Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 APO EX DG HSM OS A-mount lens reviews
reviews found: 16
 ganchoo#46929 date: Feb-9-2023 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 4 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.7 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta 20-210 f4, Minolta 75-300, Sony 24-105 f4 G OSS, Sony 55 f1.8, Sony 90 f2.8, Minolta AF 500 reflex f8, Samyang 24 f1.8, TTartizan 11 f2.8 |
| price paid: | £250 |
| positive: | OS - stabilization built in, Fast lens F2.8, Well built, Black colored lens, tripod petal provided. Works perfectly well with LA-EA3, LA-EA4, and LA-EA5 adapters. |
| negative: | Heavy lens to move around. Big lens, The newer lenses are better. |
| comment: | A fast lens which I use seldom because is heavy. For low light shots at concerts or moving subjects are good as combined with the LA-EA3 adapter it uses the AF focus of my Sony A7 RII camera. It is better to switch off the lens OS as it is messing up the camera's integrated stabilization. The colors and contrast need amendments but it is a good lens as long as you are happy with the heavyweight. For this price, you cannot buy the new fast telephoto lenses at all. |
; 36MP| tzk1810#45602 date: Oct-15-2020 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 3 build: 5 distortion: 4 flare control: 1 overall: 3.5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony SAL70400G I |
| price paid: | AU$700 USED |
| positive: | - cheap (AU$700) - easy to zoom - Reasonable AF speed - good size and weight - sharper than Sony SAL70200 especially on tele end (in memory) - somehow the focus limiter works on my a77ii, unlike other reviews said |
| negative: | - purple fringing at f2.8 - Ugly Sigma old design. The new sigma design looks much better but never make it to the Sony a-mount. - missed shots because of the reverse zoom ring - front focusing issue - OS is useless on a77ii, however it works pretty well on a6000 - weird colour Updated: 02/11/2020: Horrible ghosting flare ruins the entire photo. The coating was suck. |
| comment: | As above. Easier turn the zoom ring than SAL70400. A good alternative when doesn't need a tele range and larger aperture. Great and much cheaper combo with a6000 + EA4 because of the lens-based OS. Updated: 02/11/2020: Horrible ghosting flare ruins the entire photo. The coating was suck. |
| QuietOC#44229 date: Feb-17-2019 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 4 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I used to own this lens |
| compared to: | Tokina AF 35-200 SD Minolta MD 50-135 F3.5 Sigma 50-150 F2.8 EX DC HSM II Sony DT 55-200 SAM Vivitar 70-150 F3.8 Tamron 70-180 F2.8 RXD Sigma AF 70-200 F2.8 EX DG APO Vivitar S1 70-210 F3.5 I & II Minolta AF 70-210 F4 Minolta AF 70-210 F3.5-4.5 Tokina 80-200 AT-X Pro Vivitar 85-205 F3.8 Minolta AF 100-200 F4.5 |
| price paid: | 530 USD (used) |
| positive: | Internal zoom and focus Good contrast and sharpness Removable tripod collar |
| negative: | Size and weight Slow focusing Focus breathing Reverse zoom direction OS doesn't combine properly with SteadyShot Inside. Focus encoder inaccurate |
| comment: | Nice clean copy with original retail box but missing the original caps and storage case purchased on an individual's eBay auction. The box lacks A65/A77 compatible sticker, but the lens focuses fine on my cameras. A Sony LA-EA4 adapter with retail box was included in the listing and purchase price listed here. This is the most I've spent so far on a single lens outside of a camera kit. "MADE IN JAPAN" |
| bigsi#44204 date: Dec-31-2018 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 4 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.8 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | tamron 70-300 usd |
| price paid: | £800 |
| positive: | Sharp, price |
| negative: | Slightly warm colour cast |
| comment: | My go to telephoto, great for outdoor sports on a cropped sensor, I also use it for a lot of landscape work. Used well can keep up with the pricier brands for significantly less cash. The slight warm cast can easily be remedied in post, good at f/2.8, sharpens up beautifully at f/3.2. One of my favourites to use, always in my bag. |
| Fivepin#44195 date: Dec-14-2018 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sigma 75 - 200 f2.8/3.5 Sigma 70 - 200 F2.8 EX |
| price paid: | $600 Cad |
| positive: | Price on used marked Sharpness wide open - tack from f2.8 silent hsm motor good flare control buttery bokeh |
| negative: | weight close focus distance 1400mm 4.5 ft. Issue with LA EA3 adapter. Lens freezes. Rotate focus ring to get it going again. |
| comment: | I waited a long time to get this lens at a price I felt was justifiable. This lens is the sharpest zoom I own. Even at 200mm my copy is comparable to my Minolta 200 HS APO. It is sharp! I feel the HSM motor on this lens is slower than my Sony SSM lenses, but just a little. Works flawlessly on A99 and A77ii body. Works flawlessly on A7R3 with LA EA4. On the A7R3 with LA EA3 The focus freezes if you try to focus closer than close focus distance. If I move the focus ring the AF starts working again. Because I have no issue with the other cameras or the LA EA4 I have to assume this is a compatibility issue with this lens and the LA EA3. Not a big deal. The Bokeh on this lens is mind blowingly smooth. This lens at this price is a no brainer for any A mount user and a pretty good bargain even for the a7 user group. Just watch out for adapter compatibility. |
| biggame#38888 date: Jun-25-2017 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 4 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.6 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sigma 70-300 |
| price paid: | 800 |
| positive: | "Prime" sharp fully open from 70mm to 200mm. Nice colors, fast AF. OS turned off when used on Sony A77 MK2. Sturdy build with a massive lens hood. Good quality feel, awesome portrait lens, sharp even at 2.8- 200 mm and Eye auto focus work well. Nice quality finish in materials. |
| negative: | Heavy piece of glass thus giving a quality impression. Slight beige tint when used with auto wB, Easily corrected in post. |
| comment: | I have this lens attached for sports, street, portrait and wildlife and only change it when doing Macro. |
| biggame#38887 date: Jun-25-2017 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 4 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.6 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sigma 70-300 |
| price paid: | 800 |
| positive: | "Prime" sharp fully open from 70mm to 200mm. Nice colors, fast AF. OS turned off when used on Sony A77 MK2. Sturdy build with a massive lens hood. Good quality feel awesome portrait lens, sharp even at 2.8- 200 mm and Eye auto focus work well. Nice quality finish in materials. |
| negative: | Heavy piece of glass thus giving a quality impression. Slight beige tint when used with auto wB, Easily corrected in post. |
| comment: | I have this lens attached for sports, street, portrait and wildlife and only change it with when doing Macro. |
| darkryder2001#11934 date: Aug-3-2014 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | - Minolta 70-210mm beercan - Tokina 300mm F4 - Minolta 300mm F4 - Minolta 80-200mm 4.5 - 5.6 |
| price paid: | 600 GPD |
| positive: | -Very sharp wide open at 2.8 and super sharp from F/4 - HSM = speedy silent focusing - Nice lens hood - Lens has OS so you have the choice of using in camera OS or not - 77mm lens filter. Fairly cheap. - Works well with good teleconverters giving you 280mm F/4 with a x1.4 - Robust and looks good. Love lenses in black - Tripod mount included - Price. Half the price of the Sony equivalent and I cannot imagine it is any better, if so it would be truly amazing. - Good for portraits and wildlife |
| negative: | - Fairly big and heavy and a little unwieldy indoors, but well worth it. - As it is a Sigma I am worried about future incompatibilities. - Although the built in OS is great, remember to turn of the body OS otherwise you will end up with a blurry mess. More of an inconvenience than a negative. - No focus limiter but somewhat tackled by the A77 II built in limiter. |
| comment: | I cannot rate this lens highly enough. I bought it on a whim and thought I would not really use it a great deal due to the range, but I was wrong and it has become my favorite lens. Not ideal for indoor use where the Sony 35mm 1.8 in better, but brilliant for outdoor portraits and wildlife. I could not justify buying the Sony 70-200mm as it cost twice what I paid for this 2nd hand. In conclusion if you are thinking about a 70-200mm 2.8, do not hesitate and get this bad boy. |
| slawrencephoto#10981 date: Mar-14-2013 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4.5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony 70-200mm G Sony 70-300mm G Sony 70-400mm G |
| price paid: | 850 Pounds (new) |
| positive: | Fast AF F2.8 Excellent build quality OS in camera or lens you choose! Tack sharp |
| negative: | slightly soft in the corners until you stop down. |
| comment: | Sadly I had to sell my G series lenes to keep the wolves at bay but I could not ask for a better replacement. It feels good to handle and use and the AF is very fast. Only odd part is the zoom ring works from left to right instead of right to left, i.e. 200m is on the right. |
| flyryd#10974 date: Mar-12-2013 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | sigma 70-300 os |
| price paid: | 1150usd new |
| positive: | f2.8 constant aperture sharp at f2.8 at centres becomes very sharp at f4 OS price |
| negative: | none |
| comment: | looks ridiculous mounted on my Nex-7 via la-ea2 but functions very well. it has OS built in which i need. sharpness is very comparable to canon/nikon/sony versions at a fraction of the price. |
| exileded#10920 date: Feb-15-2013 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | missing |
| price paid: | 1300 USD (new) |
| positive: | Sharp Fast Tailored OS for panning |
| negative: | Gets hot if shooting in the sun |
| comment: | After spending a couple of weekends shooting with this lens I am extremely happy with the result. The lens was quick to focus shooting motorsport and pin sharp from about 3.2 on. The 2 option OS would be redundant weight if it wasn't for the panning stabilization that I was very happy with. Way more keepers than I'm used to. My only bugbear with the lens was that it did get extremely hot to touch when shooting in the sun with its matt black colour soaking in the sun. It was a hot day over 30c but I was surprised how hot the lens got and how quickly. Needless to say out of the direct sunlight this wasn't a problem. |
| vaughaag#10820 date: Jan-7-2013 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 4 flare control: 5 overall: 4.8 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta 70-210 Sigma 70-200 APO DG |
| price paid: | 799 |
| positive: | Sharp at f/2.8, Pin Sharp from f/3.2. Silent and Accurate Well balanced when attached to A77 with grip. Built quality is superb with a nice solid feel to the lens. Focus and Zoom very smooth. |
| negative: | Weight, but I knew this before buying it. Very slight CA at 200mm f/2.8 in certain light. |
| comment: | A very very nice update to this lens, IMO allot sharper than its predecessor with a lovely silent accurate focus system. When used in MF, the focus ring is very smooth and positive. Overall I am very very pleased with this lens. |
| KCG#10781 date: Dec-13-2012 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Tokina 80-200mm F2.8 Minolta Beercan |
| price paid: | 1000USD (used) |
| positive: | Very sharp at all range even aperture widely opened F2.8. Fast and silent motor drive. Nice build and outlook. |
| negative: | A little bit heavy. OS cannot be use if the body anti shake was on, is a wastage I paid extra for the OS. |
| comment: | Highly recommended. |
| Shield#10581 date: Oct-12-2012 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony SAL70200G Sigma 70-200 HSM II (NON OS, version 3) Tamron 70-200 F/2.8 |
| price paid: | 899 used |
| positive: | Extremely sharp even beginning at F/3.2 It's not white Quick focusing Quiet focusing Built-in OS might even be better than the in-body Smooth zoom ring Focus ring on the inner part of the lens towards the sensor (unlike the 24-70z) |
| negative: | Zoom turns the opposite from all my other lenses. |
| comment: | The proof is in the pudding - I'm getting far better shots with this than either Sony 70-200g I owned or the last iteration of this lens from Sigma. Or the Tamron 70-200 F/2.8. I don't use either supplied lens hood (one for APS-C and one for full frame) nor do I use the tripod collar, and to me this lens isn't overly heavy or tiring after a day of shooting. But I'm still fairly young (39) and I could see my wife perhaps having a problem with the weight. Anyway, I have owned 2 Sony 70-200's that both weren't sharp wide open (one was brand new from Sony and the 2nd one used) at any focal length. Even F/3.5 was soft on the Sony. The 3rd Sigma 70-200, the one before this, was kind of the same way, and perhaps even softer than the Sony @ 200mm. Bought the Tamron, but I hated the noisy slow focusing, the annoying 2 step process to switch to MF mode, and the way it hunted in the shadows. Found the Sigma OS Sony used and initially it wouldn't AF on my A77 - sent it to Sigma and they fixed it for free (total turnaround time from Ohio about a week and a half). This lens is really sharp beginning @ F/3.2 (I'm talking pixel peeping sharp) and perhaps needs F/3.5 @ 200mm, but I have some great shots at F/3.2 @ 200mm. Anyway the HSM motor is silent (great for video), focuses quickly and accurately. I don't see any purple fringing unless I shoot @ F/2.8 in very bright light, which is why I stop it down just a smidgen. IMO, other than the 50mm F/1.4, this is Sigma's best lens. |
| jlosinski#10286 date: Jun-10-2012 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.8 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Tamron 18-300 3.5-5.6 |
| price paid: | 1299 |
| positive: | Having this lens on my camera makes it looks like I know what I'm doing, thus insuring my self-esteem as a photographer remains intact Zoom ring allows for manual focus even if camera is in AF mode. Solid construction fast focus in low light |
| negative: | It dwarfs my a200, zoom ring is opposite of what I'm used to with Tamron/Sony |
| comment: | I got this from Adorama a few days ago- it is just over 3 lbs and heavy! Solid construction, I think I could use it a makeshift weapon if the occasion arose... Shooting a wedding in a few days, looking forward to breaking it in. Chose this over the Tammy 70-200 2.8 as I heard that the Tammy is slow in low light and prone to hunting- this lens is fast and quiet. ** After owning the lens for several months I still find it agreeable, albeit heavy, especially on the a900. Nonetheless, I will be using it again this summer for a few more weddings. *** The 70-200/A900 combo kills the wrist... |
| Dave18#9524 date: Oct-23-2011 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | missing |
| price paid: | £795 (new) |
| positive: | Sharp lens wide open at 200mm |
| negative: | very heavy |
| comment: | Just had this lens for a couple of days, initial impressions are very good solid build quality and very sharp wide open not as sharp as my Sigma 50mm 1.4 but then what is. Bought from Panamoz.com great company to deal with came from Hong Kong to UK in 2 days! 3yr Sigma warranty update done many weddings this season and have not changed my opinion of this great lens |
reviews found: 16
rating summary
- total reviews: 16
- sharpness: 4.81
- color: 4.56
- build: 5.00
- distortion: 4.81
- flare control: 4.50
- overall: 4.74
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