Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM Lens for Canon EF
Excellent fast standard zoom with a quirky OS
At some point, many an aspiring photographer should consider an upgrade to the kit zoom bundled with entry-level DSLRs. To this end I recently purchased this lens as a fast standard zoom for my new camera, a Nikon D7200. At its current price, the 5-year-old Sigma is significantly less expensive than the comparable offering from Nikon, the 13-year-old 17-55/2.8 DX, and quite a bit less expensive than Canon's 17-55/2.8. So are its compromises worth... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Excellent general purpose lens for the Nikon DX format
While I love my Nikon D5100, its been a faithful partner in crime, but Ive been reluctant to invest in the APS-C format since I discovered my D5100 can use the rather nice collection of vintage Nikon F-mount 35mm film lens I inherited from my father. I had resolved to wait to upgrade to the FX format, but recent budget challenges have put that off for a while. The last time I looked at what Nikon had to offer as an standard wide angle in the DX f... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Excellent
I am the owner of an Tamron 17-50mm without stabilization. A lens I love but as I get older I am much less steady and decided I really needed stabilization. So I spent nearly a year reading reviews and looking at MTF charts and asking opinions. Since this lens was fairly new to the market it was not easy to hear real world experiences but what I was reading was very positive. I tried the Tamron 17-50 VC and found the stabilization to be a big hel... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Very sharp, great value, but serious AF problems
This is a very sharp lens, one of the sharpest you will find anywhere for $500. And when used with manual focus, it is an ideal every-day lens for APS-C cameras, a significant step up from the cheaply made Canon kit lenses. However, as other reviewers have pointed out, this lens has serious auto-focus problems, especially when using auto-AF point selection mode. The majority of the time (4/5s?) in auto-AF point selection mode, the camera simply c... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Excellent optics but a couple of problems
Overall this is a fantastic lens, and the current price of $369 is an incredible bargain. But my particular lens has a couple of problems. The lens is very sharp, especially at 50mm, where wide open it is superior to my Nikon 50mm f/1.8g at f/2.8. The 17mm end is a bit softer in the corners at f/2.8 but very sharp at f/4 and above. The fast aperture and effective optical stabilization make it a great lens for hand held photos in low light situa... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Gives Canon a run for its money
Sigma has come a long way since it's first competitive lens against Canon and Nikon. Don't get me wrong, Canon and Nikon are gods and I would use their lens any day of the week. But price and point, Sigma steals the show. I was looking for a fast zoom lens for my 7D as a main lens for my camera as I was upgrading from the not-so-good 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 I came across the Canon 17-55mm f2.8 during a film set and instantly fell in love with it. But m... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Great Job, Sigma!
First, I think it's relevant to point out that my body is a Canon T1i. And now this; general purpose (walkaround) lenses that I have owned and my brief take on each... Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 non-VC: It should be a crime for a manufacturer to put an AF motor on a lens that's this loud. It scared all my subjects away. And it repeatedly mis-focused, and hunted wildly in low light. A real disappointment. Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM: All in all, I ... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
My new go-to
I bought this lens to supplement and partially replace my Canon 28-70 2.8L lens. With an APS-C camera, the 28 isn't nearly wide enough for close-proximity shots of, say, a bride and groom coming up a circular stair. I own the Sigma 10-20 but it's not made to handle these situations and is more of a special-purpose lens. The return to 28-80 35mm equivalent shooting is very welcome. I would have given up five stars for this lens on its many great q... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
bought on sale, great value, few quirks.
So, first of all, I bought this specifically to go on a Canon C100mk2, which has a cropped sensor. I had gotten the Canon 24-105 f4 with the video camera but with the crop factor it just wasnt wide enough. This little lens has filled the gap, getting me the necessary wide angle with usable image stabilization. The lens quality seems to be fine, but the c100 is 1080p so I dont know how it holds up for stills on a modern DSLR. The build isnt very... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Very Happy!
For the past couple of years I have been using a Tamron 18-270 all-in-one zoom with my Nikon D7000. I consider this lens a jack of all trades, master of none, so I decided to replace it with three, higher quality zooms: Nikon 10-24 f/3.5-4.5, Sigma 17-50 f/2.8 and the Sigma 50-150 f/2.8. I've been testing the Sigma 17-50 f/2.8 in a variety of shooting conditions out in the field and in my home lab. I have found the lens to be consistently sharp a... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM on Nikon D7000
I was in need for wider-angle zoom to take with me when hiking. My requirements were: +/-light-weight, decent performance, vibration control (to neutralize the hand shake during long hikes and the necessity of mounting on tripod), weather sealing and inexpensive (things happen during a hike:). After a lot of research I choose Sigma 17-50 f2.8 OS. Strong contender was the non VC variant of Tamron 17-50 (they have also VC variant but it seems to be... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Excellent standard zoom for Nikon DSLRs
Bought this lens after a lot of thought. The contenders were: 1. Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 (this lens) 2. Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 3. Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 non-VC 4. Tamron Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 VC The Nikon I ruled out as it was too expensive for me; the Tamron VC I ruled out as credible review after credible review measured it less sharp than the non-VC version. In the end, I picked this lens over the non-VC Tamron that was significantly cheaper. The entire... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Nice, sharp lens with little to complain about
For the past three years I've been using a combination of Canon's 10-18mm ultra wide lens and Tamron's 28-75 f/2.8 on my Canon T3i and 70D bodies for general purpose photos. I recently sold the ultra wide, and while the Tamron is nice and sharp it lacks image stabilization, which is a big problem for video. After mulling it for a few weeks, I went ahead and picked up this Sigma 17-50 lens. While it's not near as wide or as telephoto as what I was... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Great for pictures, Good for video
I bought this lens to replace my 18-55 kit lens. The main thing I plan on using this lens for is shooting video on my 60D. For me this lens was right in my price range and I really wanted a 2.8. The one thing that almost prevented me from using this lens was that it only had a 42 degree focus pull. The Tamron lens has a 54 degree pull which isn't a huge difference at all. I was hoping for a longer focus pull because I have to manually focus all m... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Great Lens For The Price!
I'm an enthusiastic amateur photographer shooting a Nikon D7000. Most of my photography is outside, capturing life as it takes place. I've had the chance to use this lens in a few different settings so far and been pleased each time. The first outing was a damp, dismal, low-light morning running event. It was a great chance to see how the lens performed under less than ideal conditions. Shooting wide open at f2.8 gives you a pretty shallow depth ... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Considerable Upgrade
I've been shooting, as a hobbyist, with a kit lens since 2008. After beginning to print my images larger, though, I was really noticing the softness that's been there all along. I had no idea how great the impact of an aftermarket lens could be. It is drastic. The build quality of this lens makes the kit lenses feel like toys. Granted, it is significantly heavier than the kit lens. Personally, I like this. I imagine that many folks would think it... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
AF isn't accurate.
The copy I have bought last week has a AF calibration problem within the focal lengths of 17-28 mm. And it also performs some weird AF operation. So it is packed up and goes back tomorrow. AF sometimes fails when it's run from infinity to a close up subject. It focuses somewhere in between and confirms the AF. So it is not hunting or failing to focus. It does focus but not on the subject in the scene. I tried so many times and it did the same. I ... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Superb Buy and Value
I use this lens as a general purpose lens when I wish not to swap lenses too frequently, and have been very pleased with the quality of general photos and candids it's yielded. In my lightest kit, I'll pack this on camera (D7100) with a 35mm f/1.8 Nikkor and a Tokina 100mm f/2.8 macro, but in general, I love to leave this lens on for many of my shots. At 17mm, the field of view is quite wide without the extreme elongation at the frame edges I get... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
This lens works perfectly!
I did exactly what they tell you not to do: don't buy a new equipment right before going on vacation. I did. I got this lens as an update from my trusty old Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 since I shoot 80% of the time with a polarizer on (which cuts down the amount of light) or in low light so I need a lens with stabilization (tripod is not always an option for me). I first got the new Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 VC. After some test shots I concluded this lens is... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Nice travel & general use lens
This review is for what the lens is and not so much for what it isnt. Until I purchased this lens, 95% of my photos are taken using either my Tarmon 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD if Macro and Nikkor 35mm f/1.8g DX lens on my Nikon D7100. I use the Tarmon for portraits/sports and the Nikkor 35mm as a light travel lens. I wanted a travel lens that would give me a little more field of view than the 35mm with vibration compensation. The three things that had ... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Very pleased with this one
At first I used the new lens on my Canon EOS 20D body for three days of action packed sport photography (downhill mountain bike race). The competitors were moving fast and conditions were changing even faster from ski slope with plenty of sunlight to dark forest, mixed shadows, fog, rain, rare clouds... the lens had to cope with almost any type of light in these three days. As you can expect, I was very satisfied with the non-chaging 2.8f. Until ... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Great all-around video lens
Professional video producer for 25 years, but new to DSLR for video. Having grown up in the business using big, professional broadcast video cameras with beautiful, $25k Fujinon zoom lenses, I was a little concerned about making the switch to DSLR and having to switch lenses as my shots changed. I took the usual advice of choosing a range of 3 or 4 lenses that would cover the same range as my video lenses, and it's been easier to get used to than... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
IN LOVE WITH THIS LENS!!!
For months I pondered over buying this lens to use on my Canon T2i since it wasn't the canon brand. I sold my 24-70L as I shoot weddings and ended up having to much camera shake as I have MS and carrying it around all day on my Mark, it ended up being to heavy for me...I initially purchased a 50 1.2 to upgrade from my 50 1.4 and to more replace my 24-70L, but I got a lemon that would not focus on either the 5d Mark II or my T2i so I returned it a... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
Not one of Sigma's best efforts
I bought this lens in hope that I would be able to handhold it at 50mm f4 at 1/25 sec. For me to be able to do this two things were necessary:1. it needed to be sharp at f4 from center to corner and2. the OS had to work well at 1/25 sec.To my great surprise it was actually sharp enough to use at f2.8. But on trying to use the OS I discovered that either it was broken out of the box or the worse designed lens stabilization system ever invented. I'... Show More
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
