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pnorth
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Registered: Sep 3, 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 560
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Review Date: Oct 13, 2004
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,900.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Great Sharpness, zoom very usefull, value
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Cons:
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NONE
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I purchased this lens for outdoor sports, and nature photography. I was a little nervous about using a 2X converter due to softness, but was very surprised at the sharpness with the converters attatched! 600mm f5.6 is great for nature, and the canon 1.4 and 2X converters work great with this lens. Now that I have the 120-300, I couldn't imagin myself without it.
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 Oct 13, 2004
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geejames
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Registered: Aug 22, 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 27
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Review Date: Sep 25, 2004
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,400.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Fast, sharp and great zoom. The Build is solid. It is the only 3rd party lens I own with 18 other Nikons and it is a decision I am glad I made.
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Cons:
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Some complain it is heavy. It is lighter then most of the Nikon 300 mm F2.8 AF models and cost much less then the newer AF-S series? I have one fear getting it wet as Sigma recommends it is not water resistant. Can't have everything?
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I use the APO 1.4x teleconverter. I find it fast and accurate even with the teleconverter. Thus far it performs outstanding. Would recommend it to anyone who wants a lens that performs without breaking the bank. When I first tried it out it was priced at 1,899 so I brought the 70-200 F 2.8 AFS VR G by Nikon instead.Since then Sigma has raised the price and it sells for $2,299. I was Fortunate to find it on E-bay at 1,400 in mint condition so now I have the best of two worlds so to speak. For outdoor sports the 70-200 is placed on a second body. The Sigma 120-300 rules for soccer, baseball and football.
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Sep 25, 2004
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Peter Kirk
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Registered: Sep 25, 2004
Location: Australia
Posts: 303
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Review Date: Sep 25, 2004
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $2,200.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Love the quality and speed of focus.
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Cons:
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Lens Hood could be a fraction longer...but then again it might affect the 120 range.
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Ive found that the lens works extremely well with the 1DmkII in every respect. Focus is absolutely SPOT ON each time.
I have tried it on the D60 and found the lens faultless....speed of focus drops due to camera spec's not lens's fault. A worthwile investment. This lens has defined a new level of "sharp" in my images....I thought the 85 mm f1.8 was crisp....until I got my hands on this beauty...will not be seperating with this lens.
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Sep 25, 2004
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Peter Kirk
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Registered: Sep 25, 2004
Location: Australia
Posts: 303
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Review Date: Sep 25, 2004
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $2,200.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Love the quality and speed of focus.
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Cons:
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Lens Hood could be a fraction longer...but then again it might affect the 120 range.
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Ive found that the lens works extremely well with the 1DmkII in every respect. Focus is absolutely SPOT ON each time.
I have tried it on the D60 and found the lens faultless....speed of focus drops due to camera spec's not lens's fault. A worthwile investment. This lens has defined a new level of "sharp" in my images....I thought the 85 mm f1.8 was crisp....until I got my hands on this beauty...will not be seperating with this lens.
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Sep 25, 2004
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Unregistered
Offline
Location: Australia
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Review Date: Sep 25, 2004
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $2,295.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Very sharp and quick focus speed....comparable to primes.
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Cons:
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Slightly forward heavy....just a tad....however mounting a 1.4x and a 1DmkII balances is out nicely.
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I found that the fact that I can zoom out from 300 makes this lens a big blessing in all situations.
Very very good results at all aperatures except fully closed down....but then again how many times do you shoot at F 32??
Excellent product. Highly recommended.
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Sep 25, 2004
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spartan123
Offline
[ X ]
Registered: Nov 9, 2003
Location: United States
Posts: 3683
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Review Date: Sep 3, 2004
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,500.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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EVERYTHING!!! This lens rocks!
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Cons:
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Weight, but it balances well on a monopod.
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The perfect sports / wildlife lens for me. Works great with 1.4 TC and the photo's are just tack sharp. I no longer have to worry about my son playing in his soccer matches and getting to close to me.
A lens WELL worth the money.
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Sep 3, 2004
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MacD
Offline
Buy and Sell: On
Registered: Jun 5, 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 898
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Review Date: Sep 1, 2004
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,900.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Fast, sharp when longer than 120mm, good contrast and saturation, and a zoom.
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Cons:
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Large and heavy, but any 300mm will be. My copy is a little soft wide open at 120mm.
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This is my second copy. The first was excellent, but I thought I had to have the Canon 300 2.8 IS, so I sold it and went with Canon. At my first sporting event I realized how much I missed the zoom, causing me to miss many excellent shots. I sold the Canon, went back to the buyer of my first Sigma, hoping he did not like it, and he told me I was not getting it back! Thankfully, Canoga had not raised their price yet, and I got a new one for 1898.00. The only thing, both copies have been soft when wide open at 120mm, but I'm almost never below 180mm, so for me, all is great.
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Sep 1, 2004
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Dean Treml
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Registered: Aug 9, 2004
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 333
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Review Date: Aug 9, 2004
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,700.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Fast, Sharp, Versatile.
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Cons:
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Looks funny with a white Canon 1.4x ...
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After 18 years of sport, news and commercial photography this is the best lens I've ever used. How many times I've been stuck with a 300mm prime and wished I could have zoomed back to 200mm I couldn't begin to imagine.
When this lens became available I bought one and put it up against my Canon 300mm f2.8 USM during a sporting event using a combination of stand alone and converters. The Canon 300mm is now no more. The Sigma was as sharp and as fast, if not faster and the added versatility of the zoom made it no contest. The contrast of the Canon glass was a little superior, but if you are shooting digital this does not matter as it may with film.
At 2.6kg it's 300g lighter than the Canon 300. If you are used to amateur spec lenses you might find this heavy, but from a pro-user point of view it is a good weight and very easy to hand hold. The lens hood is not unnecessarily long and the general handling ergonomics are superb.
This lens is so great for shooting the everchanging dynamic of sports, in any light condition, and if I thought this lens was good on the EOS 1D, it's even better on the EOS 1D mk II. Having said that, it still preforms brilliantly on the D60.
Thanks Sigma, now could I please have a 35-120mm f2.8 to marry up to it !
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Aug 9, 2004
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Jesd
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Registered: Jul 22, 2004
Location: Denmark
Posts: 1
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Review Date: Jul 25, 2004
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Recommend? no |
Price paid: $1,728.00
| Rating: 6
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Pros:
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Fast focus. Takes great photos at f8.
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Cons:
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At f2.8 it always focus behind the subject.
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I just bought this lens, and a number of tests have shown that at f2.8 it always focus behind the subject. At f8 it takes great photos, but that is not why I bought this lens. For some reason it gets better if I put on a x2 TC (Sigma). I have tried this lens on both S2Pro and D70 and the results were the same.
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Jul 25, 2004
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Canuck
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Registered: Jul 22, 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 2
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Review Date: Jul 22, 2004
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,900.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Incredibly sharp all the way thru the range, all around great lens
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Cons:
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This is not lightweight at 5 3/4 lbs, but what 300mm F2.8 isn't heavy.
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This lens was my first pro lens after shooting with some consumer grade glass and what a difference that makes! My first use of this lens took me to Wales. The fist pics were taken in Tenby/Saundersfoot area. I had truly hit it right. I have since taken pics of all kinds of landscape, airplanes (including Concorde), the moon, and lots more. I truly can't say enough good stuff about this lens! This past weekend took me to Fairford for Int'l Air Tatoo (IAT) and that made all the difference in the world having a monster lens that can perform. Just to name some of the pics taken were the Super Hornet doing a high subsonic flyby and I can thank the 10D for 9 frame buffer as well as a Hawker Hunter, Tornado, B-1B Lancer amung other planes doing high speed passes. It seems that this has made it a lot easier to take really good pics. It just works like that. This lens has bailed me out a few times when the lighting was leaving a lot to be desired and the F2.8 is where it is at.
Would I recommend it? If you have the cash, a very big most definitely!
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Jul 22, 2004
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Scott Sewell
Offline
Buy and Sell: On
Registered: Dec 8, 2003
Location: United States
Posts: 8528
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Review Date: Jul 8, 2004
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,500.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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f2.8 through entire 120-300mm zoom range; quick and very quiet AF; solid, sturdy build; sharp images with good color; great lens for sports
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Cons:
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Not a lens I'd want to hand-hold for too long; tripod colllar sits rather low...would be nice if it were "taller";
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Don't let the bad things you might have heard about this lens scare you away. There simply is no other lens on the market like this and if you think you might need this zoom range at f2.8, it's worth your effort to look into this lens. The HSM focuses quickly and quietly and the lens feels like it's well built and rugged. Images are sharp at all f-stops and throughout the entire zoom range.
I'm not convinced this lens has as many problems as one might be led to believe because, IMO, there are just a lot of factors that come into play when shooting at f2.8 and in this zoom range. Basically, there isn't much room for error! Sequences of shots of moving subjects has resulted in very few OOF shots and those few are related more to the limitations of my 10d and my shooting (in)abilities than the lens.
Granted, there appear to be some legitimate QC issues with some copies of this lens, but find a good copy and it will hang with the best of them. And it does so at a fraction of the cost of a prime 300mm f2.8. Don't let the fact that it's not white and doesn't have a red line around the barrell scare you away. There's simply an awful lot to like about this lens.
EDIT: I'd highly recommend buying the optional TS-41 tripod collar for this lens. It gets the lens up higher from the mount and is much easier to grab.
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Jul 8, 2004
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parson
Offline
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Registered: Jul 24, 2003
Location: United States
Posts: 72
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Review Date: Jun 9, 2004
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,788.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Superb build quality; super-fast focus speed; reasonably priced for what you get.
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Cons:
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Could seriously benefit from rear drop-in filter capacity
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I've used this for a little over two weeks on my D2h and can find no serious drawbacks. Outstanding image quality regardless of what others might have experienced. I've found no indication of back focus problems with the D2h. Color and contrast with this lens are excellent and the range (especially on the D2h) is outstanding -- equal to a 450mm f2.8 for less than two-grand! Neither focusing nor image quality suffers with the addition of the 2x converter.
I do wish Sigma had given this great lens rear filter capacity. Finding and buying 105mm front filters is next to impossible. Beyond that I can find no complaints with this piece of equipment.
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Jun 9, 2004
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lee Woolery
Offline
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Registered: Jun 3, 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 1
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Review Date: Jun 3, 2004
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Recommend? no |
Price paid: $1,899.00
| Rating: 2
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Pros:
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Does focus fast
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Cons:
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Poor image quality and customer service...service department not helpful at all
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Many have reported excellent results with this lens when used on the Nikon D2H, however I never was able to get one in focus (and sellable) shot on mine. All focus settings were tried, tripods, high shutter speeds, static and moving objects and the results are all the same...what AF locks on is out of focus but what is about 2 feet behind is razor sharp.
It has been sent back twice for repair, adjustment, replacement and it still back-focuses. The images are useless and no amount of sharpening can save them. I asked for a replacement but last I heard they were sending it back to Japan for analysis.
I am sure that I got a bad one because it focuses just as poorly on a D100 and F4. On MF, the images are great but who would pay $1900.00 for a manual lens to be used on a camera that has an AF system as sophisticated as the D2H.
Sigma blamed the camera but the $179.00 Nikkor 70-300G lens that I purchased as a temporary replacement has better image quality than the Sigma that cost 10 times as much....as long as you have bright sun shine. To have over $2000.00 wrapped up in a lens, teleconverter and lens filter and not be able to make one penny off of it is quite frustrating.
I am only hoping that Sigma will send me a replacement that will focus perfectly on the D2H.
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Jun 3, 2004
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tschaal
Offline
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Registered: Oct 31, 2003
Location: Norway
Posts: 209
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Review Date: Jun 2, 2004
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $2,166.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Price, focal lenghts, sharpness, AF speed.
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Cons:
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None
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I bought my first one back in december 2003, ownd it for some 2 months and found it to be a superb lens in every way. A 300mm lens with zoom down to 120mm, that also performed great with both 1,4x and 2x teleconverters. Did even do well with stacked converters:)
Since I didn't know any better, I sold this lens so that I could get the $ to buy a EF 300mm f2.8 IS. Somehow I had made up my mind that IS was something I had to have.
To make a long story short; I got the EF 300mm f2.8 IS and tested it, but when I took the pricetag + quality of the pictures and compared it to the 120-300's price and quality of pictures and also got a zoom...there was not much more to think about.
I now have boutght a new Sigma EX 120-300 f2.8 lens and would recommend it to everyone that would like to have the best 300mm f2.8 zoom lens out there.
Of course, if you have unlimited amount of $ and can afford 2 houses and a L prime for one and a L zoom for the other, get those, but if not: This is the one to get!
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Jun 2, 2004
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Larry Carter
Offline
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Registered: Jan 7, 2002
Location: Georgia
Posts: 3739
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Review Date: Apr 16, 2004
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,799.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Well built (actually built better than my Canon 300 4L). For wildlife I like a black colored barrel on the lens so I was pleased.
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Cons:
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The weight is on the heavy side. Hard to hand hold. I'll just have to get used to it.
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Outstanding glass. Excellent resolutions at all f-stops except f32, and sharp at all focal lengths. HSM auto focus is fast and quiet, I was very surprised at that, seems faster than my Canon L but more than likely they are the same, I'll have to take more notes on this.
The biggest surprise was how well it did with the Canon 2X II TC. Very sharp and didn't lose much resolution at all f-stops. Excellent!!! It will be nice to have a 240-600mm f5.6 lens. Can't wait to try it out on some macro work.
All I can say is "Sigma did something right!". I've never been a zoom lens user but I think this lens will change my mind about the future of zooms. Anyways, its near fixed focal length quality and would rival Canon's best. I would recommend this lens to anyone who needs a fast f2.8 with the flexibility of a zoom. Bravo!!!! This lens is a winner in my book.
Larry Carter
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Apr 16, 2004
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Wayne Gravning
Offline
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Registered: Dec 9, 2003
Location: United States
Posts: 68
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Review Date: Apr 3, 2004
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,625.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Constant f2.8 aperature and 120-300mm zoom range. Well constructed and priced competitively. Tripod Collar. Very Quiet and Quick focus....no hunting. It locks in and that's it. Color looks very good to me. Four year warranty.
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Cons:
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I would think twice before carrying this lens for a five mile hike. ( I'm kinda old ). I use a Bogen monopod when shooting sports.
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Bought the lens in October of 2003 for shooting High School soccer and track on my Canon 10D. The first thing when I acquire a new lens is to put it on a tripod and shoot a series of pics thru the entire f/stop range. This lens proved very sharp from f2.8 to f16. Then I had to learn which sensors work best for me to get a higher ratio of sharp pictures. I finally have decided that I enjoy the challenge of "sharp shooting" wide open with/without my Sigma APO 1.4 teleconverter. Missed focus I blame on my slow reactions and inexperience with auto-focus lenses. I have 45 yrs. of motion picture productions and large camera landscape work for fun. It is truly a joy when I "hit" focus on fast action and I can see the beads of sweat and facial details etc. This lens is truely a keeper.
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Apr 3, 2004
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Reviews
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Views
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Date of last review
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88
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305242
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Apr 22, 2013
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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83% of reviewers
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$2,073.03
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Build Quality Rating
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Price Rating
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Overall Rating
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9.36
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9.58
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9.1
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