| Latest Review Posted | Sigma EX DC HSM 17-50mm F2.8
This is a great lens: the first normal zoom I'm actually happy with. (Tried two copies of the Tamron 17-50 a few years ago, and owned a DA 16-45 and many copies of the kit lens.)
It's very sharp across the frame even wide open (a tiny bit of border corner softness at 17-20mm @ f2.8). Great colors, very good micro-contrast, good flare resistance. Somewhat heavy, but balances well on my K-30. It is by no means perfect--see below--but for what I paid for it, it is amazing. (I bought it from a Japanese ebay store.) It gives my IQ without compromise--literally a stack of primes.
Now to the bad aspects. First, my lens came with FF, and it didn't make sense to return it to Japan, because I could not be sure another copy would be better. Since I cannot make adjustments at the wide end without affecting AF behavior at the long end, I made adjustments for the range in which I use AF: 35-50mm. AF is silent and pretty accurate if used within this range. Between 17mm and 30mm I prefer to focus manually, anyway. (I've found the AF of most zooms to be unreliable at the wide end. The Tamron and the DA 16-45 were by no means better than this Sigma.)
The problem, however, is that manual focusing isn't easy, given the lens' short focus throw. Plus, I suspect each copy has its quirks; but after a couple of weeks of practice I learned to use it to get perfect sharpness across the frame, at any aperture/focal length. So don't dismiss this lens after a few test shots! It's a lens you nee... |
