Sigma 28-105 f2.8-4 asph. IF

Today I went shopping for some new toys.

Because I don't have the budget yet for L-lenses, although I'm checking the secondhand market closely. I opted for something within the $ 400,00 range to complement my Sigma 70-210 f 2.8 apo which should arrive here tomorrow.

The idea was to get a lens better than my Canon EF 35-105 f4.5-5.6 lens and the possibility to use it in bad light or with a 2x extender.

The sales person pointed me to the Sigma 28-105 and because the price was very low, arround $ 249,00, I did not bite and looked first at some other lenses.

After a while I decided to give the Sigma a chance and left the store with it.

It's outperformes the canon EF 35-105 with ease and is quite a bit sharper, faster and the pictures are more lively, although color saturation is a bit less (the canon was almost too much), Saturation +2 gives the same results as the canon in that department.

The tests were done inside with a wooden object placed on a table with a pen in front of it, focus was on the wooden subject in shot 1 and on the pen in shot 2.
Shots were done with flash, between F4 and F8 and in the same conditions (RAW).

On the LCD there was no real difference to see.

When downloaded into photoshop the Sigma had the edge over the Canon in 20%-30% more sharpness.

The real surprise came when using USM.
With the canon lens the preview did not change or changed only slight with settings below 1 pixel, on the Sigma shot a setting of 0.7 pixels still gave a rather good effect. This should mean the resolution of the lens is good (if I understood correctly).

Why this mini review.

I know a lot of people want L-lenses or more expensive than they can afford at the moment, to kill that time I think this Sigma is an amazing deal. I think that in about 6 months I can buy what I really want, untill that time this one will carry me everywhere.

Greetings,
Frank

Thanks for that review J.A.

I too have a number of Sigma lenses all of which perform very well!

I think the newer Sigma lenses have a lot to offer. They are VERY different from most of the older ones that many remeber.

I just had the misfortune of trying an Older Sigma lens.

It was the Sigma 500mm f/4.5 APO

At one point this was Sigmas most expensive lens. The New EX version sells for $3,200.00 @ B&H and is an excellent lens.

If any of Sigma's older lenses are any good,. then this would has to be? Right?

Crap! The Autofocus is the worst I have used on any lens. Period!

It hunted and hunted and the amount of time it took to focus from close to infinity was the longest I have ever expeirienced. For a Sports or wildlife lens, (which is the ONLY reason to have a 500mm prime! ) the lens would be useless as it takes so long to acheive focus!

The focus motor sounds like a broken jet engine. The Image quality I understand is still very good,. but if you can't get the shot in the first place who cares.

Compared to my New EX series lenses this thing was a very expensive peice of junk. My 50-500mm Zoom's focus is silent and nearly instantaneous.

It just goes to show that Sigma is NOT what it used to be,. they are in fact a whole lot better!!!!!!

J.A.,

Do you have any sample pics you can post? I am looking at a 10D and am very curious to see samples of as many different lenses as possible.

Thanks,

Hi,

Follow my homepage icon and you will see some shots, but not yet with the new lens, this weekend I will visit the zoo and some shots WILL be there by then.

Greetings,
Frank