{"id":15864,"date":"2012-02-05T19:52:29","date_gmt":"2012-02-05T11:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/?p=15864"},"modified":"2017-02-25T19:48:12","modified_gmt":"2017-02-25T11:48:12","slug":"sigma-apo-70-200mm-f2-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/2012\/02\/05\/sigma-apo-70-200mm-f2-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Sigma APO 70-200mm F2.8"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve blogged about the 70-200mm f2.8 lens range several times now on this blog and how this lens type is considered a staple for any serious photography enthusiast. The original party manufacturers manufacture these very complex lens to high specifications, and they routinely cost an arm and a leg too. The Nikon version<\/a> of this lens for instance costs a painful SGD2,900 here!<\/p>\n

As a hobbyist, there\u2019s no way I\u2019m ever going to spend that kind of money on a lens. OK, not unless it comes with maybe 50 cans of abalone. Until that day comes, the next best was Sigma\u2019s version of the lens \u2013 the Sigma APO 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM<\/a> \u2013 which has about identical specifications to the Nikon\/Canon ones. There\u2019re always risks with third party lenses and how they match to the original equipment manufacturer ones, but reviews everywhere have agreed that while this lens\u2019 quality is just slightly lower than the Nikon one, especially in image center sharpness, it\u2019s amazing value for money nonetheless.<\/p>\n

\"blog-2012-photography-OLYP5443-sigma70-200-f2.8\"<\/p>\n

I took the plunge for it last Monday. The lens normally costs about SGD1,950 here, but rather than paying that, I picked up an export set, losing local warranty but saving myself about SGD450 on the other hand. The lens arrived just after dinner, so I took the opportunity to take several pictures of Hannah and Ling when we all headed to the playground for Hannah\u2019s Sunday play activity.<\/p>\n

\"blog-2012-hannah-N7K_0849-playground-flickr\"\"blog-2012-hannah-N7K_0866-playground-flickr\"\"blog-2012-hannah-N7K_0897-playground-flickr\"<\/p>\n

The lens is certainly hefty, but I imagine my old D300 would had been a better counterbalancing unit to it than the lighter D7000 that I use now. Focusing was pretty quick (reviews note that the Nikon lens is even faster though) and spot on. The lens focusing motor is a little noisy though, and you can feel the optical stabilizer mechanism working over time too with a slight jolt in the lens barrel each time.<\/p>\n

Still; shooting with a f2.8 telephoto zoom is a great new experience. I really look forward using this new lens outdoors with our girl.=)<\/p>\n

\"blog-2012-hannah-N7K_0916-playground-flickr\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve blogged about the 70-200mm f2.8 lens range several times now on this blog and how this lens type is considered a staple for any serious photography enthusiast. The original party manufacturers manufacture these very complex lens to high specifications,<\/p>\n

Read More Sigma APO 70-200mm F2.8<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7,13],"tags":[518,522],"class_list":["post-15864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-at-home","category-children-blues","category-photography-cameras","tag-d7000","tag-sigma-70-200mm-f2-8","wpcat-6-id","wpcat-7-id","wpcat-13-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/blog-2012-photography-OLYP5443-sigma70-200-f2.8.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}