Sigma 70-200 F2.8 Version 2 or OS?

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Samsonite

Senior Member
I've been looking at sigma 70-200 lenses, some are listed at APO HSM II and others are APO HSM OS. My understanding is that OS is image stabilization, which is Sigma's version of VR. My question is this, which is the latest version? The OS or the version II which doesn't seem to include OS?


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Samsonite

Senior Member
Ok cheers... The one criticism I found when shooting with the OS in the shop earlier this week was that the zoom ring works the opposite to the nikon, that is you turn the ring clockwise to go from 200 to 70 and anti clockwise to go from 70 to 200.... Anyone else find that really weird?


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daredevil123

Senior Member
Samsonite said:
Ok cheers... The one criticism I found when shooting with the OS in the shop earlier this week was that the zoom ring works the opposite to the nikon, that is you turn the ring clockwise to go from 200 to 70 and anti clockwise to go from 70 to 200.... Anyone else find that really weird?


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Not only that... the zoom ring is the one further away from the camera. The focus ring is nearer to the cam body. And if you reverse the hood, you can hardly zoom. The other issue is that the lens does not come with a focus limiter.

Anyway, image quality wise, among the Sigma 70-200s, the OS version wins hands down. Its optical performance is similar to the Nikon 70-200 VR1.
 
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Samsonite

Senior Member
By focus limiter do you mean that the focus ring will continue to turn freely even past infinity?


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daredevil123

Senior Member
Samsonite said:
By focus limiter do you mean that the focus ring will continue to turn freely even past infinity?


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Focus limiter is a switch that lets you limit the focus range to a certain range, so the lens does not have to go through the full range when trying to acquire focus. On the Nikons the switch is either "off" or "5m-infinity".
 
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Samsonite

Senior Member
Ye what I mean is if I buy a sigma 70-200 f2.8 OS and buy a sigma teleconverter, will my D5100 autofocus? Have tried searching in google but didnt find much info....


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Samsonite

Senior Member
Thanks for that buddy, I've spent 3 weeks looking at reviews and people's comments on the nikon, tamron, sigma 70-200 2.8s, think I've finally decided to go for the sigma, especially since I can use a teleconverter....


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daredevil123

Senior Member
Samsonite said:
Thanks for that buddy, I've spent 3 weeks looking at reviews and people's comments on the nikon, tamron, sigma 70-200 2.8s, think I've finally decided to go for the sigma, especially since I can use a teleconverter....


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No problem. I went through the same thought process. And in the end I went for the Nikon VRII. Best decision I made.
 
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Samsonite

Senior Member
I'm still getting started, can't just do the price of the nikon just yet, these sigma lenses still retain their price pretty well, so if I decide to go for a vrII in future I could sell this on....


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daredevil123

Senior Member
Samsonite said:
Really? Any ETA?


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They just announced a couple months back. And they will be moving all their lenses to a couple of new series. The first one being the new 35/1.4 art series. So just be aware. Might be smart to wait out a little. Another option is to get a pre-owned Nikon VR1.
 
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Samsonite

Senior Member
Some of the reviews I have seen say the latest Sigma (the OS) is better than the VR1.... Any experience with this claim?


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daredevil123

Senior Member
Samsonite said:
Some of the reviews I have seen say the latest Sigma (the OS) is better than the VR1.... Any experience with this claim?


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Their performance is about the same. Just that the VR1 has focus limiter.

What the sigma wins in is the initial purchase price. But if you intend to sell it in the near future, the Nikon VR1 has the edge in value retention.
 
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Samsonite

Senior Member
Might have a look at pre owned VRIs just for a comparison then... The thing that gets me is that used VRIs cost roughly £1000, the VRII is £1500.. So for that extra £500, is the VRII that much better?


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evan447

Senior Member
sigma tcs can work very well with their own lenses. i have the sigma 150mm plus the sigma 1.4tc and the drop in image quality is minimal. so good in fact, i didnt take it off the lens for months after purchase!
 
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