Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 or Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 for sports???

I used the Sigma 24-70 for kiddie U6 soccer and it's alright. Focus is plenty fast for this type of sport. However, if you're shooting indoor volleyball then it may not cut it as the action is very fast. For Cheerleading I think it's fine as long as they don't keep doing blackflip all the time

condyk wrote:
Well, that's definately true I guess in your case. Your mind is made up Sending a faulty anything back and getting a replacement is just what happens in life, whether it's a lens, kettle, CD, whatever. If that stuff really annoys you then I guess it annoys you.

I had a Sigma 80-400 OS that had a problem and I sent it back, doesn't mean I think all other 80-400 OS's are bad. I had some Canon zoom about 3 years back that just packed in within 4 months or so. We read every day here about problems with this and that: doesn't matter about brand or whether lens, camera body, grip, flash, IS motor, whatever. If you want to generalise then Ok. Personally I think the results of that survey are pro Tamron lens: perception is strange eh? Be great to see the results of a similar survey for the 24-70 L Doubt it would be too different.

No, there is no generalizing here! You think a 17% failure rate is O.K. for a persons hard earned money and I think 2% might be acceptable "if handled correctly". How about this for the great Tamrons out there, the owner of the camera shop I bought it at couldn't even get a call back from his Tamron rep so this could get rectified. That to me says bad lens & bad company. Also do you really think brand does not matter? Do you really think the failure rates of Toyota are the same % as Hyundai, how about Sony as opposed to Sanyo, Canon to Samsung...

Three out of my six Canon L series lenses have failed or been faulty - that would be a 50% failure rate. 2 out of 2 of my Canon dSLR bodies have failed. That would be a 100% failure rate. One lens took ten and a half weeks to fix under Canon's "professional" repair scheme.

What conlcusions should I draw?

Buy Hyundai next time

I really don't mean this to be mean at all "serious" but in the US this kind of thing is not tolerated. People here will not accept 17% or 50% or 100% before flaming out in furry. I am not advocating going only with canon but I think knowledge is power and if I were you I would have already switched to Nikon based on what you have shared here. BTW I am not "currently" a Nikon person. Am I all alone on this? Anybody else have an opinion?

My Tamron performs outstanding, but I wouldn't use it as a sports lens. Don't get caught on the "bad copy" talk. There are some bad copies of every lens made, and people tend to let you know if they think they have one of those; opposed to the many that are happy with theirs, that you don't hear about. You will find that there are some that are "really" loyal to Canon and that is fine for them. Many know that there are alternatives out there, and yes sometimes a much cheaper price means that you get a lens that might not be built as sturdy as the "L". I do know that the "L" are in many cases the way the go, but there are those times that it doesn't call for it. The Sigma or Tamron are both nice lenses that can be considered a good walk around lens.

The said poll was not specifically about the failure rate of the Tamron lens. I would venture to say that the poll was referring to image quality issues and to be more specific focusing and sharpness issues. Failure rate does not necessarily mean image quality issues and vice versa because of the fact that sharpness is in a lot of ways very subjective. One person's idea of a sharp lens/image is another person's unacceptable. Also, I wouldn't put too much faith into a poll with only 72 respondents which isn't nearly enough to get even a semi-accurate result. 72 respondents with a 17% negative result could easily be 50 respondents with a 25% negative result. 17% vs 25% is pretty wide margin of error.

With the case of the alleged rep who didn't call back, are you absolutely positively certain that he didn't call back? Or could it have been the owner of the shop that forgot to follow up with it and not wanting to look bad for HIS customer, passed the buck to someone else? Even if the rep DID forget to call back, how does that equate to "bad lens & bad company"? This could've been an isolated case of an employee who didn't care and was a "paycheck collector". I'm sure you along with everyone here have known such a person having worked with, for or managed such a person. Does this mean that every company is bad?

As far as your brand comparisons, FWIW here's what JD Power has to say:

JD Power 2004 Initial Quality Study (problems per 100 vehicles, lower = better)

102 Honda
102 Hyundai
104 Toyota (not including Lexus/Scion)

Surprised that Hyundai actually topped Toyota?

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JD Power 2005 U.S. Wireless Mobile Phone Evaluation (higher = better):

5 Stars - LG
5 Stars - Sanyo
4 Stars - Samsung
3 Stars - Motorola
2 Stars - Nokia
2 Stars - Sony/Ericsson

Surprised to see LG, Sanyo, and Samsung on top of Motorola, Nokia and Sony?

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2005 Digital Camera Ratings (less than $600):

Kodak topped all other makes by a wide margin, surprise surprise.

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2005 Digital Camera Ratings (greater than $600):

5 Stars - Canon
4 Stars - Nikon
3 Stars - Sony
2 Stars - Olympus

No surprises here. It's a well known fact that Canon leads the DSLR field followed by a Nikon in distant second.

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^^LG at top, not anymore. They've done a great job on moving up. A lot of Verizon's best phones come from LG, like the VX6000.

Sanyo, does make parts for Nikon though.

For sure Tamron rep notified several times with only 1 call back but then no follow through, bad focus is FAILURE, Hyundi is horrible if you look at more than the last couple of good years, Samsung does make good phones, I actually meant their cameras, never seen or heard of a GOOD Kodak camera under $500.00 in the last 5 years.

There are exceptions to every rule my friend.

I spent 2 continuous years on the road and experienced everything (other than intense cold and blizzard) from Monsoons in Sri Lanka to the blazing heat of the Australian Outback and the Kalahari. I first had a Kodak 240 and then traded it in for a 280 model. I had total confidence in both and the shots I took during that period, numbering thousands, still rank amongst my very favourites. I still have the 280 and it works great. GOOD camera's? Of course

condyk wrote:
There are exceptions to every rule my friend.

I spent 2 continuous years on the road and experienced everything (other than intense cold and blizzard) from Monsoons in Sri Lanka to the blazing heat of the Australian Outback and the Kalahari. I first had a Kodak 240 and then traded it in for a 280 model. I had total confidence in both and the shots I took during that period, numbering thousands, still rank amongst my very favourites. I still have the 280 and it works great. GOOD camera's? Of course

You must be so proud!