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Saturday, May 9, 2009

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 IF EX DG HSM

This is going to be a nerdy post about photography gear. So if you're not interested you can stop reading right here.

Wicked

As I've mentioned previously I bought a new lens this week; a Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 IF EX DG HSM zoom lens . This was not my first choice. My inner Mr. Id wanted a Canon 240-70mm f/2.8 L, which is an outstanding lens. Fortunately my inner Mr. Frugal beat up my inner Mr. Id and convinced me to save a little money and go with the Sigma. The lens came on Wednesday, just in time for the most recent SF Photo Tours walk.

The Sigma lens is not as graceful looking, on or off camera, than the Canon. It is stubbier, and more primitive looking. It's lens hood is also not as long as the Canon's. This is not altogether a bad thing since it tends to draw less attention than the Canon would. You can definitely tell this is a 3rd party lens, though. This does not detract from how the lens performs.

The Pink Store

I was a little nervous that I would like the lens, having bought it without first renting it to try it out. Since none of the places I usually rent from didn't have the lens I took the plunge. I really had no reason to be too concerned. As you can see from the picture above the lens pulls in color and light. All the pictures I took have deep, rich colors that are reproduced faithfully. I had to very little post processing on any of the shots and all of that was because of user error, not anything to do with the lens.

The Auto Focus motor on the lens is fast, quiet and accurate. Which, really, is all I can ask. Like my other Sigma lens the 24-70mm focus is accurate and sharp. I think the pictures I took with this lens are just as sharp and color-accurate as the Canon 24-70mm shots I've taken.

Cable Car

Obviously I've not used the lens extensively, but I did take almost 150 shots with it the other night and most of them came out just as I expected them to. Which for me is a big accomplishment as a photographer. I like the lens; I'm going to keep it and use it. You'll be seeing more shots from this lens from Africa you can count on it.

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