I bought the Digital Rebel with the lens kit 18-55mm. So I was in need of a telephoto lens. I have owned a few Canon lens from my film SLR Rebel a few years ago, but sold them. So I decide to go with Sigma which has some good ratings better than the Canon lens around the same price. I had the Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM-$170.00 before and the Sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 APO-$204.00 has better reviews and ratings. Plus the Macro with the Sigma is a nice feature. There are 3 different version of the Sigma 70-300 the DL and the older APO which doesn't have the red line around the end.
When I first opened it up it came with a hood and a nice carrying case with a belt loop. I will not use it instead just put the lens in my camera bag. The case is huge, big enough for most P&S cameras. The hood might cause interference with the built in flash on the Rebel due to it's size. The lens is 20.6oz and 8.2" long when fully extended and add another 2 inches with the hood installed.
Here is the Specs:
Construction 10 Groups /14 Elements
Angle of view 34.3°-8.2°
F stop range 22-32
Closest Focusing Distance 150 macro (95)cm/59.1 macro (37.4)"
Maximum Magnification 1:4 macro (1:2)
Filter Size 58mm
Dimensions (Length x Diameter) 74.5 x 119.5mm / 2.9 x 4.7"
Full Extended Length 208.3mm / 8.2"
Weight 585g / 20.6oz.
I was use to the 18-55mm kit lens and when I snapped this lens to the body you had some weight to contend with. But don't let that keep you from this lens. I have only taken around 25 shot so far and for the price this lens can't be beat. Being F4-5.6 it's not the fastest and has a little trouble with auto focus in very dark situations. But that's not a problem for me. I have not used it on an overcast day yet, but today being bright and sunny the auto focus worked great. The DOF was nice coming from a F4-5.6 much better than expected from me. It takes a little getting use to the normal/macro switch, you have to make sure the lens is fully extended for it to switch easily.
The zoom is nice and tight with no slack or zoom creep, that being expected from a new lens. There is no zoom lock feature. I added a 58mm Tiffen UV filter for protection. The hood comes off and goes on easily with or without the filter, the only drawback is with the hood installed the lens cap is hard to get on and off. With the lack of HSM or USM as Canon calls it, was still a fairly quiet lens and AF speed was moderate. The lens shell is a hard plastic with a nice semi soft rubber zoom and AF grip rings. It seem to be built rugged and fairly smooth mechanically.
On my scale of 1-5, 5 being the best I would rate this at 4.5 with the price being an added factor. It is worth $300.00 in my book.
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by Bada Bing  edited by Psychephylax
last modified: 2004-07-08 17:42:05 |
