Originally posted by testdasi Someone suggested me to buy the Sigma 50-150 f2.8 instead of the DA* 50-135. Does any one have any experience with the Sigma lens? What are the common problems with the lens?
It sadly has been discontinued with no prospective replacement shown on Sigma website. I found that a little worrying. Maybe something critically wrong with it that they don't want to make it any more?
I'm very carefully considering all options for a portrait lens. So far the "war" is between the DA* 50-135 and 70 LTD + FA50/DFA100WR combo. The latter has weight advantage and the former has range advantage.
And now the Sigma also.
Any help/info/comment is greatly appreciated.
There has been a new 50-150 replacement announced but to my knowledge, no availability date (nor price) has been given. The new one is huge and has OS. You can find it in the news feed archive at DPReview. It'll probably be good, but Sigma has a recent track record of going backward in IQ on some lenses when they "update" them with OS, new formulas, etc..
The old one, AFAIK, was considered a worthy competitor to the 50-135. I believe most people considered it maybe a half-notch below the 50-135, but some seemed to prefer it. I haven't used my 50-135 much for portraits, but it would do quite well in that role. I just prefer to use primes.