SIGMA 70-300mm Zoom Telephoto

[jova54]

I have a 300D with the standard 18-55mm lens. I want to get a Zoom Telephoto and I have seen a Canon specific SIGMA 70-300 with an EF mount at a very good price. In an ideal world I'd upgrade my camera and buy a Canon lens but this is the real world.

Two Questions;

Has anyone got/used one with a 300D? As it's an EF mount I presume it will fit/work.

Were there any compatability operating issues, do you lose any functionality compared to a Canon lens of the same or similar range?

Thank you

John

[ColytonJohn]

Re: SIGMA 70-300mm Zoom Telephoto

Hi John,

Good questions and good thinking as glass is the first thing anyone should consider for an upgrade.

I can't answer the question about that specific lens (I use a Tamron 70-300 on my crop sensor 7D) but I'm sure some here have experience of it. What I can confirm is that an EF lens will fit a 'crop' body such as yours (but a EF-S lens - designed for a crop body - will not fit a full frame body) and it should function fully with the body.

You probably know this already but it's always worth repeating is that crop bodies have the effect of apparently multiplying a given focal length by a factor of 1.6 so the 70-300 becomes 112-480 and, while the long 480 end can be quite useful, the wide 112 end is far too long for sole use so you'd need another, wide, lens for 'walking about' with (mine is the Canon 15-85 which is an effective 24-136). If, however, you only want to improve your reach and are happy to also carry the 18-55, that won't be an issue.

Cheers,
John

[the black fox]

Re: SIGMA 70-300mm Zoom Telephoto

Yes it's a real world price ,but having had a few of these when I first started in various types ,gold ring ,red ring ,dgx etc I can say yes they do the job ,but at the expense of image quality ,for general purpose walk about snapping they are ideal ,if you wish or intend to crop in your photos don't expect to get top results from them ,in price terms secondhand anywhere between £50-to-£100 is the right price .
One bit of advice I would do is to check out the configurations I mentioned above I.e gold ring ,red ring ,dgx etc as it affects the price and iq .there are a awfull lot of sellers out there that think the lens there selling is something special when in fact it's not caveat emptor.

Have you considered the canon 55-250 is lens as that's a good cheap option that performs well above its price range and also comes in a few versions mk1 ,mk2 ,and STM

[jova54]

Re: SIGMA 70-300mm Zoom Telephoto

Thanks for the replies guys. No problem with carrying two lenses so the telephoto starting at 70mm (112) gives plenty of scope. Thanks for clarifying the difference tween EF and EF-S John, mind you the chance of buying or acquiring a full frame body anytime soon is pretty remote

[ColytonJohn]

Re: SIGMA 70-300mm Zoom Telephoto

... mind you the chance of buying or acquiring a full frame body anytime soon is pretty remote

I know the feeling hence my still using an old 7D That said, however, I've decided that any lenses I buy from now on will be EF for the time when my lottery numbers say 'yes' to FF. Hmm, I suppose I'd better stuart buying a ticket

Cheers,
John