Sigma APO 75-300 f4.5-5.6 on Sony a850

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

This is the first AF version, with the red ring and red APO lettering, also seen badged Carl Zeiss Jena. Optics are the same as the MF version.

This lens has been much praised on the net, it is supposed to be superior to all the subsequent Sigma 75-300 and 70-300 lenses.

Well, it's not a bad lens, but it doesn't deserve the rich praise it has received, I think the people praising it are people who are used to modern crappy zoom lenses and don't know how sharp a good lens really can be.

Upto 200mm, it's adequate, beyond 200mm it's rubbish. The only time it is really sharp is close distance or at the 75mm end at short to medium distance. Infinity and zoomed out beyond 200mm it is plain awful.

The colours are poor, the temperature is overly warm giving images something of a yellow cast.

To make it even worse at distance, it often back-focuses. I shot 2 dozen pictures of wild rabbits at a distance of 30-40m and only two were not back-focussed. Of course, this would not be an issue with the MF version.

Overall, it's an adequate lens but pales in comparison to a really good zoom like the Minolta 'beercan' 70-210.

Check EXIF data for zoom/aperture settings.

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RTI · Joined: 15 Jul 2011 Posts: 282 Location: Moldova, Chisinau