Sony SAL70200G - telephoto zoom lens - 70 mm - 200 mm F/2.8

Sigma EX DG 70-200mm f2.8 HSM Macro

Advantages: Build quality. Finish. Range. Fast maximum aperture.
Disadvantages: Image quality not as good as expected. Chromatic Aberration.

no less than 18 elements (in 15 groups), including 2 ELD (Extra Low Dispersion) ones, this is no surprise. A little surprisingly perhaps for such a fast (f/2.8) lens with a range of up to 200mm focal length, Sigma have managed to constrain filter thread size to a reasonably economical (over 82mm) 77mm. The lens has a fairly moderate 3x zoom ratio and as such, the design shouldn't have presented too many problems. Accordingly, distortions are impressively low. There is still a small amount of barrel distortion at 70mm focal length, although nothing to worry about. This changes to moderate pincushion distortion at the longer end of the zoom range. Again, nothing to get too upset about. Vignetting is not much of a problem when using the lens on cropped APS-C cameras, due to the sensor utilising only the central 'sweet' spot of the image ...

davecham 28.12.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Sigma EX telephoto zoom lens - 70 mm - 200 mm F/2.8

The nikon 70-200mm F2.8 VR, top-of-the-line

Advantages: Beautiful bokeh, tack-sharp, vibration reduction, easy to use, many useful accessories
Disadvantages: heavy, expensive, slight vignetting, prone to flaring

their version, the so-called "vibration reduction", was the 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 ED. An interesting lens to be sure, but Nikon owners really started to get excited at the announcement of the AF-S 70-200 F2.8 VR. This lens, a successor of a highly regarded line of professional lenses, turned out to be spectacular: the image stabila? sorry, the vibration reduction was possibly even more effective than Canon's and the image quality? Well, I am going to discuss that right now! ---Image quality--- The 70-200 VR is a tack-sharp lens, as you would expect of a lens in this price class. It is not even in the same ballpark as normal consumer lenses: the colours are vibrant, the details sharp, and the bokeh (the appearance of parts of the picture that our out of focus) is stunning. The lens is particularly famous for the silky smooth rendering of out ...

hetvuurtje 24.03.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Nikon Zoom-Nikkor telephoto zoom lens - 70 mm - 200 mm F/2.8

I am so glad I bought this lens.

Advantages: Larege aperture, high quality glass, cheaper than Canon.
Disadvantages: It's still a big, pricey lens.

Big f2.8 aperture lets in more light, allowing the use of faster shutter speeds to freeze movement, especially useful in action sports. Of course the best lens for me to have bought for my Canon system at the time would have been the Canon L series 70-200mm f2.8, but these lovely lenses are just too expensive for many amateurs (who have to pay for their own equipment, like me). The Sigma offering compares very favourably in reviews in the camera press. Optically, it is not too far behind the Canon lens, and price wise, I would say 2/3 of the price of the Canon lens, although Canon have recently introduced a version of the 70-200mm f2.8L with Image Stabilisation, and that is a very nice lens indeed ! I bought my Sigma through ebay, and paid £450 for a mint example, with the box, case, instructions etc. I had decided that I wanted ...

Nige7Whit 15.10.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Sigma EX telephoto zoom lens - 70 mm - 200 mm F/2.8