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9 Diaphragm Blades creates smooth bokeh, great for portraiture.Workmanship: Excellent A full frame lens for serious photographers. When I contacted Sigma USA, I got a positive reply that the lens is made in Japan.
Contacting Nikon USA, the representative could not tell the manufacturing country. [[ASIN:B000GPKQHQ Sigma 70mm F/2.8 EX DG Macro Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras]Prior to purchasing this lens, I did my research on macro lens, comparing technical specifications, prices and manufacturing countries.
I like to buy and use a quality lens, not a brand name. I had bad experience of owning a Japanese brand, made outside of Japan.
Guaranteed by the manufacturer's brand name is not good enough. Great macro lens on my Nikon D700.Picture quality: Excellent.
Competitively priced at Amazon.com.Highly recommended.
Didn't bother it at all.- no perceptible lens creep (even pointed vertically down)unlike my Tamron 18-250.- nice price (I paid $439.00)Minuses:- the weird screw on lens hood. I purchased this lens about three months ago so I've had plenty of time to give it a thorough testing.Pluses:- this lens gives me nice sharp pictures from f/2.8 to around f/18- great soft bokeh at f/2.8- unlike the reviewer of June 2009, my lens DOES shoot at f/2.8 even when I am 2-3 inches from a subject at 1:1 macro- very solid construction. I had the lens roll off of my fanny pack about 4 inches to a gravel surface. Sigma needs to really rethink this design.- the need to move my position not zoom the lens (oops. that's a minus on me for being too used to zoom lenses)On the strength of this lenses pluses, I am considering purchasing, at least, one other Sigma lens in the near future.I am a semi-professional shooting on a Canon 40D (soon to be 5D Mark II)
Good value micro lens. better than the Nikon 60mm micro in my opinion.also works well as a portrait lens.
Build quality seems very good too. Lesson learned. This lens does seem hunt a lot on my D90, even in bright light. All in all, it's a nice lens at a good price.Focus is slow compared to AF-S lenses, but only because there's such a huge focal range. I was wrong.
And for macro shots I'd usually be focusing manually anyway, so it's not a big deal. I bought an f2.8 lens expecting a constant aperture. Makes it a bit of a pain when you're out and about and want to cap the lens, as you've got to unscrew the shade (and put it somewhere - it doesn't reverse) to put the cap on. I would have been wrong. As the other reviewer said, it's a 'nice' length on an APS-C sized sensor, ~105mm.
Bought this to pair with my Nikon D90. So that's great. I actually think it's a bit of deceptive advertising on the part of Sigma. This is not really what I had in mind when I bought this lens, and I may return it because it's not going to work as well as I had hoped. However, flipping the focus limiter switch solves it and makes it focus just as fast as my other non AF-S lenses. This is NOT a true f2.8 fixed lens.
But it's just not quite as quick as my AF-S lenses.I also don't like the fact that the lens cap won't snap on when the sunshade is screwed on. It'll often have to run the focus across the entire range to get a lock, and that's a pain. Sharpness is on par with the venerable Nikkor 50mm f1.8, IMHO. I'm new to the world of dedicated macro lenses, and I didn't know this 'feature' was just the way these lenses worked. This is really an f4.8 Macro lens, which isn't so great. Since it's primary purpose is to be a Macro lens, they should be clear that it's an f2.8 lens only at decidedly non-macro focal ranges. So that's ok. And it's nearly a deal-breaker for me.
Taking this into consideration, the 70mm Sigma is perhaps more deserving of four (4) stars, rather than three. It's a sharp lens that's very pleasant to use. So I can't pick on Sigma too much for this. So just be advised before you purchase this lens.Followup:Apparently, a variable aperture at decreasing macro distances is common to many macro lenses, including Nikon's own 60mm f2.8 and 105mm f2.8 macro lenses. At 1:1 magnification, 3-4 inches away, maximum aperture is f4.8. I'd edit my star rating but I can't.This also makes me reevaluate my comments about potentially returning this Sigma. Since the Nikkor's do this variable aperture thing too, I'm thinking I'll just keep the Sigma - as other than this aperture thing, it's a great lens. Not unexpected though, as this is supposedly Sigma's sharpest prime lens and it's a Macro lens, which by definition has to be tack sharp.
I had assumed that the Nikkors would be truly constant f2.8 lenses. A pain compared to Nikkor shades that allow the cap while they're installed, even while reversed.But there is one major negative that none of the other reviews have touched upon. It is from 10ft to infinity, but below that the max aperture grows as the subject distance decreases. I was strongly considering returning the Sigma and picking up the 60mm f2.8 Nikkor Macro instead. :-)
I returned this lens only because I found it too long and heavy to keep steady while used with my monopod for garden and wildflower shots (it weighs 1.2 pounds). The Sigma 70mm 2.8 lens gets an excellent review at [.]. for its optics and image quality, and I think the 70mm focal length works well for close-up flower photos. I just don't find it practical to use a tripod on hikes in the hills.If I buy another marco lens I'll probably go with the Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 USM for my Canon EOS Rebel XSi, which is significantly lighter and shorter.
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