Just Digital

My buying quandry continues... I think the 60mm Nikon is almost a definite for next week (assuming the price is OK) and I tried this lens last year on the Nikon stand, but I might be able to stretch to the Sigma above as well.
There seem to be plenty of reasonable reports, and given my favourite pastime of panning doesn't require VR (I turn it off on my current one), the fact it doesn't have OS hopefully shouldn't be a bad thing... The fact it's half the price of my holy grail is very tempting too..

Question is... does anyone have one?
The weight doesn't particularly bother me, after my old Sigma film camera and lenses. I'll go and have a go on the Sigma stand before buying, but any thoughts from people I know would be welcome.

Also... the Sigma converters are AF only.. So no use to me with my camera as it stands... You can buy AF-S Nikon converters, but can you use them with a Sigma lens? It's not entirely clear..

Thanks for listening to my rambling

i would get a new body if i were you so you dont have to worry about all this focus motor rubbish that stops you buying some lenses.

ian has the canon fit sigma and he says its a good lens

It is a very good lens.... quick focus.... sharp...... nice weight to it....
If it had the image stab. with it, it would be just as good as the Canon L 2.8 70-200mm version, but at £500 more for that function I know which lens I would go for...
Just think Diane, the price of a Canon L 2.8 70-200mm would buy you a Sigma equiv. alongside a Canon 40d body & you would be able to borrow my 1.4 & 2.0 extenders when you wanted.. Food for thought..lol

One day you will see the light Diane & make that worthy switch.... lol

here here i will second that lol

yeah yeah - I think new body (camera not mine) may be next years purchase, I want to get a good use out of mine before I switch. I'll have had it nearly three years by then With any luck the D400 will have been out a while and I can bag a cheaper D300 (sorry Wayne)... Can keep the D40 for any more rain soaked adventures

I thought you might have had it Ian, What's the verdict about how sharp it is with the extenders? I've heard the 2.0x can make it a bit soft..?

I think if they put IS, VR, OS, whatever you want to call it, then it would be up there near the Nikon and Canon equivalent prices. But £600 ish for this one v £1300 for the Nikon, it's looking tempting.

Be honest Diane, I found it not at all bad with the 2x extender, very passable especially if you are using f8 upwards, f5.6 slightly softer, but again not enough for me to worry about..... ( I've even had the 1.4 + 2.0 together on manual mode)
It was softer for detail but I got a really good zoom range for the overall image.

Hang on a minute I cant do the math

You was not happy to spend £540 on lens, but now going for £330 on a 60mm macro and £600 in a 70-200m f/2.8

You just won something ?

you sneaky bugger

Me sneaky? Never

I wasn't happy at the price hike for the 105 - thing is the 70-200 one I have now is where a lot of my shots come from, having a macro/portrait lens is a bonus..
Told you I was in a quandry! Be thankful hopefully I should hush for a while after Sunday.. I hope..


Ian, if there's any chance we might see you this Thurs, I'd love you to bring the Sigma along...?

Sorry Diane, I won't be back till March all thing well....... I'm sure you have looked at this lens in the past when I first got it,( mind you, you were not looking at buying one then) Mine is the F2.8 macro version...... I don't know if the lens will perform as well in the Nikon format as the camera does the work... But I haven't had any regrets with it...

Yes Ian this is the macro Mk2, not that a minimum focusing distance of over a metre is particularly close up lol..

You've never had a bad word to say about Sigma's (and neither of I, my 35mm ones were fine), I'm just not sure whether it was this one we were having the conflab about...

Will be good to see you again, March is just around the corner