Cheap Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG APO Macro Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras (Electronics) Price

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Customer Reviews of Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG APO Macro Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

Excellent
I rarely write reviews for stuff I buy on Amazon, but I felt I needed to share my thoughts on this lens. <
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>Sigma has always been a better "out of the box" experience than Canon, which unfortunately does not see fit to ship a $6 hood for a $600 lens. Sigma gives you a carrying case and a hood. The "feel" of this lens is excellent. It's tight (no focus creep), and a sort of rubberized matte finish that just screams "pro". Top marks here. <
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>From an optical standpoint, the lens is incredibly good, considering the price. I fired off about 70 shots outside to test the aperture at the different focal ranges. Yes, there is some softness at 300mm, but this can be mostly offset by stopping it down to 4.0. The rest of the focal range is fine. I used my Rebel XT and a Canon UV filter (50mm) for the tests. In the macro mode, there's excellent contrast and saturation, and very good bokeh. <
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>Focus is a little slow, but then maybe I'm spoiled by the Canon glass, which focuses like nothing else. Still, there's very little hunting here, except in lower ambient light. This is not an indoor lens, nor is it a walkaround utility one. But for telephoto work and even a bit of macro (as it were), it's an extremely good deal. <
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>All in all, I'd highly recommend getting this, especially as a first-time telephoto for people who are getting into DSLRs. The closest Canon equivalent is about $100 more expensive, and I don't believe it comes with a hood or case.

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Great inexpensive zoom telephoto lens
While this lens is not a pro lens by any means it does absolutely what you will need it to do in a variety of photographic situations and settings. No hand held telephoto lens will ever give you crisp clear shots (a chief complaint made in other reviews of this lens), but a serious photographer using a telephoto lens knows it has to be stabilized with a tripod or monopod to prevent camera shake and fuzzy pictures. For a $200 lens in the 70-300mm range this lens beats its Canon name brand equivalent with ease. Construction of this lens is better than the Canon and the Macro feature is something that the Canon lens lacks. I've used this lens in a variety of situations - sports photography, portrait photography, and landscape/nature photography - and it's never disappointed me. Another thing that impresses me with Sigma is that they include a lens hood and lens case with every lens they sell - Canon won't do that!

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Just got it and trying it out -- fuzzy at full 300 mm zoom
I have a Canon Digital Rebel XT. <
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>Primary purpose of the camera is to photograph my daughter playing high school soccer. <
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>PROS <
>The price is right on this "prosumer" lens. You really can't complain about 70-300 lens for $200. <
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>Closeup / macro shots of flowers are excellent. <
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>Outside 200mm zoom shots are crisp and look great when you load the pictures on your PC and zoom in tight with your favorite digital imaging computer program. <
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>CONS(300 MM telephoto use for sports): <
>Full 300 mm zoom the picture quality is not what I had hoped. It is best described as soft focus. <
>Here were the cirumstances where I found the problem. I took 112 shots yesterday. Conditions were daylight and overcast. About 80% of them were at 300 mm zoom. At the 300 mm setting the pictures have a very "soft focus." You can't see it is the display panel on the camera. You can see the "softness" or blurriness when you load the picture into your favorite software and zoom in tight. The softness is over the whole image. I don't think it's a focusing issue. If it was out of focus on the primary subject you'd expect some part of the photo to be in focus, but nothing looks like it's crisp and sharp. It's equally bad across the image. <
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>Yes, I am using a monopod and I know how to release a shutter. Film speed was set to 1600. I had the XT in Sport mode which forces the shutter speed to 1600. It still operates in auto focus and auto aperture in that mode. <
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>No, I wasn't shooting in a fog or a mist. <
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>CONCLUSION: <
>With less than one week of shooting on this lens I am not yet willing to say it's bad at the full 300 mm zoom setting. I will give it another try at a upcoming soccer tournament this weekend. This time I will force the Rebel into targeting its focus on one and only one point in the lens. I hope that improves the non-macro 300 mm zoom performance. If not, I will send it into Sigma service for them to check it out and repair if needed. <
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>CUSTOMER SUPPORT <
>They answer their phone quickly and are very polite. <
>When I called Sigma customer support they were more than willing to look into the problem. I have send it in for them to check it out and repair (if needed). Too bad, they don't exchange, they only repair. So, I will be without the lens for 2-3 weeks. I will probably have to take some photos of the same object at 300 mm and then at 200 mm and show them the difference in the picture quality. <
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>I will keep this review updated. <
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>**UPDATE** <
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>I have shot well over 2000 images with it now with most of them being at soccer games. Image quality is excellent. This lens likes bright daylight to produce its best images just put the light at your back. I do find I often enhance the constrast in my photo editor, but I wouldn't attribute that to the lense. That's a function of my photographic skills. <
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>I adjusted the Canon focus to one one point and it's really improved the issue I talked about above with the soft look of the pictures at 300 mm. <
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>I have concluded that this lens would not be a good one to use at night time sporting events. The F4 lens just doesn't let in enough light. <
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>Autofocus sometimes is a bit slow to lock in on an object. <
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>All-in-all, for $200 you cannot go wrong.