Sigma 17-50mm F2 – Great lens, even in low light!

December 29, 2019

Sigma 17-50mm F2 – Great lens, even in low light!

For a long time there was a big gap in my camera bag from my tokina ultra wide lens up to my 85mm. I had no true walk about versatile lens until i purchased this. The build quality is excellent feels really well built and solid. It has a 77mm filter thread which came in handy because all my nd filters for my tokina lens are 77mm. Ca is hardly noticeable and the little bit that is there can be corrected in light room. I am using it on my nikon d7000 and it auto focuses perfectly. I love this lens particularly shooting landscapes where i can use the focal length to my advantage. If you are looking for a lens to replace your kit lens then this is the one although you aren’t gaining much in terms of focal length but you are getting f/2. 8 which will come in handy if you want to shoot the night sky over those clear summer nights.

This is a good quality, fast lens that i use primarily for video work (occasionally photography) so my review is based on this, paired with a canon 700d. The lens has quickly become my ‘daily driver’ over the tamron lenses (with a similar spec sheet) that they replace, for a number of reasons. Image quality: this lens is noticeably sharper than the tamron f/2. 8 aspherical lens especially at lower apertures. 8 is sometimes a struggle as focusing becomes a challenge, but shooting at f/3. 2 to f/4 has been great, with no focus issues. Build quality: the lens is heavier, but has a higher quality feel to it, with the optics also being larger than the tamron.

This lense is very helpfull to learn photography. It is a zoom lense with optical stabilizator and an aperture of f2. Perfect to replace the kit lenses 18-55. Pros:good features: optical stabilizator and good luminocity. Usefull range: from 17mm to 50mm. It could cover from a landscape to a portrait. Cons:it is not much sharp in f2. 5conclusión:this lense is the best in this range of prices.

I have the nikon d500 and wanted something to replace my kit lens that didn’t break the bank. This is superb quality and a few friends commented on my photos thinking they were taken with a much more expensive lens i had been thinking of. Lovely dof, sharp and easy to use. Has a lock to stop the lens moving in transit which i thought was a good touch. It is slightly heavier than i thought it would be but feels very comfortable to hold. Wish i had bought this sooner.

Fantastic lens well up to the quality that sigma offer. After a few weeks testing i had identified that it has no front or back focusing and also that the focussing mechanism is fast and spot-on (i was surprised at this as previous older sigma lenses i have owned have needed to go back to sigma with my camera body before they performed this well). I am impressed with the quality of the photographs it can produce as well. Saturation and contrast are the same if not better than the canon 17-55 which i absolutely loved while i owned one. The softer end of the lens is 50mm at f2. 8 which is still sharp in my opinion and is easy to improve in post-processing of course stopping up to 4. 0 results in about as sharp as you can get bar going to a prime lens but even then there is not much in it (unless you go to the very expensive long primes). Colour is a little warmer than the canon which is a good thing in my opinion. Weight and balance is good for my 40d so i imagine will also be good on later canon models. The look and feel of the body is much better than the older felt style finish and will also age better, as those older lenses tended to get very battered looking when the finish came off.

I like itit is a very large and heavy lens, but my photos look much better than they do using my old pentax 18-55mm zoom. You will find my brief review, photos and histograms here: [. it wasn’t packed very well. There is no point in putting a sensitive lens in a large cardboard box if you then allow it to roll around inside. ]

This lens can’t be used for video if you want to use the autofocus. It makes a loud clicking noise that is too obvious in the recording. However, for photographs, i think it is great since it is similar quality to the canon version but half the price.

The lens is very noisy and when in autofocus mode whilst filming, the noise is very wloud, continuous and annoying. Will cause problems with a shotgun mic mounted on the camera.

All on the lens works fine and good quality image but, this is a nikon fit, sigma didn’t bother to work out the focus ring clockwise as on nikon lensesnikon lenses focus ring works opposite to most brands and if you’re used to it and you use for example a canon lens you will be focusing far away when you want to focus close by and vice-versa. Focus ring also quite stiff.

Great lens but i found some snags i was not expecting. I use this lens on a nikon d7200i love. Sharper than anything comparable i could find (see dxo labs tests for info). Good light transmission makes it great for low light photos. Great value compared to nikon. Sharpish at f11 so okay for landscapes. Can’t switch from auto to manual focus durunh a shot without first switching on manual. If hand accidentally touches focus ring then it hinders auto focusing. Zoom ring works opposite way to nikon lenses which feels odd. Flare can be a slight problem, more so than with nikon originals where i find a lens hood unnecessary. Focus tracking of a person walking or running towards the camera works amazingly accurately with nikon lenses but not with this lens. Perhaps the focus motor is too slow. In bright sunlit high contrast scenes with this lens the camera over exposes by about half to one stop which burns out highlights. That does not happen with original lenses. Overall, i am a tad disappointed but still rate it a great lens for the money. One last thought, the lense i received was a grey import with a 1 year warranty instead of the 3 years sigma uk offer.

I bought this lens to work with my panasonic gh4r using the metabones speedbooster xl (0. It works very well for the price and gives me pretty sharp video wide open (f/1. The metabones speedbooster xl (0. 64) does cause a little vignetting in 1080p video mode and in stills mode, but since i only film in 4k or will zoom in slightly for stills this isn’t s problem. Great walk-around lens with the added advantage of have image stabilization built in.

Slightly on the heavy side because it isn’t plastic but that makes keeping the camera steady that much easier. Image quality is excellent as is stabilisation and the wide aperture makes a big difference.

Word of warning – my lens was purchased from amazon uk, unfortunately the serial number is not an official uk import so it does not qualify for a uk warranty according to sigma, sadly l have had to return it for a refund, a shame as it’s a great little lens – very happy with the photos taken.

I am a photographer on a budget (aren’t we all?). I do a lot of portrait work and have a yonguno f2 35mm which i use all the time, but i wanted something with image stabilisation, since i wasn’t getting perfectly clear images. I got it and the first thing i loved was the weight, it felt like it was worth the money, it’s solid and very well built. The image quality is fantastic. I started shooting straight away and the images are so much better with the is on. 8 is very good and offers a good dof. I would defiantly recommend this lens.

I bought this lens to go with a cropped sensor nikon. I wanted the lower zoom range to allow for the crop magnification ie 35mm is then equivalent to 50mm on full frame. I did consider a prime lens but this is more versatile. The lens is well made and does have more weight than a plastic one.

This lens was purchased as an upgrade to the kit lens i got with my canon 650d. I’ve taken a few photos now and am very impressed with the optical clarity. The zoom is very, very smooth, autofocus very fast and overall, build quality seems to be excellent. The lens has a large fixed aperture of 2. 8 and i am hoping to master ‘depth of field’ using it as my first choice lens.

Bought this mainly for use indoors and on overcast/poor light days. Still attached to camera so using it during the dark days of winter.

8 through the whole focal range is great. A little soft wide open, but it sharpens up nicely around f4. Focus throw is very short so can be annoying trying to focus if you are using this for video, which i have been. Other than that its a nice little lens.

As a wedding photographer, i usually use other lens but since i bought this one is attached to my canon 70d body and its great addition to my wedding gear and great everyday camera setup. 8 and its fantastic lens for wedding photos as well as for photos of our little girl when speed is everything and great for my street photography and family events. Great picture quality, after all this time, its still the same shape and produce great photographs. No dust inside, no change of colour or anything like that. Really love it for quality and versatility.

Reviews from purchasers :

Looking for a good upgrade to your kit lens then this is it
Great lens for video work
Snags compared to Nikon original lenses

A really good upgrade from the standard ‘kit lens’ and a great deal cheaper than the canon or nikon equivalent. I had the older version of this lens for several years and only upgraded as this version has optical stabilisation. So far i’m really pleased with it. If it lasts as long as my previous version i shall be very happy.

Absolutely love this lens i shoot with canon eos200d it produces beautiful colours and crisp bright images for a brilliant price aswell, only downside is it’s quite heavy but it’s for apsc cameras so not really an issue i highly recommend this lens i normally shoot with canon 10-18mm when i travel so i get more in picture and with this lens i didn’t struggle at all it’s quite wide angle without the wide distortion.

Wonderfull replacement for the kit lens of my nikon d7200. So much sharper and brighter. Like the fact that when zoomed in it can stay at f2. Bit of chromatic colour at edges at 17mm at 2. 8 but still very much better than the 18-55mm kit lens.

I’m not a pro by any means but i bought this for my d7200 to complement my sigma 70-200 2. 8, previously relied on a 50mm 1. 8 or a nikkor 18-200 which was too slow & not sharp enough. It’s a nice size & not too heavy, not had any focus issues even in poorer light, images look sharp. Wanted the nikon 16-80 ideally but this was significantly cheaper & i’m very happy with it.

I have only used indoors so far but colours did not seem as true as my kit lens. The lens is heavy and the af is a bit clunky. Hopefully i just need to practice more. I was disappointed to find the lens boxes security tab had been opened so i’m not sure if this is a second hand lens. The box also had slight damage at each corner.

Incredibly impressed with this lens. 8 makes it useful for low light situations and nice bokeh. It’s variable zoom so it stays at 2. 8 at every focal length wich is really useful. Would definitely recommend this lens to always have on you.

I am not a professional and this lens is my upgrade for the kit lens of my canon sl2. I am still in the process of testing it’s capabilities but i’m quite pleased with it so far. Optical stabilizer and a constant apperture f/2. 8 make it great for low light situations and portraits. The lens makes noise when tilted while not engaged, as if something inside is loose. However the noise disappears when the camera is on. I contacted the seller, who replied promptly to explain that it’s the optical stabilizer making the noise when not engaged. The lens works fine, so that must be the case. To sum up, great standard lens for reasonable money.

The auto focus works quickly and very quietly. Especially good for weddings and low-light situations.

Yes i like it, but have regrettably returned it. Well having a current bag of pentax primes i was rather taken aback with the weight of the lens when it came. I’d intended it to be a convenient travel lens for my k-s2 body. But on that body it just seemed too heavy, unbalancing the combo and proving not to be best for just dropping in a backpack. It did balance well on my k-3 c/w battery grip, but that combination was then well too heavy for what i’f intended. The lens does seem very well made and for the right application would no-doubt be very impressive. But if you have one of the lighter-weight pentax bodies just be aware that for all the sigma’s quality it may not be the best of matches.

Generally better than the ‘kit’ 18-55 dal which was sold with the older k-series pentax dslr cameras. Wider max aperture which does not change through the zoom range – though this makes it a heavier lens. Very sharp definition around the centre, but disappointingly a bit soft at the edges of the aps-c frame.

Having decided that i needed a good quality, fast portrait/landscape lens to compliment my telephoto lenses, i spent countless hours reading reviews (both user and professional) on this lens and the pentax equivalent, the da* 16-50mm. Whilst the pentax came across as a ‘marmite’ lens (people either loved it or hated it) the reviews for the sigma were very consistent ie it’s a very good lens. Factor in the £520 premium you have to pay for the pentax (ok, you do get weather resistance, 2 extra aperture blades and an extra 1mm at the wide end) and, quite frankly, it was a no brainer. Straight from the box, this lens oozes quality. Taking it out of the padded, zipped case the weight tells you that you have a lot of good quality glass in this lens. Some people may find it a tad too heavy but it balances perfectly on my k50 (it weighs more than my sigma 18-250mm tele lens). Build quality seems fantastic for a lens of this price. Though it has a metal lens mount the body is made of plastic. Don’t let this put you off as it feels top quality and very well nailed together. The zoom ring turns counter clockwise (not a problem for me as i have sigma anyway) which some people may find strange but you soon get used to it.

Just as described, excellent quality. Bought this for my husband who is an excellent photographer and he has been nothing but pleased since receiving it.

The first time i tested the lens i came across a problem, jittering when panning. I have never come across this problem before. There is a stutter on occasions when the lens is focused on a subject and a jitter when panning. Also, the roller that glides a change of focus is stiff instead of smooth, so there might a jerk at times during life shooting zooming in or out. It’s best to using editing software to zoom in and out and keep the lens at a consistent zoom when filming. Maybe my lens is faulty and other lens don’t have the same problem. But the picture quality when videoing is sharp.

I use this for concert photography and it’s never really been off my camera since i got it. The quality of the pictures from it are outstanding and it is also very quick to focus even in low light conditions.

It’s super sharp- even at low apertures, the focus motor is fast and quiet, the os enables using slower shutter speeds in dire lighting situations, coupling that with the constant 2. 8 aperture throughout the zoom range, is just amazing- there is literally nothing this lense can’t do, the best and my favourite all round lense for unpredictable situations.

Bought this as a secondhand item. The condition was excellent. Super sharp even wide open at f2. I bought this as an upgrade to my canon 18-55mm kit lens and wow. What an upgradethe sigma is heavier and larger than the canon but i quite like that feeling of extra weight. I’m a little disappointed with the focus ring that moves when acquiring focus which is a little old fashioned but overall i am very happy with the lens. Great value (even at full price) and would definitely recommend. Good communication through and the item was as described. If you’re looking for an upgrade to your kit lens for less than £300 get this.

The lens comes woth a cover. It is well protected from shocks. The quality of the lenses is nice. I use it with my eos m50 canon.

This was honestly the perfect lens upgrade for my 18-55mm on my nikon d5300. It takes great photos with sharp and excellent details. The only bad thing i can pick out is that the focus isn’t very fast, and sometimes when it is focusing it makes this really high pitch squele (i am not holding onto the focus ring) but apart from that .