Large aperture standard zoom lens designed specially for digital SLR cameras.
The lens is ideally suited for a wide variety of subjects and is designed specifically for digital SLR cameras featuring APS-C size image sensors.
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A lens specially designed to suit the characteristics of digital cameras This revolutionary lens has a minimum focusing distance of 20cm (7.9”) throughout the entire zoom range. A maximum magnification of 1:2.3 enables extreme close-up photography. An impressive achievement for a standard zoom lens.
Multi Layer Lens Coating The new lens design and multi-layer lens coating reduce flare and ghosting, a common problem with digital cameras.
SLD Glass Elements A Special Low Dispersion (SLD) lens and two Aspherical lens elements provide excellent correction for all types of aberrations and produce a high level of optical performance throughout the entire zoom range.
Fast F2.8 Aperture This lens offers a large F2.8 aperture at 17mm wide angle and yet it is compact, with an overall length of just 82.5mm (3.2”) and diameter of 79mm (3.1”). Performance is superb, even in relatively low light conditions indoors or at dusk.
Inner Focus System The lens is equipped with an Inner focusing system, which prevents the front element from rotating making it particularly suitable for petal shaped hoods and circular polarizing filters.
Zoom Lock The lens is also equipped with a zoom lock that eliminates 'zoom creep' during transit.
The inclusion of an SLD element and the faster aperture of this standard zoom lens are designed to produce better images than the cheaper 'kit' lens and the extended focal range makes this 17-70mm optic a decent upgrade lens. Build quality is approaching the feel associated with the EX DG lenses, and like every Sigma lens I've used, it features a metal mount and fits smoothly on the body.' ' ...there is almost nothing on the market to match the range of abilities this lens provides at the price. The focus and zoom ring are comfortable and quite secure, with a locking device to prevent the zoom slipping from 17mm when the lens is dangling from a camera strap. Images were sharp with crisp Contrast and good colour. Whether I used the lens as a macro or as a standard, I never had cause to complain about the results.
Why should you care what I think?
My relationship with this item: Editor review
Conclusions at a glance
Would you recommend this Item: Yes Pros: Short focal lenght, price, sharp Cons: can have a little distortion at the short focal lenght.
Last updated: Monday, 03 March 2008
User Lens Reviews
Average user rating from: 78 user(s)
Overall rating (weighted)
4.1
Sharpness
4.1
Build Quality
4.1
AF Speed
4.1
Value for Money
4.1
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
I had to review it - BEST BUY FOR THE PRICE!, Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Overall rating (weighted)
4.8
Sharpness
5.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
4.0
So I was looking for a zoom lens with a constant 2.8 aperture and I found this one which is not constant but it is waaaaaay much cheaper than a Nikon or even the Sigma 24-70mm/2.8 HSM which I wanted initially. I have this lens for about 3 months now... I cannot say this is the best of the best, but for the price it works perfect! I have already done 3 weddings and some portrait shots and it does the job. Quality and AF work very smooth... with my D300s.
Now I have this one and my Nikon 50mm/1.8 with me all the time...
If you're looking for a quick upgrade from a zoom lens that came with your camera, this could be the one.
This is a great closeup lens and especially for the money! The construction is of high grade, the focus quality throughout the range is as good as, if not better, than MUCH higher priced lenses and it has a very compact size too. I really like the zoom ability with this macro lens, unlike the normal 'prime' lens that you get with macro. An excellent macro lens for the money!
Great value for an all around lens. The 17-70mm gives you a good range. This is for my Nikon D60 which has the VR f3.5-5.6/ 18-55mm kit lens. The Sigma has the HSM silent motor and provides a better low light f2.8 aperture. For the cost It works well for me.
I bought this lens in January and took it out a few times and had a great time shooting with it. Then in March I took it out to shoot some elk I came across in Montana and a lens just inside the outermost piece of glass fell off. Now I need to have it fixed. Could be a defect limited to mine as the most jarring it had was inside my case while driving down the highway. Would buy again based on the great picture clarity I got with it.
When my wife dropped and broke my Nikkor 18-200Vr lens two days before Hawaiian vacation, I needed a quick replacement. I am so glad I got Sigma 17-70. It stayed on my D300 90% of the time. I love this lens. It is very sharp, as sharp as my Nikkor 18-135 and probably sharper. The 2.8 at wide end is great. The range is respectable for most application and as a walk around. HSM works great and the lens focuses quickly in low light, unlike my Nikon 18-200VR lens (which is twice as expensive). The built is excellent. I took off one star on features because of lack of OS, which would be nice. Overall, I highly recommend this lens, and I specifically recommend it above Tamron 17-50 2.8, which costs $100 more than Sigma, but focuses much slower in low light, despite constant F2.8.
One thing though, at wide end, you have Barrel Distortion, and it is pronounced and i mean pronounced, to the point, that the Ocean on a background may look like a portion of a large circle. Even PT Lens program struggles with fixing the distortion. However, I personally don't care about barrel distortion, as much as I care about sharpness. I can't stand soft photos! But I just wanted to point that distortion is there.
Color dispersion problems, Sunday, 13 September 2009
Overall rating (weighted)
3.3
Sharpness
3.0
Build Quality
3.0
AF Speed
3.0
Value for Money
4.0
Pictures were sharp and bokeh was decent but my shots lacked contrast and saturation. They just looked a little washed out. At first, I thought I just had exposure setting issues or that my D90 photos simply had a different look to it. I changed my D40 to a D90 about the same time so this wasn't a controlled experiment at the beginning. Later I got some Sigma EX lenses as well as the new 18-250 OS lens that isn't EX and my pics suddenly jumped to life. Richer color saturation and less washed out. I could only conclude that this lens wasn't as good as my new Sigmas. However, I note that the 18-250 lens also has a washed out look when shooting at the very long end.
It is hard to purchase lens online without "test driving" them. When I received it and took it with me on a trip, it was incredible. It has a nice wide angle, and takes very clean pictures. You have to work out the out-of-focused pictures that one occasionally gets when shots are taken from a distance, but I think mostly that is due to the fact this lens is meant for up-close shots. Over all ... awesome LENS!!!
I have been shooting with this lens for a couple of weeks now and I am impressed with the capabilities. The near-macro capabilities are amazing and I have taken some really nice flower close-up shots. I am very satisfied with my purchase.
Excellent with minor flaws, Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Overall rating (weighted)
4.5
Sharpness
4.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
5.0
I compared this lens with the excellent Sony 50mm f1.4 lens (arguably a Bit unfair since this is a prime lens). The camera was a Sony a350.
Build: Smooth secure operation. No complaints.
Flare: I had heard that this was impressive and I could not induce significant flare under any circumstances - even without the included hood. Great!
Chromatic aberration: If I "pixel peeped" I could sometimes see a pixel width or two of color, but no worse than the Sony 50mm. Really good!
Resolution: To test this I shot text on a wall at various focal lengths from wide (17mm) to telephoto (70mm) at wide open and f8. The results were quite comparable to the pictures with the Sony 50mm lens except at the extreme edges wide open where it was a bit soft. However, at 17mm f2.8 the picture was quite soft at the edges and somewhat soft even in the middle. In this test situation, the 17mm f2.8 shot ended up at less than 3 feet from the wall. This is a bit extreme and I have not yet repeated this test at a more realistic distance.
However, does this matter if it is soft at 17mm f2.8? On a recent trip to Arizona, I shot a lot at 17mm, but none of the shots were at f2.8. So I think that this is a minor point and probably typical of a lot of other Zoom lenses as well. Because of the high resolution of the Sony a350 (14M pixels) any focus errors readily show up, but this can't really be blamed on the lens (the Sony 50mm sometimes misses focus also). I recently saw a discussion where focus errors were called the dirty little secret of the (various) SLR makers. Oh well, considering how fast the SLR cameras focus, I suppose it is amazing that any shots are in focus.
Sigma's Quality Control Needs WORK !, Monday, 18 May 2009
Overall rating (weighted)
1.5
Sharpness
2.0
Build Quality
2.0
AF Speed
1.0
Value for Money
1.0
Bought two sigma 17-70mm. First one back-focused really bad. Sent it back for replacement. Second/replacement lens had a "de-centering" issue, where the subject on the left side of photo was blurry and the right side was in focus. These were for Nikon mount. I once owned a canon mount version that was nothing short of perfect. So, I was very disappointed when I got two bad versions for Nikon mount. Went back to the Nikon 18-70mm.
Amazon's service Rocks! I will shop with Amazon again. Just not for Sigma.
Too many bad copies of this lens being produced..., Sunday, 17 May 2009
Overall rating (weighted)
3.0
Sharpness
3.0
Build Quality
2.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
3.0
I got a bad copy. I read a ton of reviews online about this lens and knew that it was a crap shoot as to whether you'll get a good copy or a bad one, but the more you look it appears that there are quite a few bad examples being produced; so many, in fact, that it makes buying this lens a real gamble. For such spotty production the 1 year warranty from Sigma is simply too short and makes this lens a risk.
I'm sending my copy back to Amazon (free shipping both ways and a 30 day exchange period are a real bonus with Amazon) and am getting a Tamron 17-50mm, which I hear may also have some quality issues, but at least the Tamron has a 6 year warranty.
May luck be with you if you're ordering this lens, and don't throw away your Amazon shipping box/packaging until you've thoroughly tested it out. Mine had back-focusing issues at the wide end, fyi.
My copy is good. it focuses without problem. this is a really sharp lens and comparing it to my canon 17-40L, it is little better. The motor is not that noisy, you can hear it but really not that bothering.
build quality is decent, but definitely worse than the canon L lenses.
for those concerning the barrel distortion at wide ends, it is hard to detect in normal shooting conditions, so not a problem at all.
all in all, this is an excellent walk-around lens. the focus length range is really sweet.
Great item at a great price. Much better price than a Nikon lens would cost. For anyone who is not a highly paid professional, why would you spend the $$ for a Nikon lens? This item is great and performs without issue. Sigma is a great brand.
