Sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6 DG Macro For Nikon Digital & Film Cameras

Product Information

This 70-300mm zoom telephoto was made in numerous versions and generations by sigma - 4 versions listed in the legacy zooms section, two in the current zooms section (see here for the current non-"apo" version). This I find is a common problem with this lens, with the motor shredding all or some of the teeth on the AF Gear. Indeed there are several You Tube "fixes" available to those with patience and somewhere other than the kitchen table to work on. On Day 3 it was all about sports and how the Sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 SLD DG Macro Lens performed during fast action. On the Macro With a nice light lens body, it makes for a great companion on an all day hike, or a day at the rodeo when you have the camera to your eye for most of the time.

At 70mm this lens produces images of good resolution from the widest aperture right down to f/16, with the edges gradually improving as the lens is stopped down. The best quality images at 70mm are produced between f/8 and f/11. Sigma is a company that has some great products. This lens is a good example of their work. With its low cost and decent performance this lens is great for budget conscious amateurs to “prosumers”. It does not have the focus speed of the higher priced lenses but that it is forgivable. The Sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 SLD DG Macro Lens will works with APC-C to full frame cameras and perform admirably. Please Support The Phoblographer By 135mm, there has been a slight drop in resolution, with the lens still producing good centre sharpness wide open. The best quality images are still produced between f/8 and f/11 with the sharpness across the frame being absolutely uniform at f/11. When at Northern nats you have to use manual focus for everything and its amazing, great fine tuning on the focus and the zoom is just insane, the ergonomics of this lens is amazing. people say "you just get used to it", No when it comes to doing pin point moving targets with constant zooming in and out having the focus at the front is so damn helpful, being able to brace the zoom ring with your palm of your hand while using your fingers to focus is unmatched, want 300mm zoom with crisp photos without any motion blur Hand held? this lens WILL do it, i can use this lens at 1/20th of a second and still have no motion blur (Shake reduction, and coffee). Image Quality and colours. When it comes to image quality its Very good, its not prefect and depending on your aperture and zoom but it won't let you down.

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As a zoom lens, the Sigma 70-300 f/4-5.6 DG Macro is a great. When you let the sunshine in, you steady yourself, then pull the trigger, you can get amazing shots. I attempted to use the Sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 SLD DG Macro Lens at a family event. Well, it was decent in that setting. Not my lens of choice though. especially with the other options I had available. The Sigma 70-300 f/4-5.6 DG Macro did give me some decent shots but it felt in the way of people and kids running all around me due to the large size. Because I had the ability to move around it made the lens the wrong choice, a prime lens was the better lens for this.

The next part of the barrel has a basic depth-of-field scale marked and, again on the left, carries the switch to enable ‘Macro’ photography. The final 25% of the barrel forms the focus ring, which, in manual focus, is nicely torqued. Once switched to Autofocus, it cannot be over-ridden and becomes stiff for that reason. In normal mode, focussing can extend the lens a further 17mm. There is a red ring around the lens to denote the APO version, which is needed if you have the two lenses side by side!

Contrast is good, as is colour rendition,sharpness and resolution. Maybe a tad soft wide open, but it is more than useable. Although the resolution tails off at the longer end of the lens, the clarity produced will still satisfy all but the most demanding photographers. Chromatic aberrations are very well controlled at the shorter end of the zoom range and will not pose any problems. Beyond 135mm, things go a little pear-shaped though, with chromatic aberration increasing, but not to an overly disturbing level. Imatest recorded a CA area of 0.7 pixel-widths at f/5.6 and 300mm, which shouldn't cause too many issues for most. If you want the highest quality stop it down to f10/f11, f8 seems to have a bit softness but wide open f4 its soft but not too bad.

When it comes to zooming the only time it suffers is all the way zoomed out and all the way zoomed in but everything in-between its 10/10. When i say everything in-between, i mean 71mm-299mm, but on the longer end i have found it focus goes weird after 296mm Venture further into the zoom range and the clarity drops off noticeably. The lens is still capable of producing acceptable results for most wide open, but stopping down a couple of stops will improve the clarity of images. In use, I did notice a drop in contrast at 300mm, which will affect the apparent sharpness of images. I was not expecting much from it, as I used the older one mainly with my Film Cameras, due to the A ring and FF capable. My 55-300 was the better replacement for the K-5/K-3 etc etc.In normal mode this lens works rather well , especially if there is enough light . On a nice sunny day the lens can perform like a champ , take nice sharp pictures , but as the light fails so does the lens ( seems normal for budget lenses ) , and performance suffers with diminishing light .

This lens is one of two virtually identical offerings from Sigma in the extremely popular 70-300 category in which almost all manufacturers have at least one contender. Although still in the budget sector, this one, the APO version, is the better of the two offerings. We take a look at what you get for your money. Physically identical to it’s cheaper, non APO sister lens with the first 12mm given over to accommodate the AF/MF switch situated on the left of the barrel, the next third is occupied by the zoom ring which is marked at 70, 100, 135, 200 and 300mm. Although not hard to move, you do know you are moving a fair amount of glass as the front element travels forward some 55mm through the range.These views of the local Lifeboat along with a relief boat show the versatility of this type of zoom lens.