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sigma 70-300 lens identification

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nicks50

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I have an older sigma 70-300 lens.

It has written on it:
70-300mm
1:4-5.6
DL MACRO SUPER

It also has a red ring around the business end.

I called sigma, and they say that the red ring means it's an APO lens, but "APO" appears nowhere on the lens or original box.

Any idea what I might really have?
 
A DL lens should not have any ring at all. A red ring is in APO Macro Super II lens which is compatible with dSLRs. Older version of the same with a gold ring (Super without II) is not compatible with dSLRs. How old is your lens ?
--
Gautam
 
Well, it is thoroughly confusing to me. Lenses with red ring (APO II) should be able to use macro between 200 & 300 mm whereas those without a ring (DL) and with a gold ring (older APO) can use macro only at 300mm. Your lens appears to use macro at 300mm only. Try to engage the macro switch at 220mm (but please do not force). If you can engage it then the red ring is genuine and it is an APO II lens. However, I am highly suspicious that the red ring is spurious and it is a DL macro lens. Send a copy of the image to Sigma and ask their opinion.
--
Gautam
 
I got yesterday my Sigma 70-300 APO, it has the ring and on the barrel it says "APO DG", but there's no indication of "II". The serial number is 4011993.
--
Daniele
 
it is macro at 300 only.

the switch says "macro at 300", the switch can only be engauged at 300, and once it is engauged, you can not move from 300 (the zoom is locked) until you disengauge the switch.
 
I have the Sigma APO Super Macro II, and that's not what mine looks like. So you can rule that out. ;)

Here are variations that I've found:

Sigma 70-300 DL Macro Super:
Similar to yours, but the difference being the red ring.



Sigma 70-300 APO II Super Macro:
That is the model that I have.



Sigma 70-300 APO Super Macro:
Is this one the "I" model (versus the "II")??



Sigma 70-300 APO DG Macro:
Same as the 70-300 APO II above, but now with DG coating.



Sigma 70-300 DG Macro:
Same as old DL, just the non-APO version of the new DG.


  • Eric
 
Then it's like a DL Macro version, but with a red ring painted on. I was under the impression that the DLs did not have a red ring.

Strange!
  • Eric
 
Mine is not the APO version, but it can do macro between 200 and 300.

You can see my rattle snake posted a week ago, it was the Sigma 70-300 DG non APO and the photo was taken at 200 (exif says 190mm??)
 
Yes, as I suspected. The red ring is spurious - must be added by somebody - possibly the person who sold you the lens. It is DL Macro. Not a bad lens, though it is more prone to CA than APO (apochromatic element) version.
--
Gautam
 
Is this a new lens ? LDO used to stand for Low Dispersion Optics which was superceded by SLD (special low dispersion) elements. Latest in this series of elements is ELD (Extra Low Dispersion) which is used in 300-800 zoom.
--
Gautam
 
That's what I have. I was getting worried that there was some "mk II" version of this lens not mentioned anywhere. :)
--
Daniele
 
It is interesting that my "DL MACRO SUPER" looks NOTHING like the "DL MACRO SUPER" in your pictures.

In fact, it looks very, very similiar to the "APO MACRO SUPER". If you theorize that the external lens shape/construction is determined by the internal pieces/lenses and how they fit, then maybe my lens has the same guts. I called sigma and they said my lens was indeed an APO. (I went ahead and emailed them a picture anyways and asked again).

For comparison:



Interesting, no?
 
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