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Introduction.
The Sigma 70-200mm F/2.8 II HSM macro telephoto zoom lens is made in Japan and features a constant fast aperture of F/2.8 with a nice build quality and focusing system, similar to
Sony's 70-200mm G lens. It looks like most of the lens is made of metal, and feels very solid in the hand. The zoom and focus movements
are smooth and quiet. The lens body has a nice matte black finish, with the zoom and focus rings, hood and the tripod
collar being the standard Sigma sparkly finish that looks cheap in my opinion. This lens was designed
for a full frame camera. If you have an APS-C camera, the equivalent capture area will be 105mm-300mm. The
official name for this lens is; Sigma 70-200mm F/2.8 EX DG APO macro HSM II, although not always in that order. If you
break down the abbreviations, you come up with following which is directly from Sigma's website; EX which means; "the
exterior of this lens is EX-finished to denote the superior build and optical quality, and to enhance its appearance."
DG means; "these are large-aperture lenses with wide angles and short minimum focusing distances. With an abundance
of peripheral illumination, they are ideal lenses for Digital SLR Cameras whilst retaining suitability for traditional 35mm
SLRs." HSM is; "this lens uses a motor driven by ultrasonic waves to provide a quiet, highspeed AF."
APO is; "in order to attain the highest quality images, the APO lens has been made using special low-dispersion (SLD)
glass and is designed to minimize color aberration." All that sounds like a bunch of crap if I may say so myself!
A couple of other items to note; the "Macro" designation usually means is can focus closely at full zoom with a
reproduction rate larger than 0.25x. The "II" means the lens has been upgraded in some way from the original.
Most 70-200mm F/2.8 lenses have the same things as the Sigma, they just use different marketing BS aimed at novices to make
their products look superior. The Sigma 70-200mm F/2.8 HSM II is fairly basic in that
is has no focus hold, or focus limiter switches, the only switch is the AF/MF on the side. There is an adjustable tripod
collar that separates in the middle by way of a knob that unscrews and pulls up for release. To rotate the collar you
simply loosen the knob, adjust and re-tighten.
The zoom action is just right for one or two finger
rotation, and it seems to stay put with normal use. Focal length index marks come at 70mm, 85mm,
100mm, 135mm and 200mm, and the EXIF data matches those lengths, although when set at 85mm the camera
data often reads 90mm, no big deal. The zoom movement is internal, meaning the lens doesn't change length when zooming.
In the box is the lens, front and rear caps, petal shaped plastic hood
with ridges on the inside, black padded softcase with strap, and owner's manual with warranty card. Focusing.
The very large focusing ring is near the front part of the lens, and does not turn during auto-focusing.
If you want to tweak the focus point in AF mode, just turn the manual focusing ring at any time for instant focus override.
Focusing is done internally, so there is no lens length change or filter ring rotation. This lens uses a quiet HSM
or "hyper sonic motor" for AF, and is very similar in design and operation to Sony's SSM, or "super sonic wave
motor." Both systems use a motor inside the lens to adjust focus, instead of the older Minolta and Sony slot/screw
drive set up dating back to 1985. Sigma's HSM system focuses pretty fast, and mostly accurately, although ultimate accuracy
will depend on each camera and lens calibration. Going from close focus to infinity takes almost a 1/2
turn of the ring, which makes manually focusing more precise, that is, if your eye sight is good enough to see the
sharpness changes in the viewfinder.
Note; Sigma's owner's manual makes the following
statement when using Sigma teleconverters; "In case of Sony AF mount, it is possible to use AF when attaching TCs with
a serial number above 5000001. AF will not work if the TCs serial number is lower than 5000001."
Product shots of the review lens.
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| Side view |
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| Backside showing AM/MF switch |
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| Front element |
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| Removeable tripod collar |
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| MTF chart from Sigma |
General information and specifications.
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Lens
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Box contents
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Front and rear caps, users manual, tripod collar, hood and soft case.
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Cost
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$949 at time of review, discontinued in 2012.
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Build quality
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Very good
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Additional information
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Different design than the more expensive Sigma 70-200mm F/2.8 EX DG OS HSM
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Specifications below
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Optical configuration
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18 elements in 15 groups
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Angle of view
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34°-12° full frame, 23°-8° APS-C measured on the diagonal.
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Aperture
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9 blades, curved
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Full frame and APS-C
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Made for full-frame, but works fine on APS-C. APS-C equivalent, 105-300mm
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Depth of field and focus scales?
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Focus distance window, and focal length index marks at 70mm, 85mm, 100mm, 135mm, and 200mm.
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Minimum focus, image plane to subject
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38.9" (988mm)
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Minimum focus, end of lens barrel to subject
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29.4" (747mm)
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Hard stop at infinity focus?
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No
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Length changes when focusing?
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No
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Focus ring turns in AF?
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No
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Filter size
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77mm
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Filter ring rotates?
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No
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Distance encoder?
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No
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Max magnification
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0.28x, or 1:3.5
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Min. F/stop
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F/22
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Sony teleconverter compatible?
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No
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Length changes when zooming?
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No
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Dimensions WxL (my measurements)
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3.4" x 7.25" 87mm x 184mm.
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Maximum extended length (my measurements)
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7.25" (184mm)
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Weight bare (my scale)
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42.2oz (1196g) bare. Tripod collar 4.9oz (138). Hood, 2.4oz, (68g). All together including caps, hood
and collar, 50.5oz (1431g).
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Optical qualities summary.
Lens
flare/ghosting. Average for a telephoto zoom. I see mostly green ghosts if the sun is at the edge, or
inside the image. Look below for examples. Veiling glare seems a little strong as you zoom out, so prepare to
block the sun or other super-bright light source with your hand to keep the contrast up in your shots, if the sun isn't actually
in the shot.
Color fringing (CA). Slightly below average control.
Look for moderate to strong amounts of lateral color fringing at and near 200mm, diminishing to almost nothing at 70mm.
See full frame section for sample crop. I see some mild axial color fringing at large apertures.
Bokeh. Looks pretty smooth towards the long end, and just a hair busy at the short end. Check out the sample crops
below. Color. Slightly warm as compared to Sony lenses. Close
up filter. N/A Coma. None.
Regular
filters cause no additional light fall-off problems. Filter size is 77mm.
This is the standard size for most 70-200mm F/2.8 zooms. Sony lenses that use 77mm filters are; CZ 24-70mm F/2.8, 70-200mm
F/2.8 G, CZ 135mm F/1.8, 11-18mm F/4.5-5.6, and the 70-400mm G.
Distortion.
You'll notice mild to moderate barrel distortion at 70mm, mostly flat around 85mm, but pincushion starts quickly
as you zoom out. Check out the cropped samples below.
Image
samples from APS-C camera below.
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| 70mm, mild barrel distortion. |
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| 200mm, mild pincushion distortion. |
Bokeh quality.
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70mm F/2.8
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70mm F/4
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200mm F/2.8
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200mm F/4
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Out of focus background highlights look pretty smooth zoomed out, and the 70mm highlights showing a little
blurred point in the middle, visible in the F/2.8 70mm crops, and very minor ringed blur at 70mm, F/4.
Light fall-off.
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70mm F/2.8
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70mm F/4
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200mm F/2.8
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200mm F/4
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Light fall-off or corner shading is not noticeable in real pictures at any focal
length or aperture using an APS-C camera. Let's
check out the macro capabilities of this lens.
Below, check out the 100% cropped
portion (760kb) of the full image. The sample shot was taken with the Sony
A580 16.2MP camera. Don't directly compare this sample with most other stamp shots as they were taken
with the Sony A700 12.2mp camera. The subject is a standard US stamp, 0.87"x 1.0" or 22mm x 25mm. Also,
note the macro shot was taken as close to the subject as focusing allowed; in this case a long 29.4" (747mm), measured
from the front of the lens barrel to the subject. This lens has a reproduction
size of 0.28x which is quite large for a telephoto zoom lens, and produced a sharp, close shot of the postage stamp.
F/8 was the sharpest at close focus, but F/5.6 and F/11 looked good also. There is strong color fringing along the black
letters and numbers. As a side note; the "1996" on the bottom left of the stamp measures a mere 1mm wide.
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| Close focus. F/8. Click for larger image. |
____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Full frame results using the Sony A900. Check out the differences when using a full frame
camera below. I'm only pointing out the noticeable issues as compared to the APS-C bodies, so if I don't show it here,
the results are not significantly different enough to warrant posting an additional set of images in this section. Light
fall-off
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70mm F/2.8
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70mm F/4
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200mm F/2.8
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200mm F/4
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Light fall-off is a little stronger with full frame coverage, but only noticeable when the lens is wide
open and zoomed out. There is no additional light fall off when using regular thickness filters, such as polarizers,
UV protectors etc. Flare and ghosting issues.
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70mm F/5.6
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70mm F/5.6
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200mm F/2.8
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200mm F/5.6
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I see some green ghosts when the sun is in the image, and some flare when the sun is outside the image.
The bottom left shot shows some strong flare even when the sun is far from the frame. A fix for this is holding your
hand up to block the sun. The hood works ok, but not as good as you hand. Full image
from A900 below illustrating light fall-off. This boring full scene shows light fall-off from 200mm, F/2.8. It's hardly noticeable and poses
no problems in my opinion. Shot was taken at 200mm, F/2.8, ISO 200 1/3200sec 0.30ev. Lateral color fringing. This full frame 200mm, F/5.6 crop shows somewhat strong color fringing, and was taken from the last 700
pixels of the image on the middle left side. This type of color fringing doesn't go away as you stop down. Look
at the magenta, and to a lesser extent cyan colors along the house corners etc. Full frame distortion samples next.
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| Moderate barrel distortion @70mm |
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| mild to moderate pincushion @105mm |
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| Moderate to strong pincushion distortion @ 200mm |
There is moderate barrel distortion at 70mm, but it flattens out very quickly, and by 85mm-100mm it turns
to pincushion. Thankfully the distortion shape is a simple curve, and is easy to fix with distortion correction sliders.
Conclusion.
The Sigma 70-200mm F/2.8 HSM II is a lower-cost alternative to the more expensive Sony model, also tested here. This Sigma fast telephoto zoom lens is very impressive for
the price. Build quality is very similar to the Sony,
and it offers the same type of fast, almost silent focusing system, which uses
a motor inside the lens, and works just as good as Sony's SSM in my opinion.
There are a couple of things missing though, there are no focus hold or focus
limiter buttons to speed up focusing in certain situations, but not everyone will
miss those items. On the upside, the lens performs very well optically,
with good contrast across the frame, especially at the short end, along with relatively low
distortion and light fall-off, although color fringing at the long end is quite noticeable
in some images. The Sigma 70-200mm HSM II is very sharp at almost all apertures near the
short end, however, as you zoom out near 200mm, the image sides are not quite as sharp as the Sony or Tamron equivalents,
but that's only visible when you display the crops side-by-side as I've done here, (see below). The
Tamron 70-200mm F/2.8 also tested here performs about the same optically, but doesn't come close in focusing speed or build quality. Final
thoughts; Sigma's quality control is awful, I used three lenses for this review,
the third lens they sent me was a winner. If you want to try your luck, and are patient, you
might wind up getting a good one, at which point you'll be hard pressed to tell the differences
between the Sigma 70-200mm F/2.8 HSM II and the Sony 70-200mm F/2.8 G, in both sharpness,
focusing accuracy and speed. At the time of this review the Sigma is about
half the price of the Sony, which makes it a great bargain.....if you get a good one! Check out the
replacement for this discontinued lens; Sigma 70-200mm F/2.8 OS HSM reveiw, and price here. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Sharpness crops next, using the full frame Sony A900. 70mm
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