[dewy]

Which would be more 'reliable' for waranty?

[peter]

one from a local shop ..with warrantys wid internaet products its a lot more troublesome..usually with mose reputable shops.. ucan bring it into the shop ..
whereas with internet oens.. have to go to the troube of posting .. and stuff like that ..extra costs if things go wrong ~_~

[dewy]

Then I would go for the Local shop hands down =)

[peter]

Yeah .. ohh wellz...
il lsee if i want to purchase a small digitall camera first.. and then see if i stil lwanna get the lens .. i got my tax moneys back .. so have a lil bit to spend!

[adam]

the 28-300 lens that Peter showed me looks nice; how does the optical quality compare to the 70-200? since the 28-300 covers that range already; I'll find the specs, but I'm sure that the 28-300 has a lot more elements
The cost is roughly the same I think.

[peter]

but itss soo nicee .. =PPPP *drools*

its the onli lens id have to carry around ^____^

[Rufus]

Experiences with "super zooms", in a nutshell.

Sigma 28-200
Wonderful lens. Very sharp for it's length and price. Excellent until the coating started to flake off inside the OB glass.

Tokina 24-200.
Beautifully built.
Wouldnt focus.

Sigma 28-300
Soft, soft, soft!!

Sigma 70-300
Wonderful at the price. Slow to focus, and noisy, but good.
I still have this lens, and use it.


YMMV

HTH

[Rufus]

Wide angle experiences.

Sigma 15-30

Yeuk. Didnt like this. Sharp in the middle, soft at the edges ++

Sigma 17-35 EX
AWFUL!!! THE worst!! Just hopeless!!!!

Sigma 17-35 EX DG
Wonderful!
Sharp, fast, quick, good contrast, low flare, (for width).
Regularly in use.
Crackin'!

[Rufus]

Primes.

Only own 2.

Canon 50mm f1.8

Excellent!



Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro
Excellent!

[Rufus]

Favourites:

Canon 24-85
Canon 100mm
Sigma 17-35 EX DG.

[peter]

hrmmm .. i use a 90 -300 mm CANON USM..
quite nice to use ..
has a bit of trouble focusing in lower light though ..
but generally the images are quite nice ..

my Wide angle experience ..
20mm MC MIR-20M .. .

Screw Mount with Adaptor ..
Manual Focus ... Verryyy Slowww. ..

[Rufus]

I know that reduced and compressed images are hardly representative of the quality of a lens, but here is a pic taken last year, with the Sigma 28-200, before the coating fell off!

[adam]

Thankyou so much for sharing your experiences Rufus
Why did the coating start to flake off on your 28-200?
Do you think that the slow focusing and softness is caused by a large zoom range?
Thankyou

[Rufus]

No. Yes. No. What was the question?

Ah, yes!

There is absolutely no known reason for the coating to flake. Never heard of it before, nor since. I suppose it was just a manufacturing fault. Very rare, I think.

Hmmm, softness and zoom range..... Hmmmmm. All I can say is that the greater the zoom range, the more well built the optics need to be. So, logically, a cheapo wont be good......... But my Sigma 70-300 costs £99! Odd 'eh? I believe that my Tokina 24-200 was a QC screw up, and have heard good reports of them since.
It's difficult with lenses, no two ever seem to be the same.

[adam]

Did you get the defective lenses replaced? and the flaking, did you replace that lens, sell it, repair it?

[Rufus]

I returned the Tokina for a full refund after one week.
The Sigma 28-200, I exchanged, (after about 6 months), for a 28-300, which wasnt much good, so I returned that too, and bought a Canon28-105, which I still have.
The Sigma 17-35 EX went back after 24hours, and the Sigma 15-30 went back after48 hours.

Do those shopkeepers love me! But, I spend money and expect a realistic purchase. I can buy dog-muck for nowt!!

[shuttertalk]

I've been interested in the Tamron XR ones 28-200 / 28-300 for a while now... anyone had any experience with them? They're nice and compact...

[StudioJ]

Hmm wishlist..

Canon 50mm f1
Canon 200mm f1.8
Canon 100-400mm 4.5-5.6L IS

I don't need to wish for a 1D MkII now since the 20D is coming out and makes me happy enough *grin*