Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 APO EX DG HSM Optical Stabilised Telephoto Lens Nikon Fit

Product Information

The pictures below illustrate the focal length range from wide to telephoto, on 35mm full-frame and APS-C camera bodies: As hinted to, images captured with APS-C format cameras do not show shading nearly as readily and the barely-recognizable close-to-1-stop of shading in 200mm corners is essentially the only consideration in this regard. Cityscapes are essentially landscape images with cities in them and this focal length range is often a great choice for more-distant city views. IS: Yes, Sigma finally upgraded their 70-200/2.8 design to include the OS image stabilization. Nikon is already on their second generation. Now Tamron will be last to the stabilized party. At focal lengths beyond 100mm and with today’s high resolution sensors image stabilization is an indispensable feature. [+]

Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 APO EX DG OS Lens - Photo Review Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 APO EX DG OS Lens - Photo Review

At all focal lengths the Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM Sports produces a moderate amount of chromatic aberration, typical of a high quality zoom lens with this focal range.It seems that the button on the bottom (hard to reach) should have been moved to the right side where it would be positioned on top when shooting vertically (especially with a battery grip in use). If it is a zoom lens, lateral CA is nearly always present in some amount in at least some of the focal lengths. Because they do not, we get aberrations caused by various wavelengths of light being magnified and focused differently. Axial CA remains at least somewhat persistent when stopping down with the color misalignment effect increasing with defocusing while the spherical aberration color halo shows little size change as the lens is defocused and stopping down one to two stops generally removes this aberration.

Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 DG OS HSM SPORTS from CameraWorld

We certainly don’t expect 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses to be modest in size nor weight, and the 70-200mm F2.8 DG OS HSM doesn't subvert expectations. In fact, its weight of 1,805g makes it around 265-325g heavier than its peers, while its 82mm filter thread and 94.2mm diameter are both relatively wide. With straight lines running along the edge of the frame, 70mm will show very slight barrel distortion, curving those lines outward in the center of the frame.

Image Quality

The interior of the lens is ribbed to avoid light reflecting into the lens and the exterior features a thin mold ribbed ring and rubberized rear section to aid in grip during installation and removal. I've used this lens on my 20D.No focussing problems at all.This lens, if you get a good copy, is as sharp as the L at all f-stops.

Sigma 70-200mm F/2.8 DG OS HSM Sports Nikon FX

As smooth as the front of this plate is, the rear of each side of the dovetails is not rounded and a bit sharp in the hand. The Sigma handles flare a bit better with less contrast loss, but produces more flare artifacts at specific focal lengths/aperture settings.Usually, third party lens manufacturers are required to reverse engineer camera autofocus algorithms and the result is commonly the weakest aspect of these lenses. The 144° of focus ring rotation is ideal for precision work at 70mm with adjustments happening slightly fast at 200mm, though not problematically so. Most of the on-lens controls are grouped in a panel on the left side of the barrel. The Focus switches allows for full-time autofocus (AF), autofocus with manual override (MO), and manual focus (MF). There's also a limiter, so you can set the autofocus system to cover the full range or distant subjects (beyond 3 meters) only. That might be an easier question to answer if the word "not" were inserted before "useful" in the previous sentence.

Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 DG OS HSM Sports Review | PCMag Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 DG OS HSM Sports Review | PCMag

At 100mm, slight peripheral softness starts becoming visible at f/2.8 and that softness reaches the center of the frame by 135mm. Still, the AF consistency on the wide end, especially at close distances, is occasionally not so great and that makes calibration more challenging. Differentiating between the zoom and focus rings is easy (even with gloves on) thanks to the large space between them and the tapered slope found in the center of the substantially-sized zoom ring.

Contact

Sharpness is already strong at both ends of the lens at f/2.8, as is consistency across the frame, and this only gets better as you close down the aperture. At middle-range apertures such as f/5.6, details are already so well defined that you only need a modest touch of sharpening when processing Raw files, otherwise more natural elements can appear overly sharp. Verdict That this tripod foot extends forward with a rounded front helps to circumvent this problem by providing a palm rest, but a rear-positioned zoom ring works best.