I use mine as my walk around lens, only taking it off if I want wider or longer (not often)
Finally as it is F2.8 thoughout the range, it makes a cracking Portrait lens to use.
I can recommend the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO (AF Lens): Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): None indicated
| Rating: 9
Pros:
sharp, dual focus system
Cons:
size, weight
This lens is a pleasure to use in most shooting environments.
I'm actually finding myself grabbing it over my favorite prime lenses more often than I'd like to admit.
I'm finding it sharper than I would have dreamed possible, the colours are rich. And the dual focus system allows you to manually focus when required with autofocus engaged. Without causing any internal damage, like you would with some auto lenses.
The only things that I'm not overly fond of are the size and weight.
It'll give you a workout if your not already used to bigger lenses.
I managed to get this pic with it while on a short walk during a windy spring day.
Click on the image to view it in a larger size
and here's the 100% crop of the fly.
Click on the image to view it in a larger size
I think that it would have been even better on a calm day, since it was tough focusing on the moving object.
Registered: October, 2007
Posts: 360
Location: Niagara, Wisconsin U.S. of Ay.
Lens Review Date: December 16, 2008
I can recommend the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO (AF Lens): Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $390.00
| Rating: 8
Pros:
Low / poor lighting capabilities.
Cons:
Heavy, Flairing, focus searching occasionally.
Let me start by saying I am no expert, and my terminology probably isn't correct.
The lens is plenty fast enough and takes fairly sharp photo's throughout its range.
For a lens that has an 82mm filter size, you would think it would have a large glass. It doesn't. The curvature of the front glass is very large and any light that hits it from an angle results in a flairing effect. The hood does very little to help. Care must be taken to avoid bright light sources at the lenses outer edge, such as arena lighting, etc...
I recommend this lens because it is reasonably priced for a 2.8 and its range makes it an everyday lens.
Registered: September, 2008
Posts: 105
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Lens Review Date: April 21, 2009
I can recommend the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO (AF Lens): Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $550.00
| Rating: 8
Pros:
nice big, sturdy size, fast focusing, pin sharp, colors, contrasty
Cons:
Sigma's erratic quality control
First thing you notice when you use this lens, compared to the cheaper pentax kit and zoom lenses, is how fast it focus'es - very quickly!!
and it delivers pin sharp, deep rich colors and very contrasty photos.
Unfortunately, you sometimes have erratic quality problems with Sigma lenses, and that is the problem I had.
when I first got it, it either took pin sharp images or totally out of focus images, notwithstanding the k10d giving the in-focus beep.
Took mine to be checked out by Sigma and got it back 3 days later with them having to reset the focusing mechanism inside the lens.
since then no problems and works like a dream.
sadly, whilst I wanted the F2.8 for very low light work, the pentax doesn't back it up, and had the lens hunting and hunting until I eventually packed it all away.
So the F2.8 will give you greater low light ability, but you will reach the limits of your camera before you reach the limit of the lens.
great lens - definitely highly recommended, giving it an 8 instead of a 10 due to the initial quality issue.
I can recommend the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO (AF Lens): Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $300.00
| Rating: 10
Pros:
sharpness, bokeh, close focusing function.
Cons:
Mainly QC issue. Bad copies of this lens gives it an undeserved bad rep. Secondly, prone to flare with the light facing the lens.
Now I realise that most zoom lenses don't merit a 10 / 10 rating - not many primes merit a 10 / 10. I have rated this as such, and there needs to be a basis for comparison.
Now, well known primes that I would rate 10 / 10 are: the 3 FA Ltds, Voigtlander 125mm/2.5, among others. The basis of my rating is that these lens achieve perfectly what they are built to do, and they're pretty darn good to handle, and have an additional 'omph' factor, that gives them their unique characteristics.
For zooms, I haven't wanted to rate any 10 / 10 before. zooms I owed were F 35 - 80 (kit), FA 28 - 105 / 3.2 - 4.5, FA 80 - 320, Tokina 28 - 70 / 2.6 - 2.8, F 17 - 28 fisheye.
The sigma 24 - 70 is different from the other zooms I've come across. It compares very well against the Tokina 28 - 70 / 2.6 - 2.8 I used to have, in terms of sharpness across the whole range, and much much better CA control. Pretty sharp wide open for a zoom lens - images are just very slightly soft, but very useable. Bokeh is creamy. IQ is inferior to the FA Ltd primes, but only half a notch, which is saying something.
Now, compared against a prime, the IQ from the sigma won't be 10/10 - but on its on merits, given the flexibility a zoom offers over a prime, the close focus function, and everything considered, then yes - the sigma does merit a 10/10.
Registered: February, 2009
Posts: 9
Location: San Mateo, CA
Lens Review Date: November 8, 2009
I can recommend the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO (AF Lens): Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $339.00
| Rating: 9
Pros:
Build quality, sharpness, color, easy focus
Cons:
weight, size
Just got the Sigma 24-70 Friday evening (2 days ago), from KEH, who rated it EX+. It came without box or manual, but with caps and hood. Only the minor marks on the mount showed it had been used.
Having read all the reviews of this lens I could find, I rushed into some low-light testing (in my kitchen at night) to see if I would encounter the focus problems reported by others. I’m happy to report that my copy does very well in low light when focused either by my K20D, set for single (vs. continuous) autofocus, or manually. The very large glass elements light up the viewfinder enough, even for my 64-year-old eyes. The deep DOF seems to help focusing also. Both of the following 100% crops were focused under normal “kitchen-level” incandescent lighting and shot with the built-in flash.
Haven’t had time to do much natural light testing outdoors yet, but what little I have done is encouraging. Colors are rich both indoors and out—I should note that I leave the image tone set on Natural in my K20D, but this lens still saturates pretty strongly, especially greens.
So far so good—I’ll update this post when I’ve done some more shooting.
I can recommend the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO (AF Lens): Yes |
Price (U.S. Dollars): $300.00
| Rating: 8
Pros:
Sharp everywhere
Cons:
Not sharp for non-macro close-ups
I use mine when carrying my Sigma 70-200/2.8 also. From medium distance to infinity the lens is very sharp. Non-macro closeups are a little soft wide open but this may actually be a portrait design feature. Compared to the Sigma 24-60/2.8 which is sharp at any distance the 24-70 seems heavy. But still won't trade mine away.
