Sigma 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 APO Macro Super II

catza.net photos: Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO Macro Super II

• cheap but decent quality tele zoom for amateurs
• estimated retail price 250 EUR
• in my use from 12/2004 to 2/2008
• works best at the wide end and stopped down

• reasonably sharp, good contrast and nice colors at the wide end (approx. 70 - 120 mm)
• nice build quality compared to the price
• is said to pefrorm better than most telezooms in this price class
• due to a special macro mode (1:2 reproduction ratio) offers nice possibilities to try out macro photography

• to be sharp needs to be stopped down (at its best at f/8 and f/11) especially at tele end
• at tele end contrast weakens, colors turn to gray and sharpness suffers
• AF motor or the focusing mechanism little by little became very noisy