| Author: | | Veteran Member Registered: April, 2008 Location: USA Posts: 1,901
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 24, 2010 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Good range, resonably sharp and, great build | | Cons: | | |
This is a very good choice to up-grade from kit lens. The range is very good and it is moderatley fast. This is the lens I chose after having the kit only a few weeks.
Its a little bit heavy but thats because of the great build quality and glass. I really can't say anything bad about it except it isn't a constant 2.8, otherwise I might still have it, and that darn LBA
Lets have a picture do the talking. Shot with K10D
 | | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: October, 2008 Location: Japan Posts: 1,146 | | Review Date: July 28, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $215.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Build, macro, sharp, pic quality | | Cons: | | |
Recently purchased this lens, second hand, in Japan, from Fujiya Camera in Nakano, Tokyo.
I paid 18,900 yen, which is roughly 215USD at time of writing.
I'm on a budget, and was looking to finally upgrade my kit lens.
This lens was at the top of my short list.
Better range than the kit lens, and faster.
Picture quality is great, and the macro is a very good 1:2...almost.
The macro feature was definitley a bonus on an otherwise solid lens, and played its part in my decision to buy this lens.
The construction feels solid.
I am using this lens with a K10D.
All in all, a great upgrade from my 18-55 kit lens, and the macro makes it a bargain.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: February, 2009 Location: Lithuania Posts: 490 | | Review Date: March 15, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $370.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Good focal range, sharp center, | | Cons: | Zoom creep, slow AF in low light, noisy af, | |
well, this is the lens, that i use the most. even though i have pentax 50-135mm,
the focal range 17-70mm is very useful in most situations.
in good light it is almost perfect lens. fast af, sharp, yet, border sharpness leaves something to be desired..
it behaves good in all range from 17 to 70. pseudo macro capability is interesting, because, it focuses basicly from any distance.. yet, then some shadow is visible on the images.
while using it with a popup flash, it is bad, because lens is quite large and in the bottom of the images is visible the shadow of the front of the lens. while using it with a pentax AF540GZ flash several problems are solved.
1. no shadow of the front of the lens,;
2. AF in low light is better, because AF assist lamp is incorporated into the 540 flash system.
also, since the lens is quite big, when i want to shoot downwards or upwards, i have to follow the zoom's behaviour, because, it changes..
overall it is a good lens.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14258831@N00/
note that AF speed is better on K20d than on K10d, when i was using it on k10d, AF in low light, it was terribly slow, now on k20d it's just slowish.. 
my flckr page. on every photo is written in the tags, which lens was used.
| | | | | | | | Review Date: February 8, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $310.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Build, Sharp, advantage of f2.8, bokeh, macro | | Cons: | hard to find a fault... | |
I'm giving this lens a 9/10. I know. This is how good this lens is. for what I paid I couldn't be happier! I was considering the DA* 16-50 but at $A1100 compared to $A460 I paid for the Siggy, it wasn't a hard choice, and IMO the pictures are very comparable.
At 2.8 it is sharp and once you get past 4.0 it is razor sharp. The best value lens in my opinion apart from the FA 50mm 1.4 available for Pentaxes. This is a perfect walk around lens for me. I use it in Landscapes, Cityscapes, Waterfall shots and Portraits. It has a real nice contrast and colour rendition to it.
The macro feature is a nice bonus and I quite like the bokeh it produces, and I find my copy focuses VERY VERY closely, a thing i've heard from other users with this lens.
I took this picture with the berries hanging INSIDE the lens hood. Thats how close it focuses.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e303/OZJIM/aberry.jpg
This lens is a must buy if you want to upgrade the Kit lens to something at almost the same quality as the DA*16-50, for half the price.
The only thing i'd like is SDM, but the AF on my lens is pretty quick and the noise doesn't really annoy me.
| | | | | | | | | | Review Date: January 31, 2009 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Very nice zoom range | | Cons: | quality control, zoom creep | |
My first copy was bad, severe decentrated element and it extended as soon as you point it down, also around your neck. This causes a lot of dust being sucked into the camera.
The first time I send it in, only the zoom creep was a bit less...
The second time (just out of warranty) I documented the faults and received a new copy (!). This one seems OK (not extensively tested yet).
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: December, 2006 Location: Westminster, Colorado Posts: 298 | | Review Date: January 23, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $270.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | faster than the kit lens, very sharp, good focal length range | | Cons: | zoom ring turns the other way | |
I purchased this lens used (thanks Dr Windmill!) and I have been very pleased with it. It is an excellent replacement for the kit lens. The zoom ring does go clockwise (short to long) rather than the CCW for all my other lenses and this throws me a little but it no way takes away from the quality of the lens.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: April, 2008 Location: Australia-NSW Posts: 4,824 | | Review Date: December 21, 2008 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Built,performance | | Cons: | HSM perhaps?????? | |
This is a stand out lenses as it doesn't look much but this is a sleeping giant.Close to macro feature performs above average.Always my go to lenses and it doesn't let me down.Highly recommended to a first time user.It also includes f/2.8 which at this price range makes buying a easy choice
Sorry I forgot the price Au$299 so whatever thats in US as I bought it in May this year
cheers
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: May, 2007 Location: UK Posts: 42 | | Review Date: December 18, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $300.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | sharp, good all-round lens | | Cons: | vignetting, big | |
As a replacement for the kit lens this is hard to beat, especially at the price. It has everything you want from a general walkabout lens: that little extra bit of reach, a little extra speed, and close focus. But it's not perfect. There's some CA/fringing, particularly at the wide end, and I find the vignetting quite noticeable wide open.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: May, 2007 Location: steel city / rust belt Posts: 2,043 | | Review Date: September 18, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $260.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | sufficiently light, nice kit range (17-70), sufficiently sharp for a kit level lens | | Cons: | sigma QC - you can easily run into a bad copy, no EX - not a metal barrel | |
this is not exactly a review - but a useful (to some extent - at least I hope so) description what you can do when your copy is bad and you need to deal w/ Sigma service center...
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-slr-lens-discussion/33886-sigma-17...ce-center.html | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: July, 2008 Location: Detroit MI, USA Posts: 508 | | Review Date: July 24, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $370.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Great range, sharp, very good color/contrast, nice price | | Cons: | There seems to exist some copy variation, a bit heavy, could be a bit faster at 70mm. | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: K10D K20D K-5
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First to qualify my comments, I had to send in my copy twice to get a slight decentering problem fixed that made the frame very slightly soft on the right at ~70mm & f4.5, gone at f8. Now that problem aside I really cant ask for much more from this lens at this price. Its usable wide open 17-70mm, sharp at 17mm and falling a tad at 70mm&f4.5 but stop it down to f5.6 it gets sharp. At f5.6 its tack sharp corner to corner 17-70mm. It has low CA/PF only a bit at 17mm but I have not needed to correct it or really see it much without looking for it. But the only real weakness is barrel distortion at 17mm and vignetting at f2.8/17mm, its not higher than average but I do like to use PTLens to remove it with pics at 17mm. The Sigma is a bit heavy, but I am not complaining, it must be some nice glass and built well for it to be so. When I first bought it, it did suffer zoom creep and had one small piece of dust inside, when it came back from Sigma the creep was gone as well as the dust. Its really hard to fairly write anything negative about this lens, and its just well worth the money and gives some very nice pics. So I guess having to send it to Sigma twice did not make me think bad of them, no I think all lens manufactors have the same issues, its getting hard to make lens that can stand up to 10meg and 14meg cameras with pixel peepers looking at 200%, highly recommended for sure for the price. 
BTW I rate an 8 for the lack of constant aperture and another point for the barrel distortion and not being weather sealed.
EDIT six years latter (May 9, 2014)! Wow, time goes by. Still have this lens. I forgot about the softness at 70mm. Well after Sigma fixed that it was soft at 17mm f/2.8 long story short it was me and my camera not the lens. Its been great on the K20D and K-5 and the second GX10 Samsung sent me. QC has gone up I noticed. Not much bad to say other than I was a bit too new and too hard on this lens. Compared to others in its category it has with stood the test of time.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: November, 2007 Location: Gainesville, FL Posts: 2,599 | | Review Date: July 21, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $320.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Great walk-around range, among other things... | | Cons: | It's not a constant f/2.8 | |
After using the kit lens and realizing the 55mm on the long end wasn't enough for me, this lens was the obvious solution. I'm also a fan of close-up photography, so again, getting this lens made a lot of sense for me. Besides having a very versatile focal range, other things I like about it include:
- Great IQ--this lens is sharp!
Works well in lower light levels, especially at the wide end.
Great close-up feature (1:2.3).
Good bokeh.
Great value for the money (under $400 brand new)
The only thing I would change about it would be that it would be a constant f2.8, but otherwise, it's a fine lens.
I highly recommend this lens for those who like to shoot a variety of subjects, as it will do an excellent job of covering landscape, nature, closeup, and even portrait photography. | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: January, 2008 Location: Florida Posts: 514 | | Review Date: July 13, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $325.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharp, fast, ideal focal range on a DSLR | | Cons: | slight yellow cast | |
This is the lens that has replaced my kit lens. Well worth every penny. So it's not an EX. I don't put much in labels, I like performance. This lens delivers. BONUS! The macro feature is something I rarely use, but it's great to have available without lens change when I need it.
Sigma added to the contrast & sharpness by adding a little yellow to the coatings, I think. Usually not a problem until you focus on a brightly lit yellow subject. Some of Sigmas other lenses have this affliction much worse. Overall I find it a minimal problem and can usually compensate in those very rare occasions.
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: March, 2008 Location: Quebec city, Canada Posts: 9,362 | | Review Date: July 7, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $420.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Image quality (mainly sharpness), build quality, price | | Cons: | None for the price | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 9
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I am using this lens on a Pentax K20D. The build quality is impressive, the finish feels high-quality and solid. The zoom ring operates very smoothly, but the focus ring is very lifeless and has a short throw. Autofocus is very fast, the only times the lens hunted was at telephoto under the stars with no light source and indoors under candlelight.
Image quality is impressive. There can be visible barrel distorsion at 17 mm if you shoot flat and linear targets (like a waterline, or a building) but zooming in a little bit takes care of it. I haven't searched for, and have never noticed, any chromatic aberration (it's there somewhere for sure, but if I cannot notice it, then it doesn't bother me).
Macro is great (though no true macro), focus is accurate, reliable, and the lens produces very sharp images. The colours are great, though the cast is slightly different than that of a Pentax lens.
My lens has no zoom creep, and feels like it will last me years.
This is my first personally owned autofocus lens (my others are manual) but I can compare with various kit lenses and even pro models from Pentax, and in handling and focusing it compares with the best, and regarding build quality it's above most kit lenses out there.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: January, 2008 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 1,949 | | Review Date: July 5, 2008 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp, IQ, Price, Zoom Range, Build quality | | Cons: | Small zoom creep, only locks zoom at 17mm | |
For a 1st lens this is a great choice. I purchased a K20D and didn't want a standard kit lens, so replaced it with the Sigma 17-70. A nice zoom range to start out with and to have as your walk around lens. Has a solid feel, well built, nice feel in the hands, but isn't too heavy on the camera.
Image results are very impressive. I find them to be sharp, with balanced colours and a creamy bokeh. The AF is a little noisy, but locks pretty quickly...if only they made this with HSM.
Only cons are the zoom creep and, as other people have stated, only being able to lock the zoom at 17mm. I would've appreciated a case/bag with the lens as well...spend $400 at least Sigma could throw in a $5-10 lens case/bag.
Buying this lens is money well spend...it's worth more than what I paid for it.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: December, 2007 Location: Florida Posts: 431 | | Review Date: June 3, 2008 | Not Recommended | Price: $330.00
| Rating: 4 |
| Pros: | Nice zoom range, quality image when focused manually. | | Cons: | doesn't auto-focus properly with K20 | |
I expected this would become my primary on-the-camera lens, but given the issues I'm having with auto-focus, I can't trust it when on a shoot. So it's essentially useless. Gives good results when I do use it in manual focus mode, but that wasn't my intent when I purchased it.
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