Sigma EX 70-200mm 2.8 mk1 for theatre photography

victorian squid wrote:

You face the potential front/back focus with pretty much any third party lens. I've had great luck with Sigmas as far as that goes. Worst case, for $400 you could always send it in with your body for a calibration. Unless of course you've got a body with MFA, then it's really less of an issue. I'm a coward when it comes to stuff like that - but I've seen a lot of folks rave about the results. This would also solve consistency issues.

The HSM is not as fast as a Canon when it comes to running from one extreme to the other. As I've said before - if you tend to shoot wife/moon/wife/moon you'd probably do best to find another lens. But it's quite brisk and once you've got a subject in range, it's very quick to refocus. I've been quite happy with Sigma's HSM in comparison to the Canon USM. 99% of the time I can't tell the difference. I don't think I've ever thought I could have gotten a shot had I only been using an EF lens!

Here's a review from Bryan at The Digital Picture

And a comparison ISO chart vs the first generation Canon. Does ok until you get to the extreme corners.

You've probably noticed there's not a whole lot of these things floating around out there on the used market - and there's a reason for that!

And some results/charts from Photozone.

Just my 2₵ as an unapologetic Sigma fan.