Sigma 70-300 mm f/4-5.6 DG OS review - Autofocus

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Sigma 70-300 mm f/4-5.6 DG OS

19 March 2010

Arkadiusz Olech

10. Autofocus

The first and the most important question that suggests itself here is: who has come up with the idea of not including an HSM motor? The competitors from Canon and Nikon and even a recently launched Tamron 70–300 mm VC feature an ultrasonic autofocus motor although they cost practically the same. The Sigma lacks it. Where is its selling point then?

The lack of an HSM motor can be seen (or actually heard) immediately. The lens whirrs noisily while focusing and it is more audible on passing from 1.5 meters to infinity than backwards. Running through the whole scale takes a bit more than one second, regardless from what end.

When it comes to the accuracy level on the D200 or on the D3x, we have no serious reservations. Perhaps the results were not perfect but the level of 4-6% of misses should be assessed as good. We haven’t noticed any bothersome issues with front or back focus either. On the D3x the focus was set correctly at all focal lengths. On the D200 we had some troubles with minimal back focus at 300 mm, especially when shooting from closer distances; in the 70-200 mm range we encountered no problems though.

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