Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I bought this lens to use with my Canon 30D for high school sports (soccer, football, baseball, etc). I already had the Sigma APO 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras and needed more focal length. Like the 70-200 F/2.8, this lens is big, heavy, and built like a tank. The bare lens is about an inch longer than the 70-200, but the 100-300's hood is longer than the 70-200's hood.
The zoom and focus rings are wide and move smoothly with just the right amount of resistance. This lens is sharp wide open. At the overlapping focal lengths, the 70-200 at F/4 is just barely sharper than this lens at F/4 (wide open). At 200mm, this lens is actually sharper (200mm is this lens's sweet spot.) At 300mm, the lens is still sharp wide open, but I like to stop down to F/4.5 just to keep things super-sharp. Up to 250mm, I would not hesitate to use it wide open.
This Sigma lens has HSM which means the focus is fast and quiet. The lens focuses a little slower than the 70-200 F/2.8, but I've found that the 30D is more of a limiting factor in focus speed than the lens is. Servo tracking is very good with this lens, the only time it can't keep up is when track runners are sprinting straight at me (although again, I think the body is the limiting factor here.) For almost every other situation, the focus will definitely keep up.
All in all, this is not an indoor lens by any means, but as an outdoor sports (or wildlife/nature) lens, it is awesome.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Sigma 100-300mm f/4 EX DG IF HSM APO Fast Aperture Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras
This telephoto zoom lens provides a large f/4 aperture at all focal lengths. The new multi layer lens coating and lens design reduce flare and ghosting while maintains minimal light-fall-off; superior peripheral brightness is ensured. New multi layer coating of this lens gives superb color performance while cutting down flare and ghosting caused by reflections from the digital image sensor. High optical performance is demonstrated throughout the entire zoom range. Two SLD glass elements are used in the front lens group and two in the rear lens group for superior correction of several aberrations for superior image quality throughout the entire zoom range. An inner focusing system eliminates front lens rotation, making the lens particularly suitable for using the petal-type lens hood supplied and circular polarizing filters.Maximum Magnification -1 - 5 Filter Size -Diameter 82mm Dimensions -Diameter 92.4mm X Length 226.5mm, 3.6 x 8.9 inch Weight -51 ounces
