Sigma 17-70mm f2.8/4.5 arrived - test

[willy b]

Well it arrived this moring, got it second hand of ebay for £145 includding P&P. Which i thought ws a good price.

It is in perfect condidtion both optically and cosmetically!

I put in on, and wow, where has this lens been all my life, it is fooking ace!! So sharp, and so so so so so so much better quality than teh kit lens, which this is replacing! Really is a super lens!

Doing some test shots it seems very sharp, uber sharp at f5.6 and f8

I should be going out tomorrow for soem propper pics! but at the moment i'm SO happy with it!

So is it a sharp copy? i think it is!

No pp done, just resising, and the border

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Macro capabilities (think this will work well with my set of extension tubes)

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Crop time
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100% crop of 7
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[Mazu]

Congrats! Got mine yesterday too, haven´t had time to test it yet thogh We have to remember to post example shots for the 17-70 archive asap Enjoy it!

[willy b]

Thanks, yeh i will be sure to stock up the archive

[hoser]

mines on the truck and should be here any minute now... ive been having second thoughts about the 17-70 because of the 24-70 due to the constant 2.8 but from the looks of things this lens is gonna make me happy.

thanks for posting!

[Just Be]

Geez! Is there a sale on or something?
Nice choice. I've been very pleased with mine after 6 months now. Keep the lens hood that comes with it, on at all times. It's saved my glass more than once.

Yes, the sweet spot seems to be 20mm and higher at 5.6-8. I bought a Hoya Pro CPL for it and I'm glad I did.

Enjoy!

[Just Be]

Originally Posted by hoser

mines on the truck and should be here any minute now... ive been having second thoughts about the 17-70 because of the 24-70 due to the constant 2.8 but from the looks of things this lens is gonna make me happy.

thanks for posting!

It's nice to have the 17mm when you need it. Even 2.8 isn't going to give you very low light capability anyway. Now if it came with 1.8, that would be different.

[e r y k]

mine is currently OUT FOR DELIVERY !

i hope mine will be just like yours

[Nick_C]

[Willy b], the Sigma 17-70 isnt very good with extension tubes, you will find that the minimum focus distance becomes just too close to be usuable & doesnt let much light onto the subject because of the shadow cast from the lens being so close.

The 17-70 is a very good lens, I compared mine to my 24-105L lens & all this talk about the L lenses having better colour & contrast is hyped up a LOT, I took 2 identical images on the L & then on the 17-70, colour & contrast were identical.

Nick

[willy b]

Originally Posted by Nick_C

[Willy b], the Sigma 17-70 isnt very good with extension tubes, you will find that the minimum focus distance becomes just too close to be usuable & doesnt let much light onto the subject because of the shadow cast from the lens being so close.

The 17-70 is a very good lens, I compared mine to my 24-105L lens & all this talk about the L lenses having better colour & contrast is hyped up a LOT, I took 2 identical images on the L & then on the 17-70, colour & contrast were identical.

Nick

Ooo that is a good point! never really occured to me!

I really am happy with this lens, think it was a brilliant buy! As you say, it could be a L in discuise (sp?)

[Nick_C]

Originally Posted by willy b

it could be a L in discuise (sp?)

Indeed! ive had some very good results from my 17-70, just a damn shame it isnt a FF lens, my Sigma 55-200 also says DC & only works on cropped cameras, but I tried it on my 5D & it works just fine, no major problems, where as the 17-70 just doesnt have any glass at the edges, so it doesnt work very well on a 5D at all, big black borders.

Nick

[Cadwell]

There must be a fire sale on

I got one delivered today. It back focuses unacceptably at 70mm so it is going back and they are sending a replacement. We will see if that is any better.

[brettjrob]

Congrats! I've been extremely pleased with the sharpness of my copy as well. Still not quite sold on its color reproduction, though. I know this sounds weird, but it seems to struggle to bring out the vivid greens in foliage and blue skies even more than my kit lens did, but it can generally be compensated for in PP.

Enjoy!

[Nick_C]

Originally Posted by brettjrob

Congrats! I've been extremely pleased with the sharpness of my copy as well. Still not quite sold on its color reproduction, though. I know this sounds weird, but it seems to struggle to bring out the vivid greens in foliage and blue skies even more than my kit lens did, but it can generally be compensated for in PP.

Enjoy!

That's strange as ive compared my 17-70 to my L lens which costs considerably more than the Sigma, colour & contrast were the same, although to be fair I never conducted any range of tests, only 1 shot on each lens, maybe the 17-70 will lose some of the colour when in certain light conditions.

Overall though its hard to beat..

Nick

[jcw122]

Looks great! Even the macro is very nice. Wow.

[willy b]

I thought overall the colour is brilliant on teh 17-70, much better than this kit lens!

Mian bonus is now i look more like a pro just need a white lens now, and then it is practicly my job