[houseofstyles]

I've been considering buying either a Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4.5 DC Macro (the old model) or a Tamron AF 17-50mm F2.8 XR LD Aspherical IF SP Di II. I have scrutinized the reviews here on the forum for both lenses, and of course each has its strong points. However, this thread makes me wonder if I might have a better chance of getting a good copy of the Tamron as opposed to the Sigma. I would be interested in any comments y'all (I live in the south USA) might care to make.

I currently own both of theses lenses. They are both very good. I have 3 Tamron lenses and 5 Sigma lenses, and have previously owned a further 5 Sigmas. I have had no issues with any of them, either Sigma or Tamron. Maybe I've been lucky? I would choose the one that best suits your needs— the speed of the Tamron at the long end, or the extra range of the Sigma at the long end. They are similar in size and both handle well. The Sigma would probably be cheaper, even if you could find an old stock new one (which is unlikely I should think).

[stevebrot]

Or the DA35 f/2.4. From some samples I have seen, the FA35 f/2 had weaker borders on APSC.

I dunno. I don't own the DA 35/2.4. I shoot the FA 35/2 on film and APS-C and if it is soft, it is not obvious to my eye.

Fotostevia on Flickr: FA 35/2 Sampler

Steve

[normhead]

Amazing how quickly people ignore the text and go on and on about their personal experience.

Quality fluctuations for all are significant enough that a poor copy of any one lens is worse than a good copy of any other lens. This explains why users in forums everywhere have contracticting personal experiences when comparing two lenses of at least remotely similar base quality.

Read more at: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/10-pentax-slr-lens-discussion/319070-sigm...#ixzz46HsiuZDs

People, your personal experience of similar lenses counts for nothing in the overall scheme of things. It's only value is in the on going narrative of our life, that gets repeated over and over in your head.

The fact that you may have gotten a good or bad copy of any lens doesn't mean the next person will.

What's important is focal length and aperture. The rest is out of your control. No matter what lens you order , cheap or expensive, you may have to send it back do to QC issues, there is simply no way out. You cannot avoid these issues with lens choice, by selecting one brand over another, by selecting one lens over another.

Personal testimonials about lens suitability are among the most common and meaningless parts of the forum. Pick the focal length and aperture you want, send the copies you get back, until you have a good copy.

I only got burned on one lens before I figured this out, a Sigma 18-250 that is so bad I couldn't in good conscience sell it to someone else. I got burned for $400. Lesson learned.

The day a lens arrives is the day I start testing like mad, to make sure it does what I bought it to do. Anyone who does less is going to end up burning a pile of money on something that doesn't work

[osv]

fa35 has been "no longer available" from the b&h site for months now if you have a clean copy that's not decentered, hang on to it.

a lot of e-mount people are waiting to see how that new sigma adapter works out, especially for non-sigma eos lenses.

[Nicolas06]

I dunno. I don't own the DA 35/2.4. I shoot the FA 35/2 on film and APS-C and if it is soft, it is not obvious to my eye.

Fotostevia on Flickr: FA 35/2 Sampler

Steve

Weaker than the other lens doesn't mean soft. This would be "weak" in my book but I admit I am not a native speaker. And it was on a given sample, not your. That the whole point about this thread, isn't it ?

My case is that by looking at LensRental we see that even the cheap/innexpensive Nikon lens perform better than the expensive one on average and I have seen I least some sample of cheap lenses perform better than some sample of more expensive lenses (like DA35 f/2.4 vs FA35).

But people go into the cult, the brand the hype. The FA35 has to be better than the DA35, the FA31 has to be better than FA35 and so on. People want to concentrate on sharpness only, but then it look like sample variation can have more impact on the performance than the actual model selected, or its price... After all even with more variation the Sigma Art still the sharpest of all from lens rental point of view and the cheapest lens is more than good enough.

One could wonder why we don't just stick to the cheapest model? For the sharpness results alone, even on many sample, it is hard to justify.

[beholder3]

Pick the focal length and aperture you want, send the copies you get back, until you have a good copy.

This sentence alone has enough wisdom and value to replace hundreds of posts (if not threads) about lens model quality.

[slip]

If you have ever worked in manufacturing you would understand that only a sample every so often is tested to give an overall projection of the quality. It can be cheaper to produce the odd bad copy then it would to have 100% success rate

Randy

[stevebrot]

And it was on a given sample, not your. That the whole point about this thread, isn't it ?

Good point


Steve

[monochrome]

...and in Pentax-land, the FA 35/2 would be the obvious addition to the list.


Steve

Some time around the 5th of May my FA35/2 is going to be a happy camper.

[stevebrot]

fa35 has been "no longer available" from the b&h site for months now

You say so...

I have been fielding questions about available FF lenses since the K-1 announcement two months ago (Feb 17?) and always check availability before I say anything. The first time I noticed it was missing from B&H was 2-3 weeks ago, but that doesn't say much. The lens remains as current product on the Pentax lens road map and on other Ricoh Imaging sites world-wide and is promoted as being available for the K-1. With any luck its absence from the U.S. market is a fluke or a misguided attempt to spur FA 31/1.8 sales. I do hope that it is not truly discontinued. As you may be aware, the lens was declared "dead" several years ago only to magically reappear a few years later with no explanation.

if you have a clean copy that's not decentered, hang on to it.

Yes, my FA 35 is very clean (I bought it new and keep it that way) and no, it is not de-centered. Sorry about your copy. With any luck, you were able to return it for a good one when you discovered the problem. I was unaware of any particular QC issue with the FA 35/2*. If people have a beef with the lens, it is usually related to external plastics, small focus grip, and busy bokey at moderate aperture. I did a Google search for "FA 35 decentered", but all I got were links to complaints about Sony/Zeiss Distagon FE 35/1.4 and Sony/Zeiss FE Sonnar 35/2.8. Your comparison test came up too.

I would expect that if there are general issues with de-centered copies, reports will likely start pouring in from disappointed K-1 users who were hoping for "near-limited" performance at half the money. Let us hope that is not the case.


Steve

* ...or any FA-series primes for that matter.

[les3547]

It seems unlikely that Sigma QC will improve, at least for Pentax owners. I've written Sigma twice in the last month trying first to ask if they were going to make the Sigma 50mm 1.4 Art for Pentax, and then asking why their USB dock doesn't include some of the legacy lenses (many of which front focus). When the answer didn't say anything relevant regarding the dock I called Sigma Corp in Ronkonkoma, NY to ask about their plans in general for Pentax (BTW, no 50mm Art for Pentax).

I was told by Paul Pizzano the following: "For every 100 Sigmas we sell to Canon, we sell 40 to Sony; for every 100 Sigmas we sell to Sony, we sell one to Nikon; and for every 100 Sigmas sold to Nikon, we sell one to Pentax. We presently have little interest in Pentax."

[clackers]

It seems unlikely that Sigma QC will improve, at least for Pentax owners. I've written Sigma twice in the last month trying first to ask if they were going to make the Sigma 50mm 1.4 Art for Pentax, and then asking why their USB dock doesn't include some of the legacy lenses (many of which front focus). When the answer didn't say anything relevant regarding the dock I called Sigma Corp in Ronkonkoma, NY to ask about their plans in general for Pentax (BTW, no 50mm Art for Pentax).

I was told by Paul Pizzano the following: "For every 100 Sigmas we sell to Canon, we sell 40 to Sony; for every 100 Sigmas we sell to Sony, we sell one to Nikon; and for every 100 Sigmas sold to Nikon, we sell one to Pentax. We presently have little interest in Pentax."

Pentax are a niche brand with loyal owners who often buy first party lenses, so I can make sense of a lot of what Mr Pizzano says.

But are Nikon buyers really also that loyal?

[osv]

I have been fielding questions about available FF lenses since the K-1 announcement two months ago (Feb 17?) and always check availability before I say anything. The first time I noticed it was missing from B&H was 2-3 weeks ago, but that doesn't say much.

if you recall i posted a large screen capture graphic of the b&h site, showing "no longer available", on ~2/21/16, and i'd actually seen that it was gone months before that... so maybe it did pop back up, then go away again? it's irresponsible on the part of ricoh.

i'm convinced that any lens can be screwed up, in fact most are to some degree, gotta test 'em all the same regardless of cost.

---------- Post added 04-19-16 at 08:32 PM ----------

I was told by Paul Pizzano the following: "For every 100 Sigmas we sell to Canon, we sell 40 to Sony; for every 100 Sigmas we sell to Sony, we sell one to Nikon; and for every 100 Sigmas sold to Nikon, we sell one to Pentax. We presently have little interest in Pentax."

that's interesting, i never would have thought that they sold more to sony than nikon... they certainly seem to release more versions in nikon mount than sony.

[virusn3t]

It seems unlikely that Sigma QC will improve, at least for Pentax owners. I've written Sigma twice in the last month trying first to ask if they were going to make the Sigma 50mm 1.4 Art for Pentax, and then asking why their USB dock doesn't include some of the legacy lenses (many of which front focus). When the answer didn't say anything relevant regarding the dock I called Sigma Corp in Ronkonkoma, NY to ask about their plans in general for Pentax (BTW, no 50mm Art for Pentax).

I was told by Paul Pizzano the following: "For every 100 Sigmas we sell to Canon, we sell 40 to Sony; for every 100 Sigmas we sell to Sony, we sell one to Nikon; and for every 100 Sigmas sold to Nikon, we sell one to Pentax. We presently have little interest in Pentax."

And for every 100 from what brand they sell one Sigma SA(?) mount?

[stevebrot]

if you recall i posted a large screen capture graphic of the b&h site, showing "no longer available", on ~2/21/16, and i'd actually seen that it was gone months before that... so maybe it did pop back up, then go away again? it's irresponsible on the part of ricoh.

No, I don't recall, but as you wish, I will try my best to do so...


Steve

(...don't recall seeing that post...just went looking through two months of posts, but with no success...perhaps if I were to look at DPR?)