[giorgio nicola]

Anyone owns this lens?

i'm considering the purchase, for two main reason:
-I think 70mm is a perfect focal for portraits
-macro

comparison with 70mm ltd and the 100mm macros?

thanks,

[vonBaloney]

The Sigma is fantastic, and is about the sharpest lens you'll ever see. It is also full-frame, so it will be good on any future FF from Pentax. If you are looking for flaws, it is a bit heavy, the hood is clunky/hard to store (big screw-on metal thing), and it can focus slowly compared to others because of the long macro throw (screw-drive focus only).

[hcc]

I cannot comment directly on the Sigma 70mm but the user reviews are excellent:
Sigma 70mm F2.8 EX DG Macro Lens Reviews - Sigma Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database

The 70-80mm focal length range includes also some superb Pentax lenses:
Pentax DA70mm Ltd
Pentax FA77mm Ltd - Voted best Pentax lens at PF - Considered by others as the 'Best (Autofocus) Lens Money Can Buy'...
Pentax FA*85mm - discontinued but still a standrd

If you think that 70mm is the right focal length, then you may consider also the above 3 lenses. For portrait, I believe that many Pentaxians would point you to 2 outstanding Pentax lenses: Pentax DA*55mm f1.4 and Pentax FA77mm f1.8 Ltd.

I own the second and I recommend it very, very strongly. It is expensive new, but can be purchased a t lower prices from reputed Japanese second hand dealers (ebay, PF marketplace) and from the PF marketplace.

In any case, I believe that there are some excellent lenses around the 70mm focal length range, thus giving you some interesting choice ( and challenging decision).

I hope that the comment may assist.

[stevebrot]

For portrait, I believe that most Pentaxians would point you to 2 outstanding Pentax lenses:

...unless they point you to any of the thousands of other options.

The traditional portrait focal lengths (70mm up to 135mm) will still work for APS-C, assuming you can manage the working distance (about 2 meters for head/shoulders and about 6 meters for full body, both with 70mm lens). More useful is the traditional "fast 50" (50mm to 58mm with f/2.0 or wider maximum aperture) of which there are many, many options. I would suggest the DA 50/1.8 as a high value AF option or any of the many vintage K-mount lenses from the last 40 years.

As for using macro lenses for portraits...yes they will work, but you will pay more for the true macro feature and not improve the portrait results over quality non-macro lenses at the same focal length. Similar logic might apply to auto-focus. The idea sounds good, but in practice the AF system will seldom lock focus on the correct facial feature (usually the nose wins out over the eye).

If you want a lens that will do both macro and portrait, the Sigma 70/2.8 EX DG Macro is one of the best K-mount macro lenses available at 100mm or less focal length. With macro, increased working distance is a plus for most tiny subjects.


Steve

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Last edited by stevebrot; 12-13-2014 at 01:19 PM.

[baro-nite]

Excellent lens, super sharp and pleasing bokeh. No aperture ring, which is a drawback for a macro lens. (The current Pentax 100 macro doesn't have one either.) The focus ring turns in the opposite direction of Pentax lenses. It does have a focus limiter, which the Pentax DFA 100 doesn't.

[goubejp]

Is it still in production ?

[stevebrot]

Is it still in production ?

Yes, though not in Canon mount.


Steve

[Naruto]

The day I got the Sigma 70mm, I tested it taking my usual same test picture of a scenery at about 500 meters. Looking at the picture, I started wondering that there was some artifact, a structure of the pavement that I did not see before. But of course it was the lens was just sharper than the others with as stronger microcontrast therfore showing details other lenses had trouble resolving.

For portraits, I prefer the 77 to any other lens I tried in Pentax-Taks which give great results (31, 35, 43, 50, 55, 70, 100). One single exception is the Canon 135 on my other gear, the Canon 135 f2. It is subjective of course.

[bschriver11]

I wouldn't think anyone who owns this lens would say it is slow focusing.Focusing is very fast with this lens when using the focus limiter,seems faster than the DA* 50-135 to me.I have noticed a little purple fringing wide open like most fast lenses.I'm very pleased with the build and optical quality of the lens,it produces sharp images with accurate color and good bokeh.The screw in lens hood is a bit of a pain but is a high quality metal design.If you need a portrait/macro it's a great lens.

[NicoleC]

Loved my Sigma 70mm macro, until it met with an unfortunate incident.
Love my Pentax 100mm DFA macro.


Both are sharp and a pleasure to use. The Sigma was significantly heavy and larger and the hood was a pain to deal with. The Pentax is crazy small and light and focuses quicker, but doesn't have a focus limiter.


I do love my DFA 100mm, but... I'm starting to think I liked the Sigma better, both for the rendering "look" and the working focal length. Both are subjective, of course, and YMMV. I use them both mostly for plant and insect macro out in the field.

[onlineflyer]

The Sigma 70mm macro is an incredible lens and a real bargain. You will not be disappointed. I love mine.

[augustyn]

I got my sigma 70mm 4 weeks ago. I bought it out of curiosity but i will keep it for good 😆. It is the sharpest lens i have ever had and i tried a lot of them. Though the sharpness is the least pleasing quality of this lens whether it's macro, portrait or landscape photography.