[tasha_22]

I have the option to buy this for $115 shipped. Any experience with this. I want this for wildlife and cannot afford the bigma or the 135-400mm.

Thanks

tasha

[Ari]

I have the option to buy this for $115 shipped. Any experience with this. I want this for wildlife and cannot afford the bigma or the 135-400mm.

Thanks

tasha

I have the Sigma 70-300 macro f4. To be honest, not too happy with it......

[BrianK]

I have both the 28-300 and the 70-300 sigma lenses. I bought the 28-300 shortly after buying my Istds camera and it took resonable images if it was bright out. I am not a professional by any means but I was not happy over all with the images from this lens. That said, I did get some good images in bright conditions.

IMHO it is not fast enough for wildlife as they seldom pose in bright sunshine for you. The 28-300 sits on the shelf for now and is on my sell list for next year. I tried it out on the K10D but it does not perform much better.

The 70-300 copy that I have seems much better but with the same caveat "bright conditions = better image". The 70-300 seems to focus more accurately and faster with auto focus.

I am faced with the same decision and I think I will go for the Bigma later this year or in the spring unless something else comes along. I hate to spend almost as much for a lens as for the camera but I guess we have to.

Not wildlife but taken with the Sigma 28-300 at ISO 400, 1/500 F11 at 98mm On Istds.
On a very bright day.

[rprii]

I have the option to buy this for $115 shipped. Any experience with this. I want this for wildlife and cannot afford the bigma or the 135-400mm.

Thanks

tasha

I had both . . . not very happy with the non-DG but the DG was significantly better . . .

[tasha_22]

Thanks to you all,

Helped me make my decision. It is not the DG version. I think I will look for the 70-300mm Tamron Di or the 28-300 XR di.

tasha

[Ari]

I have both the 28-300 and the 70-300 sigma lenses. I bought the 28-300 shortly after buying my Istds camera and it took resonable images if it was bright out. I am not a professional by any means but I was not happy over all with the images from this lens. That said, I did get some good images in bright conditions.

IMHO it is not fast enough for wildlife as they seldom pose in bright sunshine for you. The 28-300 sits on the shelf for now and is on my sell list for next year. I tried it out on the K10D but it does not perform much better.

The 70-300 copy that I have seems much better but with the same caveat "bright conditions = better image". The 70-300 seems to focus more accurately and faster with auto focus.

I am faced with the same decision and I think I will go for the Bigma later this year or in the spring unless something else comes along. I hate to spend almost as much for a lens as for the camera but I guess we have to.

Not wildlife but taken with the Sigma 28-300 at ISO 400, 1/500 F11 at 98mm On Istds.
On a very bright day.

Wow-nice shot with the lens. I have never gotten good results with mine. I keep it in my bag because I get good results with the macro setting (which is good, since it seems to get stuck in macro till I unmount it!)

Tasha-I think overall the Tamron is a much better choice.

[stewart_photo]

I have the option to buy this for $115 shipped. Any experience with this. I want this for wildlife and cannot afford the bigma or the 135-400mm.

It appears you have the K100D, while I have the K10D, so your results may vary. However, since I had a Sigma 28-300mm on a previous camera, I purchased the Sigma 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 DG to use with my K10D. I quickly discovered this len just would not focus properly with this camera in most conditions, hunting back and forth for several seconds before finally giving up entirely.

After discussing this situation with Sigma, they shipped me the Sigma DC 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 and the other was returned. This lens does focus just fine with my K10D, similar to most super zooms in this class (not brisk but a decent compromise), and has since become my primary "everyday on the go" lens.

For most distant wildlife photography, I use the Phoenix MF 100-500mm f/5.6-8.0 lens. I purchased this big (over 20 inches extended), heavy (metal), slow, manual focus lens from a camera store going out of business, suspecting even the modest amount of money paid might be wasted. But the lens has since proven to be very useful, delivering decent results if handled properly.

stewart

[Kalburgi]

Hi Tasha

I wanted to get set for my upcoming trip to Kruger National Park in SA. Taking advise from DPR site and this site I just got the K100-D and Tamron Di 70 300 (Di is the latest version for Digital). I'm actively learning the basics.

I also need to get a Sigma 17-70 DC to complete my range for my needs anyway.

I'm fairly new to DSLR having used P&S mainly but took this opportunity to get into this as a hobby.

I'll post some pictures also. I've also asked another forum member to post something using this lens and the 1.4 TC to see if I'd need that to extend my range for birds etc.

After stopping over in SA, we'll be visiting Bombay/Belgaum before returning to USA.

Kal