Sigma 80-400mm or Canon 100-400mm?

[RbrtPtikLeoSeny]

Hello everyone, I'm going to be buying a Canon 20D soon, and I want a really good telephoto zoom. I was thinking about maybe the 75-300mm IS or the Canon 100-400mm, but today I found this:

Sigma 80-400mm for $999.00 that's 400 cheaper than the canon 100-400 so it's tempting...... anyone have this? Is it any good? Think it's worth the 400 in savings? and it would work with the 20D right? Is it good for free hand shooting?

Any lens better than all these?

Anything ya know, please share. Thanks for the help everyone.

[Bruce Watson]

This comes up regularly on the forum. I have the Sigma and like it.

But, I have not used the Canon 100-400 personally. The general upshot of previous threads is the Canon has a definite advantage in focus speed.

Some prefer the Canon push/pull zoom, others like the Sigma twist.

If you search this forum, or PBase, you will examples taken with both lenses. I have seen some very nice, sharp shots coming out of both, aside from my own experience.

For my purpose, the Sigma was a good value and, like you, the price difference of $400 was a consideration.

[ScottE]

If they had put an HSM autofocus motor with full time manual override on the Sigma 80-400 it would have been a real competitor for the Canon 100-400. Since they didn't I would still choose the Canon 100-400 over the Sigma 80-400.

For my purposes I chose the Sigma 50-500 as being the best. Why didn't they just bring out an OS version of the 50-500? There would be no doubt as to which would be the best lens then.

Scott

[pcasciola]

Any lens better than all these?There's always a better lens, but better is hard to define. In my opinion the Sigma 120-300mm is better than the 3 you are looking at here. Much faster and far more versatile, and only lacks OS. It's a constant f/2.8 throughout the zoom range, and with a 1.4x TC is remains a very sharp 170-420mm f/4, still a full stop faster than the 80-400 or 100-400. It's over $2,000 though, but is still at the top of my wish list. Now, that lens with OS would be my dream lens.

[RbrtPtikLeoSeny]

Hm, yea, the 120-300mm is probably a wee bit out of my league..... the Sigma 50-500mm sounds sweet though! I didn't even know about this one. Same exact price as the Sigma 80-400 as well..... hmmmm some what tempting.... What are the advantages and disadvantages between the two?
Hm, ScottE's post was sort of persuading as well though...... is there anyone who thinks that the extra $400 for the Canon 100-400L is very much worth it?