scribe31's Full Review: Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro for Nikon
I bought a new Nikon 27-70 f/2.8 lens recently and soured on it very quickly. I just could not get sharp enough images with it -- there was always a softness to the pictures even at smaller apertures. This for a 1400-dollar lens! Maybe it was just a lemon? Or maybe there was a compatibility issue with my camera, a D70, as the guy who bought the lens from me commented favorably on the sharpness of the pictures he'd taken with the Nikon lens, albeit with a different digital body.
I wouldn't say the Sigma lens is necessarily better, but at under 400 bucks, it's a lot easier to live with its shortcomings. And I sure do like the extra few millimeters at the bottom of the focal range, which can make an appreciable difference, especially in interior shots.
Like the Nikon equivalent, the Sigma 24-70 is not a tack sharp lens -- but with a little sharpening applied in-camera and, if need be, in Photoshop, results are more than satisfactory, especially at real-world image sizes. I know it sounds nuts, but the sharpness of the Sigma actually seemed to improve with use (or more likely, I simply got used to the look of the pictures I took with it).
The Sigma lens seems very well built -- not to the same Sherman-tank standards as the Nikon perhaps, but then again, it's a bit less heavy than its OEM counterpart. It still looks and feels like a real workhorse, and the four-year warranty that comes with the EX lenses indicates that Sigma has a good deal of faith in their sturdiness and reliability. On a recent trip to (and through) South Africa, I used the 24-70 as my main lens -- except for wildlife photography, which obviously requires longer focal lengths. The Sigma did a very fine job overall, both with landscape pictures and with portraits. Perhaps the bokeh had been a little nicer on the Nikon lens but the difference was close to negligible.
In a few shooting situations, the limitations of the Sigma became apparent. When shooting branches against a light sky, the shot would sometimes come out perfectly, while at other times the result was marred by some purple fringing. The lens is also more prone to flare than most, so care must be taken when shooting in the direction of the light (the lens hood Sigma supplies is perfectly useless, in my experience). Also, the lens ring that lets you select the focal length is too hard to turn, at least on my specimen. I actually missed a few shots because I couldn't dial in the right focal length fast enough. Perhaps the ring will become easier to operate over time.
I do like the color accuracy of the Sigma, especially its fleshtones, which seem less hyped, less (over)saturated, than those produced by the 27-70 Nikon lens.
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