Sigma vs Tamron 70-300 - First impression

Received my Sigma 70-300 APO DG Macro today & have tried a few shots to compare it against the Tamron LD DI equivalent I already own. First impressions...

The sigma is slightly lighter/smaller - not a great difference though

Sigma uses 58mm filter, Tamron 62mm

Build quality - the Sigma feels better, less "plasticy" somehow

IQ, early days yet however..

I'm impressed by colour/contrast that the Sigma produces, nicer than my Tamron - the sigma also underexposes less than the Tamron, probably about 1/2 stop.

Sharpness seems quite comparable, taken several shots at 300mm and both are decent. I actually find the Sigma very good at F5.6/300mm.

Here are a few macro shots taken at 300mm (all slightly cropped) - not exactly a scientific test but my initial impressions are very positive on the Sigma, I think I'll be selling the Tamron although I need to do a bit more comparison to be 100% sure.

Simon

Tamron - F5.6 / 300mm Macro




Sigma - F5.6 / 300mm Macro




Tamron - F11 / 300mm Macro




Sigma - F11 / 300mm Macro

Do you mean the Tamron is lighter/smaller?

From the manufacturers' websites:

Sigma: 76.6 x 122mm, 550g
Tamron: 76.6 x 116.5mm, 435g

Thanks for the pics. It would also be interesting to see comparisons with the exposure difference compensated for. It's hard to judge fairly otherwise.

Based on visual impressions the Sigma is smaller - the MF ring is smaller in diameter as is the main barrel when extended.

Just checking them again now, yes the Tamron is probably slightly lighter - although on paper it looks a big difference comparing them "inhand" is difficult to feel much difference. This probably accounts for my thoughts on build quality too.

The Sigma looks like it performs alot better
Better resolution, especially at F/11 where the tamron seems softer
and the sigma exposes correctly unlike the tamron at F/5.6

It looks to me like the Tamron is not focused as accurately. I would do quite a few more tests (with subjects at different distances with different kinds of light) before deciding which lens to keep.

As for exposing "correctly", there will be different scenes when the Tamron will expose more correctly than the Sigma. The subject above has a lot of near-white in it, and it is perfectly normal to have to compensate for that with even the best Pentax lenses.

Tamron 70-300mm LD Di



*ist DS, 1/1600s f/4.5 at 220.0mm iso200, JPEG, heavily cropped, no pp exposure adjustment



*ist DS, 1/640s f/11.0 at 260.0mm iso400, JPEG, slight crop

I've had chance to try out the Sigma a little more over the weekend, taking a variety of shots.

I've decided not to post any more images as it's not really my intention to produce a "scientific" comparison - I'll just comment on my own user impressions...

-- Sharpness, inline with reviews my Sigma 70-300 does show quite soft corners at anything wider than F8 - reducing the aperture to F11/F16 does help.
Ultimately I would say that the Tamron produces generally sharper images, not a massive difference at F11 and above but there is a difference

-- colour/contrast, this is where I very much prefer the Sigma. It just seems to produce nicer looking images to me.

-- build quality, I personally prefer the Sigma - feels a nicer lens to use, zoom ring is a little stiff between 200-300mm but I guess this will probably loosen.

-- focus, I can't really see much difference here as both the sigma and tamron can hunt a bit at the long end.

-- Purple, the Tamron shows lots of purple in certain situations although not bad below 200mm, I haven't seen any from the sigma so far.

To be quite honest I'm a little torn now though. The Tamron does seem to produce the sharper images but I'm much more impressed by the colour/contrast and lack of purple with the Sigma - I definitely prefer the "look" of the sigma images, the colours on my Tamron just seem "muddy" in comparison.

Unfortunately I still can't 100% decide, I'll have to try more shots !!

simon