Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM Lens - Pentax Fit

I'm considering buying this lens and would appreciate any comments, positive and negative, from anybody having experience of it.

I'm particularly interested in its control of CA and how it performs wide open at the 200mm end.

Thanks.

---

Peter E Smith

Body: Pentax K5, K5-II, K20D + BG's, MZ-6, Super-A
Prime: Pentax A28, FA31/43/77 Ltd, M50/1.7, FA50 Macro, DA*55, D-FA100mm Macro, Sigma EX180 Macro.
Zoom: Pentax DA12-24, DA*16-50, DA*50-135, Sigma 70-200mm EX DG OS HSM, 150-500 DG OS HSM.
Flash: Pentax AF240FT(2), AF500FTZ(2), AF540FGZ(2), AF160FC Ringflash.
Software: Adobe Lightroom 4, Photoshop CS4, Photomatix Pro, Noise Ninja, iWatermark, Picasa 3.

My flickr Photostream

"Knowledge is knowing that a Tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to use it in a fruit salad."

Back in 1997 I went to Florida and while I was there I thought it would be a good idea to get a lens. I had decided on a 80-200mm 4.7-5.6 zoom by Pentax. I went to a Pentax dealer and he tried to sell me a Sigma equivalent. I put it on to my camera and it was awful, grit in the works, which he claimed was normal. I asked for the Pentax one and he was surprised by how smooth it was in comparison.

The moral of this story is, you get what you pay for!

---

Pentax K5, MZ6
Pentax Lenses 28-80 F, 18-55 WR DA, 50-200 WR DA, 300 DA*, 80-200 F, M 20, 35 F2.4 AL, M50 F1.7
ONE UNITED Member

You are comparing 2 cheap zooms.

The moral of THIS story is to check your prices before commenting.

The new OS Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 is just under a grand and Pentax have nothing to touch it anyway because they don't make a lens of this length and speed.

---

Nothing to see here, move along please ....

That was putting it very politely Mike

Also a lens built in 1997 will be of a totally different quality to a lens built in 2012...

---

PPG Portfolio Flickr
Equipment Pentax K-5 mk1 & mkii
Pentax: DA* 16-50mm 2.8 : DA* 50-135mm 2.8 : F 50mm 1.4 : DA 35mm 2.4
Tamron SP 400mm f/4 (65b) : Tokina AT-X SD 100-300mm f4

....I think my FA* 80-200 f2.8 would probably argue with that

---

LennyBloke

I did not consider that the Pentax lens was cheap in 1997!

Depends on your budget, but it put me off Sigma lenses, which are cheap!!

---

Pentax K5, MZ6
Pentax Lenses 28-80 F, 18-55 WR DA, 50-200 WR DA, 300 DA*, 80-200 F, M 20, 35 F2.4 AL, M50 F1.7
ONE UNITED Member

The EX range of Sigma lenses are not cheap by any stretch of the imagination and their quality outweighs the cost in many cases. Tamron and Sigma make a lot of lenses that Pentax seem reluctant to produce and tbh if they weren't around I wonder if Pentax would be either.

---

Nothing to see here, move along please ....

By cheap I mean in compirison to "named" brands, and by my experienace as shown above I could say they are "cheap and nasty".

---

Pentax K5, MZ6
Pentax Lenses 28-80 F, 18-55 WR DA, 50-200 WR DA, 300 DA*, 80-200 F, M 20, 35 F2.4 AL, M50 F1.7
ONE UNITED Member

Great lens .. the silver (very easily scratched) finish put me off though.
Pentax produced the DA* 200mm based on the FA so I don't know why they didn't do the same with the 80-200mm.

---

Nothing to see here, move along please ....

Obviously you need more experience.

---

Nothing to see here, move along please ....

My Sigma lenses are at least the equal in build quality and IQ of the Pentax equivalents and are quite possibly superior, especially my Sigma 100-300mm.

For these reasons I'm sure the 70-200mm mentioned in the first post would be a fantastic lens even though I don't have any hands on experience with it.

---

My images here

I think they made the DA* 60-250 instead!

I wish Sigma and Tamron would add more of their lens line up to the Pentax mount version!

---

Bodies: K5IIs, K7, MZ5n, LX, MV
Lenses: DA*16-50, DA18-55WR, DA18-135, DAL35, M50 F2, A50 f1.4, FA50 f1.4, DA*50-135, DA55-300, Tamron 70-300, DFA 100 WR Macro, M135 f3.5, Sigma 120-400 APO DG HSM, Tokina 500 f8.0
Flash: Metz 58, Metz 48
Accessories: BG4, Pentax right angle finder, Pentax mirror adaptor lens, O-ME53 Viewfinder Loupe
Auto 110 System: Auto 110, Winder, 18mm, 24mm, 50mm, 70mm, 20-40mm, AF100P, 1.7x telecon

At last a sensible answer instead of just "knockinf" what I said, perhaps I was shown a poor quality lens, I don't know, but the original post did ask for negative views, which I gave.

---

Pentax K5, MZ6
Pentax Lenses 28-80 F, 18-55 WR DA, 50-200 WR DA, 300 DA*, 80-200 F, M 20, 35 F2.4 AL, M50 F1.7
ONE UNITED Member

Make that "knocking". I'll get used to this typing lark one day.

---

Pentax K5, MZ6
Pentax Lenses 28-80 F, 18-55 WR DA, 50-200 WR DA, 300 DA*, 80-200 F, M 20, 35 F2.4 AL, M50 F1.7
ONE UNITED Member