| Author: | | Senior Member Registered: June, 2010 Location: Alberta, Canada Posts: 126
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 20, 2018 | Recommended | Price: $80.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Light, Good zoom range, Macro/close focus, matte finish | | Cons: | Average build quality, soft wide open, Sunny day lens | | Sharpness: 7
Aberrations: 6
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax K-7, K-5, & K-3
Autofocus: 8
New Or Used: Used
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This Sigma lens replaces a Tamron 28-300mm lens that met a tragic end. This was a budget purchase used for $100 CAD ($80 USD). This is a very useful lens with a nice reach (450mm equivalent) when attached to an APS-C body like the K-5/K-3. The 70-300mm is a light weight lens with a nice matte finish. The macro/close focus option is only available in the 200-300mm range and is activate by a switch on the lens body that can be temperamental at times (read "sticky / finicky").
Sharpness is better at the short end of the range 70-150mm. If there is enough light to keep the aperture in the f8 - f11 range, then images are relatively sharp (for the price of the lens). They do not compare to my Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 but that lens is in a whole different category.
There is almost no lens creep on this lens - unlike the Tamron 28-300 which actually has a lens lock to prevent the guaranteed occurrence of lens creep if the lens is tilted below horizontal. The lens hood has sufficient depth to nicely shade the front glass and improve contrast and minimize flare.
With a nice light lens body, it makes for a great companion on an all day hike, or a day at the rodeo when you have the camera to your eye for most of the time.
Is it the "perfect" lens - No, but definitely great value for the money and when you keep in its "sweet spot" it will produce very acceptable images that you can be proud of.
Couple of samples:
https//flic.kr/p/29VYXiw
 | | | | | | | Senior Member Registered: October, 2014 Posts: 119
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 27, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $170.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | really sharp at F8 great color rendition especially blues PRICE! sub 200 for great IQ | | Cons: | none really especially for the price | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-3
Autofocus: 9
New Or Used: New
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Proud K-3 owner: with that said
when i was a Nikon owner i had read in a tip somewhere about a great little lens that could do wonders and that was really really Inexpensive-sharp at F8 -macro abilities- good AF speed- and great colors at the beach-spot on tip  so when i changed camera manufacturers back to Pentax (started on a k1000) i wondered if they made this lens in a K mount?
Yes Sigma did!-i then knew that it would be a nice inexpensive addition to my shabby kit
8mm f3.5
35mm f2.4
50mm f1.8
sigma 17-50 f2.8 (fav walk around lens)
sigma 150-500 for reach
a dedicated water housing for the K-3 and 3 ports
a couple of old manual zooms round out my bag also Gopro Hero 4 black (amazing device)
the Sigma 70-300 fits right in and does the job i need it to do-when the light is good and you can shoot F8 or better @1000sec this lens is a great lens for budding photographers on a budget
http://www.imaging-resource.com/lenses/sigma/70-300mm-f4-5.6-dg-macro-apo/review/ | | | | | New Member Registered: November, 2014 Posts: 15
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 1, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $216.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Brilliant Macro capability, No CA, Sharp enough under 200mm | | Cons: | Soft at 300mm/infinity, cheap build and feel | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 6
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax K50
Autofocus: 8
New Or Used: New
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Out of the box, this lens felt a bit dubious in my hands - slightly sticky focus and zoom with a bit of slop/play in the focus mechanism. I guess you get what you pay for and it didn't cost a lot. Lens hood's not exactly 'elegant' and a little fiddly to deal with. Nice zip up pouch. On the camera, the thing that really stands out for me is the macro ability. Absolutely sharp as with no color fringing on the edges of the subject in focus. Brilliant for critters at night where I can stay 4 feet away but still fill the viewfinder with a frog and the flash has enough reach to light it up. At infinity, 300mm seems a bit soft, but at closer range seems very sharp. Unfortunately, it does focus beyond infinity which I always find a little annoying. Very good from 70-200. Cheap build aside, this lens should be capable of some really nice shots and value for money is brilliant for the images it provides.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: November, 2011 Location: ON, RH Posts: 2,181
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 17, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Good price, light, good IQ, nice bokeh, decent macro lens | | Cons: | Lens creep when AF is off, long when extended with hood | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 7
Value: 9
Autofocus: 7
New Or Used: New
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A great lens for a beginner that wants to upgrade from the kit lens.
It has a very good reach, it does decent macro (1:2) and IQ is very good considering the price.
The only annoying things that I find about it is the lens creep when using in MF and that is quite long once you zoom in all the way and add the hood on.
At 300mm you can still get very good results if you keep the lens hood on and put the camera on tripod (disable SR).
Personally, I really like this lens and still have my copy.
I don't use it as much nowadays, but I still think is a great lens and yes, I would recommend it.
| | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: September, 2010 Location: Colorado Posts: 1,429
5 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 10, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $239.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharp up to 250mm, Light, No CA, Cheap | | Cons: | Not as sharp at 300mm | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Autofocus: 7
New Or Used: New
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First real "New" lens as all my other tele lenses are legacy glass. I was pleasanly surprized with the images I've received from this lens, especially for the price.
There is NO ca in this lens and it has great sharpness up to around 250mm or so. The only real downside is that it isn't as sharp at 300mm. Also, it gets a little hard to zoom when the it is 0 degrees outside.
All in all this is a great value in todays usually high priced marketplace. I'd definitely recommend this to those who want the best bang for their buck.
Here are a few examples of shots taken with this lens
Elk 2 22 July 2011 by coloradocj, on Flickr
| | | | | Inactive Account Registered: June, 2011 Location: kentucky Posts: 21 | | Review Date: November 27, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $239.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | well built, good value, great in good light | | Cons: | noisey | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 6
Handling: 8
Value: 9
Autofocus: 7
New Or Used: New
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if you are on a budget and cant afford the Pentax da lens of this focal length, Then this is the lens for you! it is well worth the cost even if ya buy it new! I have tried many lenses in the 300mm range from pentax, quantaray, tamron,sigma,tokina etc etc and this one is second only to the DA/DAL pentax! This lens can produce some outstanding photos in good lighting conditions. Go to my flickr page to see some nice examples.http://flicikr/p/aKn5z6 | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: March, 2009 Location: Ohio, USA/ India Posts: 478
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 15, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $220.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Great IQ, light, | | Cons: | slow | |
This lens was my first telephoto purchase. The IQ is stunning. My first PPG acceptance was an image from this lens. It is very sharp on my K20 D. It is true that I have not used the lens in almost a year every since I got the sigma 70-200 2.8, but I would not hesitate to take the lens if I need the reach and want to travel light. The only negative is a slow variable aperture.  | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: March, 2011 Location: Maryland (Right Outside Washington DC) Posts: 2,902 | | Review Date: April 21, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $230.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Descent Build Quality, Good Range, Low Price, Decent Performance | | Cons: | LOUD Autofocus, Macro Button | |
For the money, this is a good lens, possible one of the best for its range/cost. You can pull sharp images from this lens, the sweet spot for this lens is 70-135 @ f5.6~11 (with good lighting).
Note: If you are shooting wildlife pictures in the woods at a close distance, you will need to turn auto-focus off, the auto-focus is extremely loud on this lens and will scare off any animal within a 30 yard radius of you.
The Good: Inexpensive, Sharp at the above mentioned sweet spot range, Fast Auto focus, Produces good image quality
The Bad: Loud Auto focus, Macro Button design is horrible
Bottom Line: If you are looking for a good piece of glass with the 70~300mm range and you are on a budget, this lens is a great choice.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: July, 2009 Location: High Desert, California Posts: 231 | | Review Date: September 27, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $219.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Solid Construction, bang for the buck | | Cons: | Depends - there are better lenses | |
This is definitely a bang-for-the-buck kind of lens. Which means for the price paid you get a good deal but there are better options available if you wait and save. For example, save for the Pentax 55-300. Whether this is important to you depends entirely on how important the long end of the range is too you. I shoot a lot at the long end so the difference matters to me, the 55-300 is definitely a better lens. But that said this Sigma lens is not terrible by any means. The image center stays reasonably sharp throughout the range. The colors are good; the lens is built like a tank; the price is great. Also, the close-focus ability is fun to play with. Even tho I've upgraded to the 55-300, I've kept my copy of this lens for the times when I'm in rough conditions. So depending on your budget and/or your requirements for this focal range, this lens can be an excellent choice.
| | | | | New Member Registered: October, 2009 Location: Oslo Posts: 3 | | Review Date: July 31, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Great focal range, optical quality at 70 mm, price | | Cons: | Noticeable drop down above 200mm, AF accuracy speed and noise, rotating front element | |
First of all, I went through the dilemna of: this lens or the original Pentax 55-300 (surely like many others)?
I chose this one because it was 30% shorter on price (which was big on my tiny budget) and because I was not planning on using the 300 mm much.
I love this lense at 70mm, especially for portrait. And the optical quality is there straight from f4.
The longer focal, the worse comes. The drop is noticeable after 200 mm which is acceptable for me, but not for the one planning on shooting regularly at longe range tele.
It makes me think this lense is a 70mm prime to which was added an option for longer focals.
The rings are not very smooth but the build quality is good even if it really feels plastic. The lense i heavy and this gives an "expensive lens effect" and the finition is acually quite nice.
The package comes with a nice lens hood which requires some trick to put on: if the lens is already mounted and the AF of the camera body engaged, you will notice that rotating the lense hood in place will turn against the AF motor - which is never recommended.
All in all, you will appreciate tele photography with this lense, at a low price.
| | | | | New Member Registered: June, 2010 Posts: 15 | | Review Date: June 29, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Good value, range from 70-250mm are sharp, over 250mm goes downhill but its acceptable, Marco function is a bonus and it does produce some good pictures if uses carefully | | Cons: | Zoom ring is kind of stiff but get used to it after a while | |
I would certainly recommend to people who does not want to spend more than 300 dollars on a tele zoom lens because it offers very good value and the build quality is relatively good.
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: June, 2010 Location: Wiltshire Posts: 32
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 24, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Value for money, flexibility, performance | | Cons: | For the price - too few to mention | |
In my view this lens is often unfairly maligned, especially for its so called 'poor performance' at 300mm. Whilst it may not bear comparison with a lens costing 10 - 20x as much, IMHO its very good for the price. The close focus facility and working distance are an added bonus, especially when photographing insects, as I hope you will agree these images captured with the lens show (originals can be seen in my album):
   | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: December, 2009 Location: Bucharest Posts: 482 | | Review Date: April 24, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $270.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Excellent price/quality ratio, 1:2 macro | | Cons: | none really, for the price | |
Everything was already told above in the positive reviews.
It is an inexpensive zoom, with macro 1:2 that works ok, I have chosen it over the 55-300 from Pentax due to the price/quality, the macro capability and the fact that it is a FF lens that I can use on the MZ-L film camera.
Due to the length of the throw of the focusing barell AF is not the fastest in the world but if one avoids switching from 3 feet to infinity from frame to frame it works ok.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: March, 2007 Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Posts: 257 | | Review Date: January 22, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Low Cost, Decent Build Quality, Macro Included | | Cons: | Could Be A Little Faster (Aperture) | |
I just recently picked this lens up as an everyday telephoto. I think for the price point, it's a great lens and having macro built in is a nice feature.
On my Pentax K-7 it does focus much quicker than on my other DSLR's which is a result of a faster focus motor on the K-7 and that's a nice benefit, albeit more the camera than the lens.
The build quality is decent and it feels like a tough lens, one I would not be afraid to take a light knock or two.
The zoom is smooth and there is no lens creep as my camera hangs downward off my neck or shoulder. The zoom collar feels good and is "grippy" enough to make light effort of quick zooming in and out.
The optics are acceptable for a lens in this price range. In low light it's not the best lens going, but on a nice bright day and good available light, you can get some really nice crisp shots with this lens. I find so far that f8 to f22 are all pretty nice stops to work within.
I use DA* series lenses as a rule, but I really wanted something that I could just hack about with and not be so concerned about being an everyday lens.
I'm impressed. Get some good light on your subject, go f8 or more and this lens will give many really nice shots that you will be pleased with.
Here is a shot I took today with the lens:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2804/4292963797_23d3abd127.jpg | | | | | Junior Member Registered: April, 2009 Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands Posts: 31 | | Review Date: May 1, 2009 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Wide range covered, lightweight, price | | Cons: | Not sharp over the entire range, slow AF | |
I bought this lens together with the Sigma 17-70mm lens. Due to limited budget I decided to buy this lens, so I would at least have a long telephotolens. My first impressions were very good, nice pictures, especialy in the 70-170mm range, the lens realy is a great portet lens!
I had to practice a bit to get nice and sharp pictures in the range between 200-300mm. Some of my pictures are a bit flat, in lowlight situations colors seem to fade. In this range the lens fails a bit in contrasts.
What I realy like about this Sigma is it's low weight. Handheld shooting is made a whole lot easier!
Some sample shots;
90mm 1/640 @f9.0 -0.7ev
240mm 1/500 @f10 -1.0ev
Considered the fact that I bought this lens due to financial reasons instead of focal reasons, I realy am surprised. On low light situations, yes even normal cloudy days, this lens seem to suffer lack of color, and contrast. But when you can use a tripod, use it, stop this lens down to f8, or maybe even f10, and it will be a true lightweight friend.
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