D7100 & Sigma

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alfaholic

Banned
I have Sigma 17-50 f2.8 lens, used first with D7000 and now with D7100, the lens is just brilliant.
Sharp and well built, I think a must have lens for any DX camera.

I would like to say few things about D7100 and this lens if someone does not know already.
Nikon made some changes so now this and some other Sigma lenses, 17-70 I think, have some issues with display timers and scrolling when reviewing the image.

The problem with scrolling is when you zoom the image and hold navigation key it does not scroll more than once, so you need to press the key again to go further.
This does not bother me because D7100 have zoom on OK button so there is no need to scroll so much.

Another issue is with display timers, so no matter of the settings all displays will be on for one minute.
The same is with picture preview after each shot.
This can maybe eat some battery, but I do not use picture preview after each shot, and even in my settings timers are at 10 or 20 seconds, I always turn off my displays manually pressing the shutter button, so this does not bother me as well.

The problem is with Sigma OS (VR) system, or to be honest with Nikon D7100. Sigma is designed to turn on VR when you press shutter button and then leave it on for one minute so the lens is ready for use in stand by mode, but this time Nikon did something and we have those issues.

For me it is not important because I do not chimp that much, but I am not happy with companies arguing and fighting using their customers.
Now Nikon wants to solve their problems with Sigma out of court, and we have problems with our gear previously working just fine.
Then, some people will really buy 2.5 times more expensive Nikkor 17-55 which is not good as this Sigma.

It is just unfair...
 
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Philnz

Senior Member
alfaholic said:
I have Sigma 17-50 f2.8 lens, used first with D7000 and now with D7100, the lens is just brilliant.
Sharp and well built, I think a must have lens for any DX camera.

I would like to say few things about D7100 and this lens if someone does not know already.
Nikon made some changes so now this and some other Sigma lenses, 17-70 I think, have some issues with display timers and scrolling when reviewing the image.

The problem with scrolling is when you zoom the image and hold navigation key it does not scroll more than once, so you need to press the key again to go further.
This does not bother me because D7100 have zoom on OK button so there is no need to scroll so much.

Another issue is with display timers, so no matter of the settings all displays will be on for one minute.
The same is with picture preview after each shot.
This can maybe eat some battery, but I do not use picture preview after each shot, and even in my settings timers are at 10 or 20 seconds, I always turn off my displays manually pressing the shutter button, so this does not bother me as well.

The problem is with Sigma OS (VR) system, or to be honest with Nikon D7100. Sigma is designed to turn on VR when you press shutter button and then leave it on for one minute so the lens is ready for use in stand by mode, but this time Nikon did something and we have those issues.

For me it is not important because I do not chimp that much, but I am not happy with companies arguing and fighting using their customers.
Now Nikon wants to solve their problems with Sigma out of court, and we have problems with our gear previously working just fine.
Then, some people will really buy 2.5 times more expensive Nikkor 17-55 which is not good as this Sigma.

It is just unfair...
Click to expand...
Can you turn the os system off?
 
A

alfaholic

Banned
The problem is with 17-50 and 17-70 lenses.

I can turn off OS/VR. I can still hear it spinning, but when I turn the switch off it is off.
 
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Englischdude

Senior Member
i had the same issue confirmed by sigma germany with the 18-200 from the new contemporary line. sigma would not confirm if the problems would be fixed with an update to the lens firmware or not.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
I've heard the issues and it's not just a problem with Nikon as my brother had fits with the focus calibration of his 120-300mm Sports and Canon 1D Mk III. Sigma eventually fixed that one in the firmware thanks in large part to his persistence with their tech support. This other glass may be more difficult to correct since they are not USB Dock enabled. Regardless, I have less of an issue with Nikon not testing their new bodies with all possible 3rd party lenses than I do with any deliberate sabotage built into the firmware of new bodies to cause issues with non-native glass. I don't know which is the case here, but I suspect that since the issues seem to be limited to consumer grade lenses I suspect that there's some hanky panky going on.

With all that said, I'm a big Sigma fan and have had zero issues on any of my bodies (D7000, D7100, D600, D610, D800) with their 8-16mm, 24-70mm f2.8, 15mm Fisheye, 105mm f2.8 macro or 150-500mm zoom (OS only on the last 2).
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I'm sorry to hear about issues with the 17-70mm because that's a very attractive lens in their lineup.

On the other hand, my Sigma 35mm f/1.4 and 50-150mm f/2.8 are two lenses I just about could not live without. Spectacular performance with zero problems from either on my D7100.

....
 
F

FastGlass

Senior Member
I may be out of the loop on somethings but had no idea a lens could effect functions of the camera like you all are describing. Very interesting.
 
A

adox66

Senior Member
Was about to buy the 17-50 this week but I'm not really sure now if the are issues with it.

Is this just since the latest firmware update or has it always been the case? I'm pretty sure I read there were many happy users of the 17-50 without any issues.

Also could you clarify what the issue is with the OS(VR) ?


Thanks.
 
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alfaholic

Banned
adox66 said:
Was about to buy the 17-50 this week but I'm not really sure now if the are issues with it.

Is this just since the latest firmware update or has it always been the case? I'm pretty sure I read there were many happy users of the 17-50 without any issues.

Also could you clarify what the issue is with the OS(VR) ?


Thanks.
Click to expand...

I am one of those happy users, do not get me wrong, this lens works brilliantly, it is sharp and well built, and when it comes to taking good quality photos everything works as it should. Just, I read about this on some forum searching for something else, then checked my D7100 and 17-50, and yes, I too have the same "problem".

I will not tell you to buy because you need to decide for your self, but for me this lens is very good performer. As for scrolling and display timers, I could not care less. Yes, I am a perfectionist and it bothers me at some degree, but really this does not affect my photography and I can use my gear normally.

I hope Sigma will offer some solution soon, but I doubt this will happen. It is not the problem with this issue, but what bothers me is the possibility for something like this to happen in the future. I read so much before upgrade or any other purchase, but I can not find all the problems just by reading on the internet, so this makes me feel uncomfortable using Nikon with 3rd party lenses, because no one can guarantee that everything will work as it should.
My Nikkor 35mm f1.8 squeaks when focusing since first day, and no one talks about it. The same lens is very problematic in low and tungsten light, most of the time back-focusing, and that is Nikon's product.
 
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adox66

Senior Member
alfaholic said:
I hope you will like it as much as I do.

Please let us know what do you think about this lens, and about those glitches. :)
Click to expand...

So I had the lens out with me last weekend on a trip away with the camera group and so far I am impressed. I was shooting landscapes so never got near 2.8 to see how it is, but the image quality of the lens seems fine.

On the glitches side, I do have the preview image stay on for a minute if not manually turned off but I dont leave that setting on automatic anyway so if I want to review an image I do it manually and the same for turning it off. Its a very minor inconvenience at worst and not something I`d worry about.

Scrolling on the image, I seem to have this problem intermittently, where you have to keep tapping the direction button to get it to move. Again it doesnt bother me and certainly isnt a deal breaker.

More annoying probably,but again neither would be a deal breaker and I was aware of both before purchasing, are the very short focus ring and also no automatic override of auto focus. I shoot a lot of landscapes and its all manual focus so I have to remember to switch the focus switch to manual on the lens. I would guess the lens can be damaged quite easily if trying to move the focus ring manually when its set to auto.

I`d like to take some portrait shots with it wide open at the narrow end to see how it fares but from what I`ve experienced so far I`m very happy with. I got a really good deal on it too. At €265 new, its the second cheapest lens in my bag and I made a big saving on it at that price compared to most other places I looked online.
 
A

alfaholic

Banned
That price is just insane. :)

I am glad those glitches does not bother you, I did not even notice that before I read about it.

This lens is very sharp even wide open, I believe you will be satisfied at 50mm f2.8 for portraits.
Sometimes I miss 70mm or even more for portraits, at f2.8 it would look beautiful, but 50mm is nice. :)

As for scrolling and preview timers, everything works as it should until you press the shutter button, then OS/VR start to spin and stays on for one minute, so after than minute and OS/VR turns off you can again normally scroll and timers will work as you set them in the menu.
 
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Anco

Senior Member
That's not very comforting to hear issues like that. Makes you worry a little about the future of your third party lenses.

That combination of the D7100 and Sigma 17-50 is something I would have thought would have been an excellent setup. I had that lens on a Pentax body and just loved it, didn't take it off. I think it's definitely one of the better lenses in the category. Non OS version though, because Pentax have vibration reduction built into their bodies.


Having used this lens before though and hearing about the issues, I'd still buy it if I had a D7100, I think the lens is worth it. Enjoy it guys.
 
P

panos33

New member
I had the same issues with my D7100 and Sigma 18-200mm OS, the biggest problem for me was the scrolling preview issue, which make me to return the len and to buy a the Nikon 18-140mm. I hope Sigma/Nikon will fix the issue because for this 2-3 days i had the sigma len i love it, mostly of the sharpness
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
I had a bit of a scare the other night with my Sigma 105mm on my D750. At first trigger the VR system got very loud and wouldn't shut off. I had to turn the camera off to get it to stop, and since then it's behaved properly. My Sigma 15mm Fisheye works fine on it, as did the 150-600mm Sport I tried at PhotoExpo.
 
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mauckcg

Senior Member
That to me is one of the more interesting aspects of the USB dock that is compatible with the new Global Vision lenses. You can keep updating the lenses so they will work with the newer bodies instead of a situation like this which I doubt will get better with time.
 
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