Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

I love my new lens!

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

I use this lens with my canon T2I, for everyday use, and videos.
Pros-
Easy to use
Focus is amazing
Pictures are clear, colors are vivid and images come out really clean
Affordable, compared to the canon lens lol

Cons-
Kind of bulky and adds a lot of weight to camera

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

Very fast and functional, glad I bought it!

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

I thought about purchasing the Canon 17-55 f2.8 but could not bring myself to pay that much money for an EF-S lens, so I opted for this one. I wanted a decent walk-around lens that was lighter and more convenient than my 24-70mm f2.8 and this fit the bill. I have been photographing for 25 years and I know a good lens when I see one. I compared this lens with much more expensive ones and this lens either matched or exceeded them at some focal lengths. No need to go to complicated MTF charts or pixel peeping charts. Or maybe I just got a good copy ? The image stabalization is a little quirky, but it works. The semi-macro mode works excellently also. The range is about perfect for a croped camera. The only thing I wish was that it was fixed at f2.8 and sharper at 70mm. Otherwise for the price I am very happy with this lens.

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

I shoot Couples & Families & Weddings Etc. and consider myself a semipro. My Canon 17-85 quit focusing and I needed a lens quick and took a chance since B&H gave me a 30 day return Plus I received it in three days in time to use it before a bridal shoot. I have had seven shoots with the 17-70 and love it, no problem focusing on my 40D and photos are sharp and two middle school groups are tack sharp!!! color great! No problems yet.

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

I've been shooting weddings for years with the previous 17-70 lens. Just upgraded to this OS version and I love it! Now I have optical stabilization for those detail shots in low light. Very sharp lens with predictable results. This fast lens is great in dark venues because I can use a slower ISO to avoid noise issues in the digital image.
The only downside is the focus - DO NOT TOUCH FOCUS RING IN AF MODE! While I purchased this lens because it's an HSM lens, the focus cannot be changed in AF mode. This is different from other Sigma HSM lenses and Canon USM lenses that allow changes in focus after the autofocus locks. I have to place the lens in MF to use follow focus for video with a Canon 7D. This is a minor issue on an otherwise great lens.

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

Love this lens & haven't taken it off my Canon 7D since I got it. Macro & bokeh are great (change to MF first) as is everything else I shot on my recent outiing to Charlotte NC. Works great in low light as I found out when I took photos in an art museum where you cant use flash. It does have a hard time in AF when you are too close to a subject but a quick flip to MF fixes that. I did notice a wee bit of lens creep but most lenses do, and it seemed to be a little loud when focusing but maybe that was because it was so close to my face. Finally, this lens is a LOT lighter than the Canon 24-70 which I just rented to shoot a wedding, and the output is very comparable. Overall this lens is a 2 thumbs up and I look forward to the next time I can take it out!

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

I used it mainly for my on the go lens, also for professional wedding and portraits. It has been great for those things, the image quality is pretty sharp and its durable. In low light it has a lot of trouble autofocusing.

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

Just bought this lens and took it on a trip to Charleston, SC. It's a great everyday lens. The 2.8 lens is fast, sharp and has the added benefit of being a macro with a very short minimum focal distance which allows for the ability of capturing shots with very interesting perspective. No complaints so far and has turned out to be just what I was looking for and more. I just love it!

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

I like this lens a lot. the pictures are great, and i like the added focal length as compared to the stock lens on my camera. A little bulkier than I expected but the performance outweighs this.

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

I upgraded from the 18-55 kit lens that I had previously used with my XS. I like the fact that it is a faster lens, and suits my needs as a travel photographer perfectly.

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

I didn't want to invest in a lot of fixed lenses and couldn't afford a very expensive zoom and this was the perfect option for me. Lots of flexibility in terms of how close/wide you can get. I've gone an entire shoot day on this lens alone and been absolutely fine getting every angle necessary. Great picture quality, good glass, and the OS is a nice addition. Can't beat it for the price.

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

I bought this instead of the 17-85mm Canon lens because it's a full step faster at any point in the zoom range, and for low-light use that's important to me. After taking it on a hiking trip last weekend (not the intended primary use, but a good test still) I now have enough pictures to give it an adequate review.

Physical:
When indoors the focus has a noticeable noise, but when outdoors it's not an issue at all. It's slower focusing than the Canons with USM that are the same age, so I wouldn't use it for sports, but for other stuff it's perfectly adequate.
There is a bit of gravity zoom if you're looking straight down and let go, but for storage there is the zoom lock switch to lock it at 17mm.
I was somewhat disappointed to find that when you have the (included) lens hood on backwards for storage, the focus ring is covered, so if you're going to have the hood with you and it's not needed, you still need to keep it attached the right way. A friend was taking pictures next to me with the EF 28-135mm and that's got the focus ring behind the zoom ring, so he didn't have that concern.

Image:
It's not the EF-S 60mm Macro that I had in the bag with it, but it's noticeably better than the 18-55 IS kit lens. Pincushion is very apparent at 17mm, less so as you zoom. Checking and unchecking the "lens corrections" box in Lightroom demonstrates that very visibly (and the equivalent options in the Canon software). I didn't notice bad CA, but outdoor shots wouldn't show it well anyway. No complaints about the stabilization - it seemed to work fine, even though there were some strange instructions in the manual about never connecting the lens with the switch on and waiting 30 seconds or something to enable it (which I read after attaching the lens and taking a few test pictures with it on).
I was able to get some very nice pictures of the campfire at night, and the focus dot was showing up to verify even though I was in manual mode, which is better than other lenses in low light.
When taking pictures of other people around the fire with the flash I had to go into full manual mode instead of my usual aperture priority so the shutter speed wouldn't be a full second, but that may be the fault of the Rebel XS body not properly flash compensating instead of the lens.

Overall:
I'm happy with the purchase and the money I saved vs. the Canon offering, which will let me upgrade from the XS to the 60D that much sooner. It has replaced the EF 28-135mm as the carry around lens on my camera (which was intended to replace the 18-55 kit but I missed the wide angle). Don't be fooled by the "Macro" designation, it's really not a macro lens, but I knew that before buying it.

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

I am a child care provider and take lots of pictures of the kids. This lens is perfect for indoors and outdoors.

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

Bought this lens as a replacement of the standard lens that came with my EOS (it was the old 18-55 without stabilization...)
Clearly this is a superior lens. It gives a sharper image and the stabilization allows shot in low light that would have required before a flash or a tripod.
I haven't had any problem with the autofocus yet.

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

I bought this lens at the same time as a Canon 60D body (instead of buying a kit lens). It was a good choice. It has excellent sharpness throughout the zoom range, and very nice close-focusing ability.

It does not throw a shadow if you take a picture with the built-in flash, which is a big plus.

Only things I don't like are that it is kind of heavy, and also the focusing ring turns during auto-focus, so you have to be careful not to touch it.

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

i bought this lens from BH to use for wedding photography, the 17-70 range is excellent for this purpose, one rarely has to change lenses even under low light conditions because of the optical stabilization.

i use it on my canon 60d and its weight as size seems to feel perfectly balance on that camera. it has pretty good autofocus, not as fast as some of it canon USM rivals but decent enough not to miss shots often.

UNFORTUNATELY the autofocus system seems to have a problem now and the lens hunts at almost all focal lens unless you grip the zoom ring hard. unfortunately i live in ghana and sending it back is extremely tough so now i use it mainly for macro photography and video since the manual focus still works well.

all in all its a great lens with wonderful color rendition, but beware of the quality issues, a bad lens might cost you a lot more than its price in the middle of an important shoot.

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

I´ve bought one of these and had some SERIOUS TROUBLE focusing. I´ve had a few great Sigma lenses in the past but this one you should stay away from. It will focus about a feet from where you originally focused. I´m a professional photographer with almost 20 years experience, the problem was definitely not me! The first work I did with it was a child´s birthday party and I´ve noticed the problem only after I blew the image up on the computer screen. You can imagine the trouble I was in. Thank God I shot with a couple of other lenses too.

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

I use it with Canon 60d and it work great!

Comments about Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Canon Digital Cameras:

After extensive research on various forums, I decided to give this lens a shot. After I installed this on my 2Ti, the first impression I got was how heavy thing is. Compare to Canon 55-250mm and 18-135mm lenses which I also own, this is easier another 100g heavier. If you use this all day long, I would certainly invest in a better neck strap. Luckily construction seems solid. The lens focus fairly fast, accurately and build in OS does its job well. But compare to my nifty fifty (Canon 50mm F/1.8 II), the images I captured with this lens seem to be more washed out and not as sharp. I also had very soft borders on all of the images. I would place image quality close to Canon 18-135mm but certainly not as good as the nifty fifties.[...]. After careful consideration, I decided to go with my original 2nd choice: Tamron 17-50mm no VC. Although I lost lens stabilization and 20 mm worth of reach, I like Tamron's color rendition and sharpness a great deal more. Since both of these lens are within $30 of each other, I believe I made the right choice.