27.1.2014

For nearly the last four years I have used the Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 as my standard middle of the range zoom lens. (I wouldn't describe any lens as a 'walkabout' lens as such as I don't mind walking around with a telephoto either). I intended this as a direct replacement for that lens, so will make most of my comparisons to it.I also own the Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 which is pretty decent for the ultra wide shots and for certain kinds of shots would use in preference to this.However, the tamron, 28mm at its widest, had never been quite wide enough. So when I upgraded from a 30D to a 60D, I decided to have a look at alternative lenses.What I really wanted was a constant f/2.8 in the same sort of range as the tamron but going out to at least 20mm - but let's face it, that was always a pipe dream. There are similar lenses that go up to 50 or 55mm, but that little extra reach is essential for me.Then I found this lens which doesn't get far off of that. Unlike the tamron this lens is only for Crop bodies, but if you don't have any plans to go to full frame there's nothing to worry about.. It is a unique zoom range that I don't believe is directly matched by any other manufacturer for canon, but it's exactly what I was looking for.I looked through my catalogue in lightroom and found the number of shots I actually took at the wider apertures and found that there were very few between f/2.8 and f/4. Additionally, this lens has Image Stabilisation (aka OS) which means as long as I'm not trying to shoot action, the 'low-light' advantages of the 1-stop wider aperture of the Tamron at the long end is negated by the potential 4-stop IS (I've managed to get a few sharp shots at 1/6s at the long end, but obviously the keeper rate is still going to be lower). Besides which, there's always the 50 mm f/1.8 for those moments where you really want a wide aperture.This is the new 'Contemporary' version of the sigma 17-70 which is now on its third revision. I haven't owned any previous ones, but this one is a new construction with a different number of elements and the new all silver styling - which looks a lot more like a canon EF-S lens - but with much better build quality than your average kit lens.The zoom ring is sturdy, if a little stiff, so there is no chance of zoom creep... The focus ring doesn't rotate far which increases the difficulty of manual focusing slightly but is in no way a deal breaker. Focusing is reasonably fast and much quieter than the tamron. I've noticed it hunt a little in low light. The filter ring doesn't rotate on focusing, meaning polarizers are easy to use.The lens is light weight at ~470g and would balance well on any prosumer or consumer body.The f/2.8 at the wide end is impressive and going to f/4 at the long end makes it basically the fastest lens around for Canon at this sort of budget and zoom range - for example the Canon 17-85mm same budget but f/4-5.6 and considered to be lacking in image quality, or the Canon EF-S 15-85 f/3.5-5.6 closer in speed, and a longer range in both directions, but nearly £200 more and pretty comparable image quality.Speaking of image quality - the sharpness is excellent in the centre. It lacks slightly in the corners but despite obsessing slightly over testing it out, I've yet to encounter a real world situation where this actually matters. It is no worse than the tamron as far as I can tell.Chromatic Aberration is there, but a checkbox in lightroom solves that one. Ditto for distortion.Contrast and colour reproduction are good (better than my canon 55-250 which can feel a little flat)And not only is the focal length range good, but the focusing distance is impressive too (to the extent that the lens hood can interfere with your subject if it's on), meaning you can get reasonable macro style shots. It's not real macro, but for me I have a 50mm lens + kenko extension tubes for dealing with that.One last interesting point is that it's compatible with the Sigma Dock which can be purchased separately to attach the lens to the computer and provide advanced control over focusing adjustments, should it not focus well on your body. I've yet to find any problem with focussing so have not looked to purchase one...Overall I have no hesitation in recommending this as an all round general purpose zoom lens. I applaud Sigma for producing a lens that ticks almost all the boxes. For anyone who wants a lens that can go longer than 50mm, but doesn't want to pay through the nose (which definitely sounds like quite a painful way of paying) or suffer inferior image quality, this is easily the best choice. What negative points there are are very minor in the real world. I was torn between 4 stars and 5 stars, because at this budget it's very difficult to fault, but equally at this budget it can never be perfect. For that reason I give it 4.49 stars, which is rounded to 4 starsDon't forget to register the three year UK warranty online - but make sure you buy directly from amazon or a reputable seller as third party sellers are not covered by this.

11.4.2014

Firstly I am only a keen amateur, but like you might be doing now, I laboured over this purchase for ages and read reviews until I was sick of them, but I'm very glad that I eventually went for this lens. I will detail my buying process to help those who may be considering similar things.Before buying, I had the F/1.8G 35mm Nikon Prime (which I love!), and the 18-55mm kit lens for my D3200. I was originally planning to go for the Sigma 18-250 superzoom for a walk about lens and kit lens upgrade, but thinking about it, I would very rarely need a superzoom as I never really photograph sports and I don't go on safaris anywhere near as often as I would like! So I started to look at the 16-85 Nikon,this 17-70 Sigma or the 17-50 2.8 Sigma. I quickly discounted the 16-85 as I figured it was quite expensive for a relatively slower aperture and seemed quite an old model, compared to the two Sigmas.All the reviews I had read on the 17-70 had been very positive, my concern however would be that I love my prime so much that I just won't ever use this. Of course as I'm sure you are aware, every lens is a compromise, so I decided the 17-70 had the most features that I wanted. The reasons I decided to go for this are listed below and these reasons have proved to be good choices having used it for some time now...Good, fast aperture (nb: is only F/2.8 at 17mm). Also 4.0 at 70mm is definitely enough to allow a nice blur on your photosMacro capability: even though not full macro, good enough for an amateur like meWeight: at 465g (Amazon's weight listing of 544g is wrong) it is at the max I would want for a lens personally, especially when being used to the prime lens. The other two lens I was considering were heavier. It is definitely weighty, but just about OK for walking around without getting uncomfortable.Looks: not essential at all of course, but it is a seriously good looking lens!So discounting the 16-85 earlier, I choose this over the 17-50 Sigma as I figured for low light conditions, i.e. indoors taking pictures of my baby, I would still just use the prime lens, so 2.8 throughout the entire range wasn't essential, and I would rather have an extra 20mm of reach, which does make quite a difference.Is it better than my Nikon kit lens?...Definitely, the increased aperture speed makes an important difference and that combined with the extra reach and the macro make it a very worth while purchase. I find the auto focus much faster and very rarely "hunts" and is very quiet, sometimes outperforming my prime. Can't say I notice a massive difference in sharpness between this and the kit but I am only an amateur.Is it better/sharper than my 1.8 prime?... Well no, but of course my prime is only one focal length. And actually the difference isn't as glaring as I thought it might be. Prime is perhaps a touch brighter and sharper, but you'd expect that and compromise of the other abilities it gives you makes it well worth investing in this as well as the prime.So all in all, very happy with my purchase and enjoy using it in many different situations that my prime would struggle with.

3.6.2014

I've got to pretty much reiterate what some of the other reviewers have put up. This lens is great.Ever since I bought my first DSLR, I've been hoarding various bits and bobs, without knowing too much about what I was doing. This included lenses. At any one stage, I've had three lenses, often I would disregard two of them and stick to the first.I've also been a bit of a lens snob until I've bought this; I've had both Tamron and Sigma lenses in the past, but only briefly to opt for the Nikon equivalents, so coming to this lens was a big leap for me (it really shouldn't have been).I contemplated long and hard and after a recent holiday where I'd got some very good (IMO) photos,

30.9.2015

I have tested most of the mid-range zooms for my Sony a99II and have found this to be the most preferable... the Sony/Zeiss 16-80mm isvery good if you can get a good copy and the Sony 16-50mm is also good if you aren't concerned about the moustache distortion at wide angle.Sorry, this is meant to be about the Sigma... all in all I'm very pleased, it isn't at its best between 17-20mm so I just do as I always have done... I zoom myself back.Distortion is acceptable and fairly easy to fix and set at optimum apertures, edge and corners are fine depending on how big you're going to printof course.Using the macro I have found that the a99II won't allow 'manual focus magnification mode'

3.12.2013

Unsure if I was doing the right thing, I sold my Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 (non-IS), which had been my most common walk-around lens, and my Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 macro, in order to fund buying this.While I love working with prime lenses, I'm finding the convenience of this zoom lens great; the focal-length is very handy, with the longer end (compared to, say, the excellent but more expensive Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens) of up to 70mm proving good for the odd portrait.This lens has proved a great replacement for the macro lens, focusing extremely closely (almost to the end of the hood, and not much further away than the Canon macro), and while it's not quite as sharp as the 60mm,

8.11.2014

After my huge disappointment with the Nikkor 35 - 70 mm lens, I began to explore other possibilities.I became enthusiastic about finding a Lens that I could use for Street Photography, so when I chanced upon the Sigma 17 - 70 mm, I began to think that this might be a great possibility. I took the leap of faith and purchased this lens. Having purchased other Lenes from Sigma and been highly delighted with the build, functionality and also image quality, I began to feel optimistic about this particular product.Well, today, I took this lens for a spin, paired with my D90 and I have to say, this lens is absolutely superb. The size of the lens is quite small and compact,

27.11.2013

Just wanted to post this review to point out some of the issues with this Sigma on the Nikon D5300 ( an probably other bodies as well, some google research revealed D7100 has similar problems )I'd like to start with the cons:I bought this lens with the USB dock so I could upgrade to firmware to 1.0.2 which claims ([...] to make it fully functional with the Nikon D5300 bodyI have to say it is NOT 100% functional, here are some annoying glitches:- the lens doesn't let the body go into standby until 1 minute this causes various other issues:- image preview timeout settings are ignored and preview is always displayed for exactly 1 minute- until that magical 1 minute elapses the continues scrolling doesn't work in playback,

24.8.2014

I bought this as I wanted a general purpose walk around lens and hadn't been impressed with the Canon kit lenses I had in the past. This lens is also f/2.8-f/4 so quicker than the kit lenses.The first thing I noticed with the lens was the beautiful build quality. This lens feels really solid in the hand and compares very well with L series lenses I have had (not quite as good, but not far off). To quantify this, the lens recently fell 6ft off a bird table on to garden decking and isn't marked at all and still works perfectly.The image quality is also great. Images are sharp, the colours are lovely and the bokeh is good. Focusing is quick and silent.The lens is also reasonably small and light so great for traveling.I had considered the tamron 17-50 2.8,

4.7.2016

Purchased for a Canon 600D - it's a great lens. I bought it to replace the 18-55mm kit lens and it's in a whole different league, the quality of images is far superior - depth of field, sharpness, colours are more vibrant - it beats the kit lens in every aspect. The macro ability is very impressive too, especially with being able to zoom in at 70mm.I spent a great deal of time researching and reading reviews, considering Canon 24-70, 24-105 L lenses, as well as the Sigma 17-50. I ruled out the Canon lenses due to their price and not wanting to lose the wide angle of 17-24 - better on a crop sensor, despite having a wide angle lens 10-18mm.

7.9.2013

I pondered over what to do with my lenses for ages and like most photography enthusiasts read every review going before deciding.I already had the nikon 18 105 and 50 f1.8.I used the 18 105 a lot as a walk around and the 50 for portraits. I like the 18 105 as it's great for the money but I wasn't keen on the build.as I'm usually very busy I found I wasn't hardly using the 50mm although it's a great lens.I therefore decided to sell up and get something that would combine the two.I looked at the sigma 17 50 f2.8 and the nikon 16 85 and finally got this one. All I can say is, I'm glad I did.this lens is very sharp, probably as sharp as the 50, which is the new version, at most apertures.

11.11.2013

I bought this to replace a Canon 17-85 which had lost the ability to auto focus, a common problem for this lens due to poor design causing a failure of the internal ribbon cable. Because of this I was reluctant to pay a premium for a Canon replacement product and so decided to try the Sigma lens. The lens looked to be well made but after taking a variety of test shots with the lens I was distinctly unimpressed with the lack of sharpness at any aperture despite being used in what should have been ideal conditions.After briefly considering trying a different brand I decided to return the lens to Amazon in exchange for a replacement. I then repeated the test shots with the replacement lens and compared the two results.What a difference!

28.6.2019

I bought this as a gift for my partner as an upgrade to the kit lens that came with her Nikon D5500 and she is very impressed. Although the kit lens was good, the Sigma is significantly clearer, with the pictures showing much more detail - especially in the distance of landscape shots where the kit lens struggled a bit. Macro shots are quite spectacular and the auto-focus is very fast and pretty accurate, but can be easily switched to manual mode if needed.The attached picture is a simple shot taken with automatic settings for reference.We unfortunately had to send the first Sigma lens back because there was a small amount of dist actually inside it when it arrived,

12.11.2013

I had Canon 17-85mm kit lens with 60d. I was looking to upgrade to faster lens with good IQ.And narrowed down to canon 17-55mm .Also considered other 17-50mm lens out there. Then i saw this newer 17-70mm lens and there were not so many reviews out there. But i am glad i purchased this lens. And 3 years warranty from Sigma makes it sweet deal.I havn't tried 17-55mm but i belive overall it beats that lens. Image quality is superb. Price is resonable and it beats all other 17-50mm lens out there.Nice Bokeh.Good Macro performance. Also i use polaroid extension tubes as well and that works with this lens.Image stabilisation,

29.6.2013

I sold my Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens and Sigma 18-250 Macro on e-bay to buy this lens. The 50mm was a Prime - very sharp but no good for travelling. The Sigma 18-250 had an enormous range but the images were quite soft - less sharp than a Kodak compact camera! The new Sigma 17-70 is amazing! Sharp as the Canon 50mm Prime with no front or back focusing problems. (I think the Sigma 18-250 had a back focus problem?). Build quality is great and very solid with a nice weight and balances well on my Canon 700D. Image quality is superb - full of colour with little barrel or pin-cushion distortion. I slightly miss the extended range of the 18-250 Sigma but the much better image quality and the ability to take sharp pictures in lower light f/2.8 more than makes up for it.

7.9.2019

I love this lens. I used it to shoot a friend's wedding and it's versatility was great. I know professional reviews say that like most zoom lenses it has faults in the accuracy of reproduction, but these are not hugely noticable to the naked eye and most abberations can easily be fixed in Lightroom or similar post processing software if it bothers you. Colour repro. is top class in my opinion. One thing the zoom ring is quite heavy to use but it does stop the lens self zooming due to gravity. In any case, you soon get use to it when you get photographing. It comes with lens caps and a hood as shown. I am amatuer photographer of many years I only have modest kit but this lens gives me the ability to raise my game.

Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 DC Makro OS HSM C - Reviews

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