fotolooney's reviews

Sigma 180mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM APO Macro

I have been shooting with zooms in recent years, and I bought into the narrative that they are almost as sharp as primes. Never having used a truly excellent prime lens, I didn't know.

When I opened some images taken with this lens on my computer, they were so drop dead sharp that I almost fainted. I have some zooms of high repute, but they are not even in the same league with this bad boy.

I have used it for wildlife photos and indoor sports photography. The wildlife photos are amazingly sharp. The sports photos are the best I have taken. Which is to say pretty good. Lighting in gymnasiums around here is so poor that even with f/2.8 I still have to use ISO's of 2000 or above which doesn't make for cuttingly sharp images. In this low light, the focusing is a little slow but it is just as good as any other f/2.8 lenses I have used in this same situation.

Although I haven't used it extensively for macro work yet, the testing I have done indicates it is somewhat, though not dramatically, sharper than my Canon 100mm 2.8L IS.

My only complaint is that is a tad too heavy for this old man to hold up for a whole basketball game, so I use a monopod with a cine head. That is a sweet set up and works really well for me.