Question:
Anyone know of any articles reviewing the Sigma 28-135? Thanks- Jim
Response:
Popular photography tested this lens sometime in the last couple years. I think they have a listing of lens tests on their site to point you to a year and month of the rag. This is my opinion, but Sigma lenses often tested favorably in their results, especially of several years ago. I recall a test of Sigma’s 70 or 75-300 zoom that seemed impossibly good for such a lens. Sigma being one of their major advertisers made me wonder. That’s a shame as many of my own tests agreed with their tests except for lateral color that vanished from their test results a few years back. John
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Anyone know of any articles reviewing the Sigma 28-135? Thanks- Jim
Response:
I personally own the 28-135 and until recently loved the lens. I’ve had it for about 9 months and had great success. It’s not the sharpest lens but adequately sharp for what I shoot, people, and journalism. The range is perfect and the internal focusing is great for filter work. My problem happened about 2 weeks ago when the manual focus ring quit turning. I can turn off the auto focus but can’t manual focus it. Since I do a good bit of studio work with that lens, the manual focus is pretty important. I’ve already contacted Sigma and will be returning it for service next week. If their service is good then it’ll be my favorite lens again. Charles
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Anyone know of any articles reviewing the Sigma 28-135? Thanks- Jim
Response:
Anyone know of any articles reviewing the Sigma 28-135?
There are several at photogtaphyreview.com http://www.photographyreview.com/35mm+Zoom/Sigma+28-135mm+F3.8-5.6+DL… Here’s my review from that page: I bought the Sigma 28-135 to replace my Tamron 28-200 which was never sharp enough for me at the longer focal lengths. For me, 28-135 is the ideal range for an all-purpose zoom; any time I want to go wider than 28mm or longer than 135mm I’ll be reaching for a prime rather than a zoom in most cases. I bought this lens mostly for shooting running events (cross-country and road races) for my web page, as a wide-to-tele zoom is the best way to capture the action in these events and not miss anything while switching lenses or cameras. Still, I find myself often using this lens for more "serious" photography. I’m very impressed with this lens’ sharpness and color rendition; seems quite a bit better than my old Tamron over 100mm. The 1/2 life-size macro capability is icing on the cake and I was pleasantly surprised with how good it is. Definitely a useful bonus on a do-it-all lens and makes this Sigma a real contender for occasions when you can only carry one lens with you. Its only shortcoming is the pincushion distortion it exhibits at longer focal lengths. Architectural photographers can cross this lens off their lists right now. When shooting structures or other straight lines, his pincushion distortion is quite apparent at 135mm but is gone by 50mm. For the work I do, it’s virtually a non-issue, but even landscape photographers need to be careful sometimes: If your scene includes a really flat horizon (like the ocean or a lake, for example) and you’re shooting at a longer focal length, putting the horizon significantly above or below the center of the frame will cause it to be bowed at the edges. So if you’re shooting a seascape you need to either keep the horizon in the center or shoot at, say, 75mm or wider (which is where most of this kind of photography is done, usually). It’s a fairly minor shortcoming given this lens’ considerable strengths. The build quality seems very good for such an inexpensive lens and I’m pleased with how much smaller it is than my old 28-200. Nice wide zoom range, very useful macro capability, sharp, compact and light weight. If it were faster and didn’t have that pincushion distortion it would be the perfect lens…but it would cost four times as much then, wouldn’t it? At around $200.00 it’s a steal. Strengths: Light, compact, versatile, good image quality, macro. Weaknesses: Pincushion distortion at longer focal lengths.
Response:
My problem happened about 2 weeks ago when the manual focus ring quit turning. I can turn off the auto focus but can’t manual focus it.
Heheheheeee… In spite of all those who hate Sigma critics like me… THIS is far too common an experience with Sigma, and why I slam them with a clear conscience. I don’t care how nice an optic may be… …If it’s not reliable, then it’s not wise to depend on it (duh). Seem pretty clear to me.
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