Sigma 50-150

Can any of our resident lens hoarders offer comments on this? I'm looking at it as an alternative to the DA*50-135, because I have an opportunity to get a new one (of the Sigmas) at a very reasonable price. Mechanically I'm happy with it (lose weathersealing, but get faster and more reliable HSM), but what is the optical quality like? Since I really don't like SDM my alternative is likely to be saving for a (new or used) FA77 rather than the DA*50-135 itself.

Mike had both lenses, I'm sure he can give you some advice or look for it with the search option. I believed he posted photos side by side once.

As for HSM vs SDM, what is the difference?

The HSM on the 50-150 is supposed to be very fast.

Also, Sigma's HSM is more reliable than Pentax SDM. There is no way of knowing how common SDM failures are, but many more people buy Sigma lenses - due to them being multiformat - and there are no widespread complaints other than the lenses front/backfocusing on arrival (this is obviously not as big a concern as complete failure, and also seems to be more common on Canon mount)

Yep, that's what I'm looking at. My thinking though is that, while the Sigma seems a fine lens (especially at this price), it might not be the best option for my uses. At a recent shoot I used my DFA50 a lot, and the times that my DA50-200 came out were generally for at or around 200. That plus the weight/size of a zoom, and 'saving for longer and getting an FA77' is an idea that's increasingly beckoning to me!

They can't seem to agree here, it's really lens based which is faster. link

About the reliability we had a discussing about that, was curious if there was a difference besides that with the ultrasonic motors used.

Were do you want to use it for?
A zoom might weight more than one prime in that range but you need more than one prime to cover the same range.

True, but my main use will be portraits (I've found recently that close "head shots" are more my style). Since I already have two f2.8 lenses in the Sigma's range, I was considering (in traditional LBA reasoning :wink whether gaining 77mm f1.8 might be better than gaining 51-99mm f2.8 and 101-150mm f2.8 (especially since I didn't seem to use 101-150mm very much on my DA50-200)

I'm not sure about whether to get this lens, but increasingly believing that I'll kick myself later if I don't get it. The main optical weakness seems to be at 150mm, and I apply the same logic to that as I to do my existing Sigma (vs the 12-24): namely that the Sigma is likely to be a lot better at 150mm f2.8 than the DA*50-135 is!

Deciding factor will be time - I've a dissertation to finish off, and hand in on Friday. So if SRS still have one then, I might well be in the queue.

Decided to get one - tipping point was that I checked the photos I thought had been at 200mm, and they were actually 105mm (whoops!) so right within this lens's good performance range. The fact that it's on a good offer (hey, I am a Scotsman!), weighs half as much as the Tamron 70-200 and goes as wide as 50mm (which I really like as a portrait FL) didn't hurt either. Cheers folks - now just have to bite fingernails until tomorrow morning to see if they've still got any!

Tell us what you think about it, a short review would be nice

Just ordered one - spoke to SRS on the phone and they were quite happy to delay sending it until Thursday (though they can only do this for Mainland UK). I'll of course let everyone know how the Sigma turns out!