rating: 5.00

Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC IF Macro Lens

Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC IF Macro Lens
Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC IF Macro Lens Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC IF Macro Lens Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC IF Macro Lens
Sigma Corporation is pleased to announce the launch of the new 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC MACRO lens. It can be used with wide variety of subjects and it is an ideal large aperture standard zoom lens for digital SLR cameras featuring APS-C size image sensor. This lens has a minimum focusing distance of 7.9.. (20cm) throughout the entire zoom range. Maximum magnification of 1:2.3 enables close-up photography like a macro lens. The new lens design and multi layer lens coating reduce flare and ghosting, which is a common problem with digital cameras. A Special Low Dispersion (SLD) lens and two aspherical lens elements provide excellent correction for all types of aberrations and produce a high level of optical performance throughout the entire zoom range. This lens offers a large aperture of F2.8 at 17mm wide angle and yet it is compact, with an overall length of 82.5mm (3.2..) and diameter 79mm (3.1..). It performs superbly even in relatively low light conditions indoors or at dusk. The lens design incorporates an inner focusing system, which ensures fast AF speed as well as prevents the front of the lens rotating, making it particularly suitable for use with circular polarizing filters and petal shaped lens hoods. This lens is also equipped with Zoom Lock Switch that eliminates ..Zoom Creep.. during transportation.

Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC IF Macro Lens for Minolta and Sony Digital SLR Cameras
Product Description
Sigma Corporation is pleased to announce the launch of the new 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC MACRO lens. It can be used with wide variety of subjects and it is an ideal large aperture standard zoom lens for digital SLR cameras featuring APS-C size image sensor. This lens has a minimum focusing distance of 7.9.. (20cm) throughout the entire zoom range. Maximum magnification of 1:2.3 enables close-up photography like a macro lens. The new lens design and multi layer lens coating reduce flare and ghosting, which is a common problem with digital cameras. A Special Low Dispersion (SLD) lens and two aspherical lens elements provide excellent correction for all types of aberrations and produce a high level of optical performance throughout the entire zoom range. This lens offers a large aperture of F2.8 at 17mm wide angle and yet it is compact, with an overall length of 82.5mm (3.2..) and diameter 79mm (3.1..). It performs superbly even in relatively low light conditions indoors or at dusk. The lens design incorporates an inner focusing system, which ensures fast AF speed as well as prevents the front of the lens rotating, making it particularly suitable for use with circular polarizing filters and petal shaped lens hoods. This lens is also equipped with Zoom Lock Switch that eliminates ..Zoom Creep.. during transportation.



Technical Details Large aperture standard zoom lens designed Specially For Digital SLR Cameras. Macro lens level close up ability Minimum focusing distance of 7.9.., maximum magnification of 1:2.3. The new multi layer lens coating and lens design reduce flare and ghosting l Aspherical and SLD lenses, offer excellent correction for various aberrations. The lens offers a large aperture of F2.8 at wide angle.
    

Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC IF Macro Lens user reviews

    "I was suprised at how sharp this lens is at 2.8 and all other stops. It can focus inches away and while not a dedicated macro lens has good macro ability at 1:2.3. Auto focus is quick and accurate on my D40 and D300. The only catch is that you must switch the switch from AF to MF if you wish to use manual focus.

Probably the best bang for the buck of all the lenses I own.

PL "
--- Philip Loria rated: 5
    "I have tested this lens in wide landscape and portrait situations and have found it to be sharper than the Nikon 18-135mm.

I am not here to bash the Nikon, but I can see a difference between the two, but note that in order to have this Sigma at it's best, your camera should be set to +1 contrast at least (D40), and this lens is definitely sharper at f/4 and above. It is a bit soft at f/2.8, but when you increase your contrast and sharpening (in camera), it's not that significant, and is easily tolerable.

For portraits, it is brilliant. I am glad I made the switch from the Nikon. You'll be amazed at it's landscape quality as well.

Two thumbs up for Sigma! "
--- Ahmed Roberson rated: 5
    "I was quite surprised by this lens after I first got it. It is quite sharp (not scalpel sharp at 2.8, but good nonetheless), it focuses very close to your subject (2 inches?) and equally important: it covers a really good range, 17-70mm. It's wide enough for landscapes and close enough for portraits and performs very well in both situations. And it does makro. I use this lense as a walk around lens, seeing it covers basically all my everyday shooting needs.

One little caveat, however, is, that it is a wee bit noisy when focusing and dosen't focus as fast as Nikons own lenses, but it is a small price to pay for the good qualities of this lens.

A very good piece of glass for the money. Highly recommendable. "
--- Bo Østergaard Jepsen rated: 5
    "Better than the standard kit lens for a few reasons; it's a little faster, a little wider and much longer, good macro capability. It's effectively a 28-105mm zoom (35mm equiv.), great for general purpose wide angle work, and a decent portrait lens at the tele end. Nice and sharp. You can get more pure speed by looking at the 16-50 2.8 constant aperture lens Sigma makes, but you'd be giving up a lot of zoom and paying somewhere around a 40% premium to do so. You can get more tele reach with the 17-125 that Sigma makes, or that monster 18-250mm, but you're giving up speed and close focusing. So just buy it already, along with a good long tele zoom (say, 55-200?) and a fast normal prime (say, the lovely Pentax 50mm f1.4). "
--- R. Whiten rated: 5
    "I own an XT and 3 lenses: this one, the ef 70-200 f/4 and the 50mm f/1.8. I use them all about equally. This one is versatile in terms of focal length (solidly wide angle to short tele) and it has a pseudo-macro close focus ability that is great for closeups (flowers, large bugs, frogs etc...). While it is not particularly sharp wide open, it is definitely acceptable to me and essentially matches my other two lenses when stopped down. I can't speak to the possibility of "bad copies" that may be "floating around"... mine is satisfactory. There are clearly trade-offs that come with buying a cheaper lens that does several things, but I found this lens to be quite balanced in that respect. Overall I find this lens of good quality and its versatility to be indispensable... until I save up enough to get the ef 100 2.8 macro and the 17-55 2.8IS.

If you are considering buying this as your first lens instead of getting the kit, I unreservedly recommend doing that (especially if it will be your only lens for a while). I owned the kit with my first XT (lost to a break-in) and frequently chafed at its limitations (slowness, minimum focus distance, short focal length) and I think you would find that the modest improvements in these attributes that come with this lens will greatly increase your enjoyment of your camera. "
--- N. Reid rated: 5
    "This is the first non-Canon lens I've purchased and the Sigma 17-70/2.8-4.5 DC surprised the hell me with its fine performance. Zoom range, speed, resolution, low Chromatic Abberation, fast/sure autofocus speed and solid build quality make this lens stand head and shoulders above the typical cheap Canon kit lens such as the terrible Canon EF 18-55/4.5-5.6. Plus the Sigma has 1:2.3 macro capabilities with very sharp results...AMAZING! I've read more and more reviews all over the Internet on this Sigma lens that praise its qualities. This lens will compete with Canon lenses costing two and 3 times as much (EF 17-40, EF 18-50/2.8, EF 16-35/2.8). The Sigma 17-70 is constructed with one SLD low-dispersion glass element which is responsible for its excellent lack of Chromatic Aberation. At this price I never expected that kind of quality. Highly recommended! "
--- mp3support rated: 5
    "Obviously I was luckier than the previous reviewer: my first copy was, and is, fine.
I use my Sigma with a Canon 400D (XTi in the US). I also have a Canon 50mm lens that's supposed to be really sharp. Maybe I have a bad copy of that, because the Sigma is definitely sharper. In fact I was disappointed with the camera until I bought this Sigma lens.
Now I get images that are sharp and colourful, yet with that smooth SLR look that was evading me when using the Canon lens. I'm very pleased with it.
One thing that surprised me was how big and heavy it is though. People look at me as though I have a long zoom (it extends quite a way at 70mm), even though it's really not.
But, you get used to it pretty soon.
I guess it had to be big to get the f/2.8. Trouble is, at about 20mm you lose the f/2.8, so it's not quite as good as it sounds. This lens loses out on that score to the constant f/2.8 17-50 lenses from Tamron and Sigma.
The compensation is that you get a bit of extra reach, which makes it more of an everyday lens.
And the trump card is that you can get really close with this lens. Minimum focus distance is 20cm. Doesn't sound that great, but that's 20cm from the sensor, not the end of the lens. Zoom all the way to 70mm and you can focus on stuff that's almost touching the glass!
I like the feel of the lens. It's very solid and attractively finished, feels expensive.
You get a lens hood in the box, unlike when you buy a Canon lens.
The only thing I don't like is that the focus ring moves in auto focus and I find it often catches on my hand. No big deal.
All in all, a great lens. "
--- A. Butterfield rated: 5
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