Nice lens for a good price

Author's Rating:

Pros: Great price, good quality, good zoom, macro

Cons: Too slow at times for quick subjects.

The Bottom Line: 
For people on a tight budget a great lens. I find a better value compared to similar Canons. Also look at the 2 lens kit offered at RitzCamera.

Author's Review
I purchased this lens in a 2 lens kit at Ritz Camera; it came along with a 28-80mm Macro Zoom lens. I have been using the lens with my Canon Digital Rebel for about 2 weeks now. I have already took over 100 photos with the lens in many different environments, giving me a feel for its quality and features. Here is a breakdown of the features of this lens:

Autofocus This lens is for autofocus Canon cameras. I have heard of autofocus incompatabilities with older Sigma lenses, but new canon based lenses from sigma are claimed to support all current Canon cameras. So far it has held up to its word; the lens communicates with the camera without any problems. The autofocus speed rarely lets me down. Only in very dark areas or situations such as trying to get a flying bird in an overcast (Therefore all the same color) sky do I have a problem with the autofocus speed. Still it isn't that bad; I don't find myself missing a shot due to autofocus speed. I also find the autofocus to be very accurate; however that is largely up to the camera I imagine. In case the autofocus messes up or isn't desired, there is also a small switch on the side that allows manual focus.

Macro This is one feature that makes this lens preferable over similar Canon lenses. There is a small switch on the side that allows for macro focusing. The switch will only move when the lens is zoomed out to 200-300mm, the lenses macro range. Once switched to macro the lens cannot go below 200mm. The macro can zoom in on just a little over 3 feet; with 300mm this can create very large prints of small objects such as insects or flowers. If extremely close shots are needed however a closer macro lens might be needed.

Zoom The lens zooms from 70-300mm. This is done by rotating a huge dial around the lens. Most of the time it zooms smoothly; I have had times when the lens doesn't want to zoom as smoothly as I would like however. One nice thing is the zoom is hard enough that the lens won't extend on its own. I have heard of this being a problem on similar lenses; photographers will end up with their lenses always on 300mm because gravity pulls down the lens. Perhaps with wear my lens will do this but so far I've had no problems in that area.

Picture Quality This is obviously the most important aspect of the lens. Unfortunately I do not own any Canon lenses for my camera, so I can't compare. However I have taken pictures and concluded that the image quality is very nice with this lens. When all my settings are correct (Obviously if I do something wrong and a picture goes bad it's not the lenses fault) the picture looks decently clear even when zooming into my 6.3 megapixel images, even up to 100%.

Overall opinion I think that this is a great lens for the money, especially with the 2 lens kit I got from ritz camera. However, if I had more money I would prefer a better lens. A little quicker autofocus and a tad sharper wouldn't hurt, though it also wouldn't be that noticeable in most images. My main problem is at 300mm I often notice blur that is likely caused by camera shake. Since I often take pictures of fast moving subjects, this can often ruin a picture. For one an f5.6 lens is a tad bit slow, I often wish for faster when zooming at 300mm. Also an image stabilized lens would be very helpful and I will likely invest in one in the future. Other than that few complaints; for people on a tight budget I highly recommend this lens. Also consider the 2 lens kit as it's an incredible value, but buy online as there is a savings of about $30 vs buying it directly at Ritz Camera.