Sigma f5.6 400mm APO Lens

[digitalfilm]

I'm thinking of buying a used Sigma f5.6 400mm APO lens. Has anyone any comments or experience of this lens?

I guess it's a fairly old lens as you don't see it on any of the Sigma websites any more, will it work OK with my D60?

[RichardtheSane]

Make sure thelens will AF and also that the aperture will stop down before you hand the cash over.

This lens is old, and old Sigma's often need re-chipping to work on canon DSLR's - if Sigma can actually peform the upgrade.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Indeed the chances are very bad that it will work at all with your camera,. I'd avoid it I'm afraid.

[quadphoto]

Beware try it on the camera before you purchase, my old Sigma 400 5.6 APO would not work on my 300D, I contacted Sigma and asked if it could be Re-Chipped, there answer was sorry but no, we have stoped making updated Chip's for that lens. Quadphoto

[condyk]

I also contacted Sigma on same issue as these lenses are commonly available at cheap prices on ebay and I can confirm what quadphoto says above.

I also tried an older 500mm Sigma today and got error99. I guess that's why they're so cheap these days ...

[ScottE]

Sigma made a series of 400/5.6 APO lenses. I had one of the earlier series and used it for several years. I eventually sold it when I got the Sigma 50-500 because it was not as sharp and had much slower autofocus. The guy I sold it to used it for a while, the got an Elan 7 film camera. The lens would not work on that camera and Sigma was not able to upgrade the chip. I doubt that it would work on the current crop of digital cameras and don't know whether Sigma has devised a chip replacement. Considering the age of the lens, I doubt it.

Subsequent 400/5.6 APO lenses from Sigma were named "Macro" and "Macro HSM". I would be surprised if the HSM version would not function on the current Canon digital cameras. I believe Sigma has been more fortunate with all their HSM series lenses.

People I have talked to who had the HSM version of the lens were very happy with it.

Scott