I've trouble deciding on a zoom lens

Fenster

I figure you can all give me some input. The absolute most I can spend is about $300 dollars, to lay down the rules for this. When I was over there in June, I picked up this lens new and this lens secondhand.

The Canon lens has been utterly, absolutely fantastic, but the Tamron lens has been...muck. I guess its secondhand as it was probably dropped at some point. The autofocus is basically broken - its slow and locks at either extreme of focus. Other than that, its okay, but its still a bigger zoom lens than I really want - I basically want something that will give me good DoF on portraits. I'm selling it to a co-worker before I return to America in August. Here's the lenses I have my eye on:

Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 DG - Cheap, f/2.8 and roughly in and around the zoom size I want. Hopefully it will be as sharp as the Canon 28mm.

Canon 28-105mm f/3.5 USM - More expensive, bigger zoom and slightly smaller aperature, but I'm told USM lens have fantastic focus.

I'm sure I could drag a few more into this if needs be. I'm not after a macro lens or a high-powered zoom lens. What are all your suggestions and opinions? Anything below $300 USD is game.

mathias

Heres a page with all the canon lens and some reviews ,

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-Zoom-Lens-Reviews.aspx

Also when you have initially decided on a model go to fredmiranda and type in the model number to get some real world reviews with some samples pictures

www.fredmiranda.com ,

Of the two zooms you have posted the Canon 28 -105 gets great reviews , I have the model one up from that , the 28 - 135 and that to me is a great lens and spends more time on my camera than anything else.

Sigma , according to most people on Fredmiranda , have QC issues and this means that you may have to return your lens a few times to get a decent copy.

Fenster

Aye, I've heard of Sigma and quality problems, but in this case my eye is firmly on my wallet.

311

I found fred mirandas site good for reviews ,but a lot of reviews are written by people who seem to have lenses that are a couple of thousand euro.

Photozone.de is a great site I've found ,because they properly test lenses that are retailed and not just sent from the manufacturer.
I have canon and sigma lenses and if I could get a canon usm at a discount I wouldn't think about it. Sigma HSM is not the same as canons USM .
If you want autofocus go for canon,I think.

CrowdedHouse

Dunno Fenster,it's probably just me but I'm always inclined to go for the camera brand lenses.I just feel buying an off-brand lens is a compromise.

I know they're might be some good Sigma etc but I just have more confidence in(in my case) Nikkor lenses and as such are of more value to me.(And if need be wait a while if I couldn't afford just now)
Probably get a better price too if I needed to sell on

My 2c

Fajitas!

Going against the crowd, but... got for the 28-70 if you want a walkabout lens.

Lower aperture will make it handier too, and tbh, Sigma quality is pretty good.

I think it's mainly people with a collection of white lenses that use them, and a lot of people following them...because they want white lenses. Sigma sell as many lenses as Canon and Nikon...Must be a reason why

EDIT: And yeah, someone's going to say "you're only jealous you don't have a series of L lenses..."

Bet they are too

PaulieC

I got the 28-105 USM a few months back and I'm very happy with it. The only problem with it is that it's not wide enough on a 1.6 FOVCF camera. I was in Paris two weeks ago and struggled to get shots of buildings.

Borderfox

I have had 2 sigma lenses and quality has never been a problem

punchdrunk

tamron lenses are usually great quality,you must've got a lemon

Fajitas!

Yep, even Chocheese on here has a pretty old Vivitar, and it's a lovely lens apart from the auto focus, but then, it is old!

Fenster

I think I'll go with the Simga on the simple grounds that its cheaper - it frees up more money for me to purchase graduated ND filters, a sensor cleaning kit and a quality portable tripod.

EDIT: Sorry for the longish delay in replying, I completely forgot about this thread in the course of thing.

Fenster

I ordered the Sigma lens today from Digital Wonder World, as I'm going to the US for two months, from the middle of August on.

Hopefully it will be here before the week is out. :]