Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG APO Macro Telephoto Zoom Lens for Minolta and Sony SLR Cameras

I purchased this lens for my D3200. Firstly, I will start off by saying I am an amateur photographer. I have had a DSLR for 4 months now but I am a very fast learner. This is my 3rd lens to my arsenal. Others being my 18-55 VR Kit lens, and my beautiful Nikkor "nifty fifty" 1.8 D lens.I bought this lens for $150 and I will say i rated it 5 stars because its worth every penny. People on these reviews rating this lens poorly because of this and that are picky. Too picky. Heres my rant, stop complaining about a lens that is 1/4 of the price of a pro lens when it doesn't meet the standards of a 800-1200 dollar lens. Of course it won't be as good as a high end telephoto. This lens does exactly as advertised and for $150 I cannot complain. Keep in mind, I have been shooting DSLRs for 4 months but I am super picky on quality usually. I like sharp images and good bokeh, as I am mainly a car photographer. heres my review.Sharpness is close to my 50mm prime I would say. My 18-55 VR kit lens, in my opinion, doesn't compare on sharpness with this lens. This lens isn't extremely sharp out of the box like most lenses, but with lightroom you can blast some really great detail back into the photo. I shot most of my shots today around 70-175mm and sharpness stayed consistent. Even at 300mm sharpness was manageable but inevitably did soften a bit. Someone concerned with sharpness should not fear purchasing this glass.Construction of this lens is fair. The autofocus is somewhat noisy but also is kinda rough feeling. In other words, the lens sort of vibrates when autofocusing and it definitely doesn't sound like a stock kit lens does. But this is no problem for my needs... The lens is fairly heavy. Not a problem for me. The overall build seems strong and can't see people complaining about the structure.Bokeh effect is nice. The widest this lens stops to it 4 so a shooter must rely a lot on focal length for good bokeh. The main reason i bought this lens...The macro effect is stunning actually. I don't find myself as a macro photographer much but the macro function offers amazing focusing. I will say the focusing length of this lense is a bit of a downfall. I found myself backing up on a few macro shots because of being too close for the camera. But again, not a big deal.Conclusion:Looking for an affordable telephoto to replace a kit lens or to use as a primary lens, I would look no further, unless you really are a professional. You can make great shots with this lens and this is coming from someone who is picky on quality.Here is my flickr account. User name: Bmillerx94I have 5 or 6 shots with this lens i took today for people and other car photographers who are considering this lens.https://www.flickr.com/photos/112859823@N05/

I've been shopping for a zoom telephoto for a year, looking at Canon's choices as well as others from Sigma and Tamron, and I settled on this lens as the best performance-to-price winner. There is a lot to look at, here, so I will try to not write a book and keep it to the facts.First off, this is a true apocromatic lens, meaning the design double-focuses the light through the body to eliminate the prism effect that many lenses see, which is where we see the worst chromatic aberration or color fringing. Images are quite sharp and solid at 250mm, just beginning to show zoom softness at 300mm, and in truth only really noticeable if you are doing large magnification on the image afterwards. For general output, even poster-sized prints, this is captures stunning photos in beautiful color and depth.Zoom range on a Canon APSC sensor body will create an additional magnification, so you will be looking at a real range of 112mm to 480mm. Moon shots or even shooting across a gymnasium enlarge the subject so close it completely changes the style of shooting. This lens is totally compatible with EF and EF-S type cameras, which is a requirement I have for lens purchases as I will be working with both APSC and full frame camera bodies.Even though this doesn't compare to the wide apertured L series lenses, at full zoom this lens still maintains a solid f/5.6, allowing reasonably quick shots without forcing you to push the ISO too far. Daylight shooting is perfect, interior areas that are well lit do very well, but of course dimmer environments will likely force you to increase the shutter to more than 1/320sec, and I wouldn't ever do this without being tripod mounted and using a remote shutter release. Even 1/320sec at max zoom can produce poor images when handheld if you are not entirely stable, and I'd recommend 1/500sec if handheld unless your hands are super stable.The macro system allows shooting at 200-300mm at just over three feet from the sensor, which in truth is amazingly close. Even small objects often have me backing the zoom out closer to 200mm or even backing up to make sure I'm not cropping out. The macro switch can only be engaged at 200mm or larger, and will fix the zoom to that range. Switching back will usually require switching to manual zoom to dial the focus our of the macro range, because if you are focused that near the macro switch will lock.There is no cut-out for full-time manual focus, which can be annoying. Working with the focus while auto is engaged is rough on the motor and can damage the lens, and often useless because the AF system will often correct what you are trying to change. Learn the switch positions and be ready to use them, especially in darker environments which can often upset your camera's AF abilities with long lenses.There is no image stabilization on this lens, but in general I have had zero luck with IS on any long lens. The best stabilization is a solid pro tripod and a remote shutter release, and if you feel you need better, look at the pro lenses with wide apertures to allow for tighter shutter times.As far as aperture softness, this is quite minimal, especially considering the price of this lens, and really aren't dramatic on a crop frame APSC sensor, really only hitting the corners of the full frames. Reducing the aperture to f/8 essentially sharpens everything up, and at F/11 it is rock solid.This lens produces the image quality you expect from a good lens, offers a greater compatibility with camera bodies unlike Canon's EF-S and Tamron's Di II lenses which won't work with full frame cameras. The apochromatic structure pushes image qualities above Canon's mid-grade lineup, and while not as good as the pro lenses, this is far beyond what a hobbyist would necessarily be after, but there is no reason to not buy better than your needs if the price allows. It isn't compatible with the 2x teleconverters directly, but will mount and can be focused manually for incredibly close shots.Be aware that this lens is using a conventional focus motor, so this lens can be loud when focusing, and AF during video recording is absolutely not recommended.For the sub-$200 price range, this is without a doubt the best performer, and in many ways outclasses the more expensive competitors. Well worth it.

I've been using the 18-55 kit lens on my Rebel XT for over a year now and picked up this telephoto lens. Since there are hundreds of reviews on all aspects of the lens I will not repeat a lot. To summarize, I found this lens VERY easy to use and the pictures extremely sharp. Worked out of the box perfectly with my Rebel XT. The focusing motor is a bit buzzy but not much to bother about at all, zoom ring is easy to use and I did NOT find it hard to turn all the way to 300mm as some were saying.Autofocus does NOT hunt and is NOT particularly slow..it's about the same as the kit lens, not sure what people are talking about, perhaps they are unfairly comparing it to a ultrafast professional grade Canon lens 5 times the price which is not exactly a fair comparison. After reading reviews I was expecting very poor autofocus performance but I was pleasantly surprised because indoors with minimal light I was able to autofocus just fine with zero issues! Bokeh at 200mm was quite nice!Quality and finish are very nice and the bag it comes in is a bonus! A word of caution, you should switch the lens to MANUAL FOCUS before you attach the lens hood because otherwise you will turn the focus motor manually which could damage it.It's a beautiful little unit and highly recommended! I am extremely happy with my purchase. I think it's one of the best buys in it's class/price point and the perfect choice for a first telephoto lens.