Sigma 50-150mm f2.8

I really like this lens. It fulfils a very useful role on my 1.6 crop Canon 350D and replaces the 70-200mm range on my full-frame film camera. Having a lens with this range completes my change to the APS-C format. I no longer wish to have a camera with a full frame sensor. Lenses designed for the APS-C sensors like the EF-S lenses for Canon, or DX for Nikon can be designed to be lighter, more compact, and yet retain the same high quality as their full frame counterparts.

I walked into a camera shop to check out the lens, see how it felt and if it would fit into my bags and cases. I was most impressed with the feel and build of this lens and was ready to slap down some cold hard cash for this baby… until I tested it out.

There seemed to be some concern about front focusing from my research on the net. I tested out this lens at 150mm at f2.8 from a distance of about 1 to 1.2m away and, with the center AF point active, focused on the ‘8’. As you can see below, there definitely is some front focusing.


The shop basically advised me to wait for the next batch of lenses when, hopefully, Sigma will have fixed this. With PMA 2007 just a couple of weeks away, I’ll wait. I’m hopeful that Canon will announce its own version of this lens, have IS, and weigh 200g less... someday.

Photos:
Top: A crop of the bottom picture
Bottom: Straight JPEG from my camera of the box slanted at roughly 45 degrees, taken with the Sigma 50-150mm at 150mm, f2.8 from a distance of 1-1.2m away, center AF point active aimed at the figure '8'.