Thoughts on non-HSM non-OS Sigma 70-200

I've seen a Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 come up for sale at a good price, which has piqued my interest as my 300 f/4 is proving a little too long for some nature shots and the 55-300 a little too slow. As an aside I've not really managed to get my 55-300 all that sharp on my K3, despite numerous attempts with the focus adjustment.

I've missed a few of the equivalent Tamrons that have come up for sales on this forum, and no way on earth will I get the D-FA* past the wife! The sigma is the cheapest of the lot, mainly as it's quite a dated version i'm looking at - pre-HSM and no OS - which is making it quite attractive given we're coming up to Christmas!

Has anyone any experiences with this lens? I know that Sigma substantially redesigned the more recent HSM versions of this lens, so most reviews are not that useful for establishing sharpness across the focal lengths and speed of focus of the older lens design. My admittedly limited experiences with some of the sigma EX ranges is that they usually have decent centre sharpness but a number of them lens range don't perform that well at maximum zoom or aperture, particularly at edge, but some across the entire frame which would be a bit of a dealbreaker for a wildlife lens.

Also, my Sigma 300 APO is a bit of a weighty beast, assume this lens would be of a similar bulk?

I'd like to go and try the lens but the seller is too far away, so I thought I'd cadge some opinions whilst weighing it up. All opinions gratefully received, positive or negative!

Is it this one: https://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/sigma-70-200mm-f2-8-apo-ex.html ?
If so it doesn't appear too bad from the reviews there.
Best way is to try it as even the best lenses can have batch variations and that one looks pretty heavy which might put some off. If it works for you.... !

Ta John.

I think that is the one - interesting in that there are quite recent positive reviews, with expectations around AF etc set in relation to more recent lenses and cameras.

Sounds like it might be worth a punt - sadly I'm unlikely to be able to try before buying as it's quite a way away, but I've sent a few questions off to the seller just to clarify. I'm expecting it to be heavy though!

One comment on the AF was interesting, "The AF system is faster when the focus ring is on AF."
Surely if it wasn't set to AF it wouldn't autofocus at all. Mmmm!.

I had one years ago on my K10D, fast focusing and actually quite decent at 2.8

Just had a look on my Flickr and here are a few shots taken with it. Can't beleive these were over 7 years ago.


Starling by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr


New Forest Marathon 2010 by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr


BMX - Christchurch by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr


If I remember correctly it had a AF/MF on the focus ring that you push/pulled accordingly but it autofocused on both settings.

I'd expect both the camera and the lens to have to be on AF for AF to function. That's how it normally works.

Really?

Your earlier post was a bit ambiguous!

And there was me thinking your post was being just a touch condescending.

I did scratch my head at that!

I vaguely recall having a lens with a clutch mechanism that simply disengaged the focus ring form the focus elements, you still had to turn AF of and on at the body, assume this is what is meant here. Can't recall the lens but as I no longer have it I suspect it wasn't a particularly great example! My 300 f/4 is a Sigma APO of a similar vintage to the 70-200 in question, it's got a clutch but the camera recognises when the clutch is engaged to disengage the AF, so not sure quite how to interpret the comment.

Nice shots!

Good to hear the lens performs well at f/2.8. I've been pleasantly surprised by the 300 APO wide open, but I've heard a few reservations expressed about sharpness at maximum zoom and aperture on lenses such as the Bigma and 120-400 - I'd expect some compromise to image quality given the focal lengths and ranges of those larger lenses, but wasn't sure if it translated to the 70-200.

I'll give the seller a ring, tempted to go for it.

Just ordered it, will let you know how I get on once I've taken it out for a proverbial spin.

Thanks to all for comments.

I had the original Bigma which was quite reasonable at maximum zoom but you needed good light and f8 at least. I sold that and bought the newer 50-500mm OS which is excellent for the money but that eventually went in favour of the Pentax 150-450mm which is imo about the best we are going to get for Pentax now.

As you say though, there will always be some iq compromise given the massive zoom factor.


Edit: Just to add, when I purchased my 70-200mm it came with a good quality filter which I left on. I very nearly sent the lens back as it was quite soft at 2.8 but once the filter was taken off it was like a different lens. (in other words don't use a filter with it)

A s/h sample (bought around 2008 ) of one of the original version of the 70-200 was my very first decent AF-capable longish lens for a digital body (Samsung GX10) and it was , and still is, one of the sharpest lens I have (although it does not get that much use nowadays because of having the 100-300 F4, 2nd version).

Very sharp wide open and quick to focus and works fine with dedicated Sigma 1.4TC - and it got, and still gets, very good reviews on the US forum - see here. If anything, it gets better reviews than many of the later versions!

So, as long as it works OK, don't be too bothered about relatively minor cosmetic defects and so on - just enjoy.

PS: Never tried it on the 70-200, but with the 100-300 F4 I have found that it is often better to put the lens in MF mode and the body in AF mode - and that allows me to manually override the AF-selected focus distance by turning the focus ring, just like the "quick-shift" facility on many of the recent Pentax AF lenses (doesn't work on the Sigma 100-300 F4 if the lens is in AF mode). Not sure what does in terms of "wear" to the lens mechanism though :roll

Weather's put a bit of a dampener (well, more of a chiller) on my outings so I've not yet used the lens in anger, but a quick tests shows the AF is a lot snappier than my 300mm and the sharpness appears good at most points.

As an aside, it has the exact same filter size and tripod mount as my 300mm APO, which could prove handy for when I inevitably drop/lose/break these bits and pieces.