What doesn't Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 offer?

grego wrote:
Hey just like me. I usually carry a market, plastic bag in my camera bag for those occasions. Although with a 200, you can pretty much cover the whole cam, but that weather proofing does come in handy. Ghetto fabulous!

Just a plastic bag works. Nice thing! I wish there were lenses marked with "water resistant 100m, shockproof, bulletproof, earthquakeproof".

There have been debates in my mind on which lens to go for between Canon and Sigma. They are close, with a big difference in price. The Canon lets me squeeze the last 10% of optical quality and operability, but how can I pay more than 3 times of money to get it? It hurts my wallet much! I haven't tried a Sigma, so I don't know how the AF on it behaves. Perhaps it's not so loud as a bumble bee, but I don't like the cluth design. I'd prefer a slide button design.

Positive: a $360 price tag FEELs realllllly GOOOOOD in your hand and you can stand next the to Canon guy with confident.

Negative: you CAN NOT use it underwater, hehehehe...

lol.mine got a good dousing thismorning.Glad its not a sigma,it still works.

It is clumsy to switch to MF with both the switch and clutch. I've had it a while and this still frustrates me - have not gotten used to it.

And I think mine has focusing issues on my 20D - something I have read a lot about.

Positive: Image, handling (except 2 switched to MF but that doesn't bother me), value (note value not Price! - object to paying just for an L to say I have an L lens when the quality is comparable!)

Negative: 82mm filter if you use filters, AF is a little noisy (buit not slow in my short experience)

I also don't care for the manual focus, and the AF is a little loud, but for the difference in price, I can live with those small allowances. Had the difference only been about $100 or so, I would have chosen the Canon.

It's mainly the price difference and comparable image quality that attracts me to the Sigma. For the price difference I can buy 3 Sigma's for one Canon's. Therefore I can save money to buy something else. The 82mm filter doesn't make me problems because I mainly use Cokin filters which fit all diameters. But what a stupid design to do 2 steps to switch between AF and MF.

Is light falloff at corners serious with aperture wide open at 24mm and 70mm? I guess that distortion is noticeable even in Canon, because zooms are likely to produce more conspicuous distortion.

I'm no expert but as the Sigma is a FF compatible lens, I would be very surprised if there would be any light fall off with an APS-c sensor SLR...

I like Canon's hood design that hides the extended part of the lens. But anyone has experience in using a circular PL with the hood? At 70mm is the hood so deep that makes turning the CPL difficult?

I'd like to know light falloff and distortion in Sigma 24-70mm because I may switch to full frame or 1.3x one day. That would be a different story from 1.6x crop factor cameras.

If weatherproofing is an issue, I always carry this with me. http://www.stormjacket​.com/

Makes weatheproofing a non-issue.

Given how close the Sigma and Canon are optically its a no-brainer to me. The price differential between these two is just ridiculous. My local Jessops had one of the Sigmas at £199.95 (usually £299.95) and the Canon at £969.99. The price difference buys you a 10-20mm and a 150mm macro. Like I said...no brainer.

Except like I said, be prepared for a copy that may have problems on a 20D. I will likely send mine for calibaration because I so want to believe that this lens can produce the results many say it can. But if it comes back no better it's getting replaced with another brand.

Don't forget though, Nezmo, that Canons 24-70 has also been the subject of some quite heated discussion regards to quality variations and the lens I myself am considering as a walkaround, the 24-105L, had a recall.
You made a good choice with the Sigma and have just been a little unlucky. Sure it'll work out for you.

The best way to find what the Sigma doesn't offer is to go to a shop and try it out. I'll likely try it out in the future soon.