| Author: | | Senior Member Registered: April, 2010 Location: Ontario Posts: 117
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 11, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Contrast, pleasing color | | Cons: | A bit soft wide open at long end | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-5 iis
Autofocus: 9
New Or Used: 8
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I purchased this lens together with a Tamron 28-75 F2.8 (A09) trying to decide which one to choose from..
On APS-C body (K5-iis), this lens actually outperforms the Tammy. IQ, bokeh and CA wise these 2 lens are quite comparable. The reason I prefer this one better is because of the pleasing color for portrait.
Pros: Sharp even wide open. I mentioned that it's a bit soft wide open at 70MM end, but for portrait it is good enough. Great color, great bokeh, great contrast.
Cons: At it's price it's almost none. Hard to find in Market.
Conclusion: I would recommend it.
| | | | | | | Forum Member Registered: March, 2011 Location: Toronto, ON Posts: 80
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: October 29, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $350.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | sharp stopped down, excellent contrast, good portrait lens | | Cons: | not wide enough for APS-C | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 10
Value: 9
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I bought this lens on a whim from Galaxy Camera in Ottawa. I've been happy with the colour rendition and the AF on it. Pretty decent for a cheaper f2.8 overall.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: April, 2011 Location: Arizona Posts: 888
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 19, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $240.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | cheap, decent build, sharp stopped down | | Cons: | soft wide open | |
Had this lens for a while, was noticeably soft wide open (not pixel peeping, you could tell its soft by looking at the picture).
Decent enough build, similar to most other sigma's i've played with. i bought the lens for f/2.8 and it simply did not perform at f/2.8
on the bright side, worked alright at f/4 and smaller, but once again, i bought it to use it at f/2.8
would i recommend it? depends. If you don't need performance at 2.8, its a great deal. otherwise, look elsewhere
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: January, 2010 Posts: 312
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 6, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $200.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | sharp,low CA,nice bokeh | | Cons: | 28 in APC sensor not wide enough | |
Sigma 28-70 EX DG AF review
First I just want to say, this lens is a rock, heavy lens but not really heavy, this lens built like tank , although it’s not water proof and not having seal on it, it feel solid to turn the zoom and my copy is the one with a black mate colour (Sigma have a 3 different black colour type) It comes with both lens cap and a hood. The hood is very useful in shoot a day light, it’s not like a cheap hood lens from china but in this case it really protect the lens from flare. 
EX mean this lens denotes with superior build und high quality glass just like Canon with L series or Nikon with G series. And the word DG means this lens is use for 35 mm film so the image circle on these lenses is suitable for full-frame digital and 35mm film cameras. For body with 1, 5 crop sensor (APC) will make any difference on the range, so 28-70 mm it’s like 42-110 mm on my K10D.
example on 28 mm/ 42 mm
example on 70 mm/ 110 mm
With a minimum focusing distance of 13" (33 cm), the Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 EX DG Lens has a maximum magnification of .23x. It will focus close enough for nice pictures of flowers and other similar-sized objects.
The lens had also lock facility which enables you to lock the zoom in 28 mm range so it would not slipped and goes forward when you carry the lens along the street, this feature is useful if you a street photographer and intend not to put your DSLR in your camera bag all day and always hang it on your neck like me … . the weight its about 500 gr and combine with my K10D ( without bateraygripp) it all will be around 1,2 kg so it is not too heavy to carry around. I take this lens on my way to Berlin and felt comfort to hang it around for 3 days street hunting.
compare sigma 28-70/2,8 VS Pentax DA 16-45/4
Colour rendition is nice with this lens and also produces nice swirl bokeh. I kind like remember an old Pentax M lens if I saw the bokeh. Flare is well controlled and CA in this lens can be easily removed and it only happen sometimes in wide range daylight situation not in this kind low light situation. In low light situation this lens is superberb, combine with the right flash I can get most of beautiful and sharp shoot. without the flash you can also take a shoot , just don’t forget to combine with ISO so it would not be AF hunt in the dark, the AF speed is normal and sometimes in daylight the AF speed could be slightly better than DA series. This lens is nice for portrait lens because it has a constant aperture, you can use it in full range (70mm) with full aperture. Contras and sharpness is produced high and wonderful as you see in my example picture.
Pro :
• Excellent image quality in low light
• Nice Colour Rendition, very sharp and contrast
• Fast, silent, accurate autofocus
Cons :
• Little bit heavy and sometimes 67 mm doesn’t suit with my filter system
• Portrait will be fine but tamron had a slightly longer then this range (28-75)
• In APC sensor with 28 mm seems not wide enough
Overal Conclusion :
It’s not a very perfect quality of glass, but it will be great for “everyday lens” this lens is always stick on my K10 D since the beginning I bought it. it’s a better choice for the one who like street photography and deal with a low light situation. in f2,8 stop it can produce nice swirl bokeh and consider the DA 16-50 is little bit expensive for me to catch, this lens is reasonable to buy. It’s a big value for money if you want to get all round lens compared with tamron 28-75 or DA 16-50, they both have 2,8 constant aperture but the price is much higher than this lens. As far as I know pentax had also lens in this range but it kind of rare in these day we see FA* 28-70/28 AL , beside the price, the weight also make me reconsidered to look for it.
EX quality of this lens produced great Image Quality (IQ) and with flare well controlled, it can be match against DA 17-70 /4 even this lens have one stop lower. Although some visible CA occurred, it can be removed with little bit post processing, if you want to go in f5, 6 or f8 for stop down metering, the result would be great and this lens would not disappoint you. Overall is a nice and ideal all round lenses if you look for third party lens for pentax.
 | | | | | | | Inactive Account Registered: July, 2009 Location: Oxfordshire Posts: 4
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 16, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $200.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Fast, very sharp with nice colours | | Cons: | Big, heavy | |
I bought this lens as a portrait lens to take photos of my children (2 and 3.5). I found myself always at 55mm on the kit lens and wanted something faster with a bit more reach (and AF).
The positives:
- AF seems quick compared to my other lenses (quicker than the kit lens, anyway)
- Sharp wide open and really sharp by F/4
- Useful zoom range for portraiture of small children on a crop DSLR
- I like the colour rendering
- Feels well built
- Good value (compared to the Tamron and Pentax options)
- No SDM issues
The negatives:
- It's big (and quite heavy).
- The bokeh is not as nice as my A50 (although I understand this may be inherent in zoom lenses)
- 77mm filter size (fortuantely I've got a Tamron 10-24 which is also 77mm)
All in all I'm very happy with it, it does what I bought it for, takes pictures I'm happy with and was pretty good value. A solid 9.
| | | | | New Member Registered: February, 2010 Location: Middle of the forest Posts: 11
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 20, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $200.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Build quality, sharp, fast, value | | Cons: | Heavy, purple fringing | |
I have DF (earlier) version of this lens. Bought it on ebay and been able to test it for a week. First of all it's built like a tank but bit heavy (together with my K-7 and grip it weighs around 4 pounds).
I must be lucky and own good copy. Opposite to previous reviewers mine is tack sharp at 70mm even wide open. Actually it's tack sharp across the range and closed down to f/3.5 it gives outstanding results. I might risk comparing the sharpness of this Sigma to my manual Konica Hexanon 50mm f/1.7 (back in Olympus days) which was one of the sharpest lenses I've ever used.
I like the color rendition of this lens and would give it 10 but... it tends to purple fringe quite much in high contrast scenes (can be fixed in PP) and it's heavy to carry around whole day.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: May, 2007 Location: steel city / rust belt Posts: 2,043 | | Review Date: May 13, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $160.00
| Rating: 8 |
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purchased new from Prodigital2000 for USD $160
not a review - just a picture
tele @ 70mm on K20D
wide @ 28mm on K20D
 | | | | | Senior Member Registered: December, 2007 Location: Perth Australia Posts: 293
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 31, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $230.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Quick shift auto/manual focus. Excellent portrait lens. | | Cons: | Heavy. Large barrel can mask flash. | |
This is the 'people' lens on my K20D.
Indoors natural light images work well at ISO 1600, f2.8.
Focuses fast and spot on on the K20.
Zoom range ideal for parties.
'Full Frame' lens which an APS sensor uses the high quality central area of the glass,
Excellent 'bokeh' for portrait shots.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: July, 2007 Location: Philippines Posts: 367
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 30, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $289.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | fast, sharp, contrast and color, af speed | | Cons: | a little soft under specific conditions wide open at 70mm | |
I still can't understand why past reviews have not been encouraging for this lens. I have been using it for only less than a month and I can truthfully say that it is a great portrait lens, and a very good all around street lens. It's light, compact, very well made, and the IQ is comparable to my FA 20-35 f/4 AL. If you want resolution at par with a prime such as the FA50 1.4, then shoot at f4 and higher and you'll notice very little difference.
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1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 24, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $379.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Excellent all-around people lens | | Cons: | none that bother me | |
I use this one as my basic tool for photographing symphony musicians (I am a professional violinist) and students. It is one of my all time favorite using lenses.
While not a small lens, it balances very well indeed on my K10 or K100, and is long enough even at it's widest that facial distortion is not an issue. You don't have to worry about corners and edges of frames as you would a wider lens. At about 65mm it is perfect for faces and reeds or mouthpieces, while maintaining a respectful distance from the player without losing the intimacy needed for a good photograph.
I owned a copy of this lens before I moved to Pentax (I shot Nikon in years past.) I thought enough of it to buy a copy for my Pentax system and continue to use it as a basic people lens. I have sold more digital photographs using this lens than all others combined.
I have no negative issues at all. Soft at f2.8? No more than any other f2.8 zoom I have used. I almost always use f4 or f5.6, with excellent success. Recommended.
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: March, 2008 Location: united arab emirates Posts: 60
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 2, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $400.00
| Rating: 5 |
| Pros: | Value for money | | Cons: | Creates a shadow when used with built in flash at wide angles | |
Hello, I got acceptable results across the focal length range and also across the aperture range. Found the focussing faster on the K10D, rather than the iSTDL, but could not place the connection.
When I used this lens with the built in flash, the large diameter front portion cast a shadow at the bottom centre of all images. This is not so when used above 35mm, must be a design problem.
Good value for money paid.
Thanks,
Kris
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