LensTip.com

Lenses

There are 2089 lenses in our database and 3494 owners opinions.

You can also
compare lenses side-by-side

Search by:

Sigma 17-50 mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM

Pictures:
Specifications:
Manufacturer Sigma
Model 17-50 mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM
Lens style Universal zoom
Focal length 17 - 50 mm
Maximum aperture f/2.8
Angle of view 72.4 - 27.9 o
Closest focusing distance 0.28 m
Maximum magnification 1:5
Minimum aperture 22
Number of diaphragm blades 7
Auto focus type HSM
Lens Construction 17 elements / 13 groups
Filter diameter 77 mm
Macro No
Available mounts Nikon F
Sony A / Minolta
Sigma
Pentax K
Canon EF-S
Dimensions 83.5 x 91.8 mm
Weight 565 g
Additional information Two FLD (“F” Low Dispersion) glass elements
Two glass mold and one hybrid aspherical lens
Optical Stabilizer
Released: Feb. 2010
Average rating (27 owners reviews)
Build quality
Optical quality
Value for money

Overall

4.41 Good
Owners reviews (27)
  1. Steakface
    Steakface 28 December 2017, 20:47
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 75.144.x.x
    Owner since: 3 months
    Price: $370
    User profile: Semipro

    Cons: Lens comes included with terrible QC, good luck getting a copy that isn\'t decentered to some degree AND doesn\'t have a broken AF motor out of the box. It will never focus as well as a Canikon lens. Doesn\'t work well with outer focusing points, making them useless. Focus ring pull is ridiculously short.

    Pros: Cheap. Has OS that works pretty well. Seems like a good copy would be very sharp. has switches on the body to turn off OS and AF.

    Summary: You might think this is the lens to get, and you might be right. It gets lots of great praise across the internet, so why not get it? It comes in the mail and you love it, works like a charm and produces great pictures.... oh wait, whats that? Why is the right side so blurry? You test for decentering and find the right side will always be blurry. You exchange it and another fresh copy comes to your door. You stick it on your test bench and find that it is still decentered but acceptably so, huzzah! You begin using it and taking pictures. Look, there goes your kid running and playing in the snow, lets snap some quick shots using AF... wait, what was that high pitched screech? And why did the AF motor hesitate during it? You try to reproduce it and find that in some situations the AF will make a nasty noise and freeze. You consider exchanging it again, but do you really want to wait even longer only to take another gamble? You decide to return it and get a Canikon lens instead. It comes in the mail and you, being jaded by the Sigma, begin thoroughly testing. To your surprise, you don\'t find anything wrong. The story ends - you have the lens you need, even though it isn\'t the lens you wanted in the first place.

  2. Poorboy
    Poorboy 27 December 2017, 22:34
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 103.75.x.x
    Owner since: 6 years
    Price: 700 AUD
    User profile: Amateur

    Cons: Lens hood notch wears out. Need to move switch for manual focus override

    Pros: Excellent all frame sharpness from F4 Excellent sharpness in center @ F2.8 Decent autofocus Very good all-round travel lens Reasonable weight Good bokeh Effective IS As good as the Canon 17-55 F2.8

    Summary: I bought this 6 years ago. 2 years back my aperture stuck and the lens hood notch wore out. I had it repaired rather than getting a new one. I liked the lens so much. It had been around the world. This is my go everywhere travel lens. It\'s the only one I take on holiday. I have quite a few other lenses, but don\'t want to feel like a pack mule. In a dim cave, shoot @ F2.8 you\'ll get good results. Need super sharp landscapes you can shoot @ F4-11. I have a few primes and this lens is as sharp as those @ F4. This is also a good performer at outdoor weddings and with a speedlight in low-light. I have a friend with the Canon 17-55mm F2.8. That one is slight better on the edges @ F2.8 but this is superior from F4 and substantially cheaper. He did say he couldn\'t really notice the different in picture quality.

  3. nofue
    nofue 30 April 2017, 22:20
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 81.5.x.x
    Owner since: 6 months
    Price: 250
    User profile: Professional

    Cons: The Lenscap doesn\'t snap in place quickly, and the rotating focus ring is somewhat strange at times.

    Pros: Fast, snappy, perfect colors, a real workhorse.

    Summary: This lens made me a Sigma follower. I got it for an unbelievable 250 on a fair and I bought it knowing I could sell it if it wouldn\'t work for me. I spent half an hour of automatic AFMA using Magic Lantern on my 7D and the result is just awesome (-2 correction). Can\'t imagine any documentary shoot not carrying this lens.

  4. Brooke
    Brooke 30 March 2017, 09:49
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 23.106.x.x
    Owner since: 3 months
    Price:
    User profile: Amateur

    Cons: back

    Pros: cool

    Summary: wiki.

  5. Gyuri
    Gyuri 28 March 2017, 13:30
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 131.228.x.x
    Owner since: 1 year
    Price: $300
    User profile: Amateur

    Cons: Focus ring is moving during AF

    Pros: Sharp and fast

    Summary: I bought this lens mainly for indoor (low light) situation and for the case when I would like to have small DoF. I use it with a Nikon D5500 and I can only compare it to the Nikon 18-140 lens, which is my other lens in this focal range. The quality of the Sigma is nothing special, seems to me solid. The AF operation of the Sigma seems to me faster than the Nikon, which is also quite fast. (I have not made any real measurement, this is just my impression). I do not have any complain about the AF reliability either. The only negative is that the focus ring is moving during AF and you cannot use MF when AF is active. The OS works fine, but my impression is that the Nikon\'s VR is better. The image quality is good. With F2.8 the centre of the picture is sharp (as sharp as the images taken with Nikon 18-140), but there is some softness in the corners. If I use a smaller aperture (F4 or F5.6) then pictures are clearly sharper than the pictures taken with the Nikon 18-140. Even in the computer screen at 100% they are sharp. The DoF is working as I expect. The background is nicely blurred. I think the colours are very similar with the two lens. I was surprised how big is the difference between 17mm and 18mm. My feeling is that either Nikon 18mm is not really 18mm or Sigma 17mm is a little bit smaller in reality.

  6. Photopottymus
    Photopottymus 17 June 2016, 20:29
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 86.150.x.x
    Owner since: 2 years
    Price: £329
    User profile: Semipro

    Cons: no cons

    Pros: very sharp across range, very good in low light, quiet focus, good build quality. Images have good colour .

    Summary: Very good quality lens, well worth the money and is my most used lens, used with both Pentax K5 and K3.

  7. SLHR
    SLHR 4 March 2016, 20:39
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 79.126.x.x
    Owner since: 6 months
    Price: 250$
    User profile: Semipro

    Cons: Pronounced barrel distortion

    Pros: Beautiful colors, contrasty, good flare control, silent and reasonably fast autofocus.

    Summary: Best value for money of f/2.8 wide/normal zoom lenses for DX Nikons.

  8. Kuif
    Kuif 26 April 2015, 08:50
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 80.60.x.x
    Owner since: 3 years
    Price: 275 €
    User profile: Semipro

    Cons: Zooming in and out is opposite Nikon lenses Electronics visible, be careful at that point Af little noisy when using internal microphone

    Pros: Image quality, accurate AF, durable (build quality), 77mm filter size, 2.8 in center always usable, OS effective.

    Summary: Well done lens, optically and mechanically, zoom ring runs after heavy use still smooth. Bokeh is nice. Color reproduction and contrast will amaze you. No reason to buy 17-55 Nikkor without OS, or Tamron 17-50 if you are looking a 2.8 zoom.

  9. Edgar
    Edgar 19 April 2015, 16:43
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 94.209.x.x
    Owner since: 2 years
    Price: 600
    User profile: Amateur

    Cons: Needs different finetuning adjustment for close range and longer distance (at higher focal length). No manual focus override. Small manual-focus range (about 30 to 40 degrees) Lenshood is hard to remove, I am almost afraid to break the moving part of the lens.

    Pros: Really sharp. Nice colors. Wide enough and still able to take a portrait shot. Focus quickly. Fast lens (2.8) for freezing baseball shots. Great for low light due to stabilisation. (When object is not moving.)

    Summary: Very good lens, still my only one. Not expensive (Dropped to 400euro in price, just after I bought it for 600.-)

  10. mejiwaki
    mejiwaki 16 September 2013, 16:30
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 75.43.x.x
    Owner since: 1 year
    Price: 689
    User profile: Semipro

    Cons: focus ring moves when focus.

    Pros: the price, compared with Nikon and cannon

    Summary: sold my Nikon to get this beauty, NO REGREETS

  11. Timse
    Timse 13 September 2013, 13:41
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 212.185.x.x
    Owner since: 6 months
    Price:
    User profile: Amateur

    Cons: This lens is worth nothing. Sigma was NOT able to manage the focus problems. I had got 3 different lenses 17-50, all the same. Its a shame.

    Pros: Naturally colours, but its worth nothing with a wronf focus:(

    Summary: DONT buy this lens

  12. Canon Guy
    Canon Guy 13 September 2013, 00:30
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 62.28.x.x
    Owner since: 2 years
    Price: 565 eur
    User profile: Semipro

    Cons: Great Lense, constrution very similar to L lense without weather sealling. At 2-8 Extreme border little soft but from F4 is a fantastic lense, warm color, AF very fast an accurate (faster them my old 17-40 F4 L ...big surprise for me) In APS in this range one of the 3 best lense available.

    Pros: No Full Manual focus if that bored you.

    Summary: Recommend strongly for any APS. Very similiar to Nikon 17-55 2.8 and Canon 17-55 2.8 IS, but like canon has te OS a big advantage over Nikon!

  13. tukai
    tukai 16 April 2012, 18:53
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 115.250.x.x
    Owner since: 6 months
    Price: $900
    User profile: Amateur

    Cons: whole electronics is visible from rear end. soft images on borders. very short manual focus ring rotation- accurate focusing is difficult. in low light AF hunts. no FTM.

    Pros: excellent warm color reproduction. near silent AF & OS works. very sharp on middle of frame. good contrast. compact with good build.

    Summary: reasonable price & it itself a very good lens. as good as canon 17-55 f2.8. Try it !

  14. WoNHUSA
    WoNHUSA 3 March 2012, 13:33
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 24.233.x.x
    Owner since: 1 year
    Price: $669
    User profile: Amateur

    Cons: There is an occasional squeaking sound when the lens zooms in and out. No full time AF.

    Pros: Excellent optical quality and resolution. Just printed a 20x30 and a 12x20 which were taken handheld and they look excellent. The OS works well and the AF is solid. Recently used the lens at a HS hockey game and the lens kept up with the action. Obviously the f2.8 is great to have and why the lens costs what it does, otherwise the lens would be half the price. The lens is solidly built and more compact and lighter than the Canon equivalent. The price is what sets the lens apart. This lens is a great buy and matches well with my 7D. Sigma even includes a lens hood and a nice case with the lens.

    Summary: Sigma has a winner here. Go to a shop and directly compare the Sigma to the Canon. Hold them, take some test shots, compare prices and then decide. This Sigma has allowed me to get photos of my children that would not have been possible without the f2.8, HSM and OS. This is a great lens and very highly recommended.

  15. Jojo Sacdalan
    Jojo Sacdalan 23 December 2011, 19:14
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 112.204.x.x
    Owner since: 6 months
    Price: $744.00 or
    User profile: Amateur

    Cons: For my copy, an unusual faint noise while zooming, just noticed it after a month of using it. No manual focus override when in AF mode. When in AF mode, focus ring moves.

    Pros: Image quality, contrast are excellent. AF is fast and accurate. But since this is a variable lens, the focus result is sometimes not correct due to changes in the focusing plane of the lens itself. Built of this lens is excellent for the price you pay, i like the size and compactness, weight is a little heavy but is fine due to expensive glass used.

    Summary: Excellent lens for the half price of other major brands like Canon, etc.

  16. Focus
    Focus 11 December 2011, 11:59
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 195.23.x.x
    Owner since: 6 months
    Price: 600 eur
    User profile: Semipro

    Cons: Awesome sharp from 2.8 can be a little soft at extreme edge, but with that conditions of light only Canon L IS Lense on a full frame can do same!!! Good build quality (like L lense)Very sharp at the center at all focal lens Sharp across the frame when stopping down to f4

    Pros: No manual override focus

    Summary: Get ride off my 17-40 F4 L and very pleased with this Sigma and would recommend to anyone. Couldn't use the Canon in interior, only with flash build-in off the camera Is as good or better as similar Canon 17-55 2.8 IS for a little more than half the price

  17. Chula
    Chula 17 October 2011, 05:11
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 202.161.x.x
    Owner since: 6 months
    Price: 690
    User profile: Amateur

    Cons: Dust easily stuck on lens body - harder to clean

    Pros: Sharp, Contrasty, OS works, Value for money, Good build quality

    Summary: Best price performance compared to Nikon 17-55, Tamron 17-50, Tokina 16-50

  18. Gerrit
    Gerrit 18 August 2011, 05:17
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 168.226.x.x
    Owner since: 1 month
    Price: 600 Euros
    User profile: Amateur

    Cons: focus ring turns during autofocus. no full time manual override like in other HSM lenses. Lenshood is not very well done and appears to be of cheap build quality.

    Pros: Very sharp, even wide open. good build quality. well working optical stabilization. pretty quiet autofocus due to HSM

    Summary: Had the Tamron 17-50 2.8 non OS before an d sold it after a week. The Sigma really delivers in terms of sharpness and autofocus speed (two thing where the Tamron failed me). On top having OS is a nice feature

  19. rideklein
    rideklein 17 August 2011, 05:29
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 71.231.x.x
    Owner since: 6 months
    Price:
    User profile: Amateur

    Cons: No full-time manual focus, but at a considerably less price point than Canon 17-55/2.8, so this is ok. Occasional mis-focus, but keeper rate is satisfactorily high.

    Pros: Somewhat soft from f/2.8, but usable and becomes noticeably sharper by f/4. Quiet AF. Wonderful colors and contrast.

    Summary: I use on Canon APS-C. This Sigma beats the socks off the Tamron 17-50/2.8, which I owned and despised due to its loud AF and that the Tam hunted for focus in low light. I like that it's a much more compact lens than the Canon 17-55/2.8.

  20. Nick
    Nick 15 August 2011, 00:56
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 62.28.x.x
    Owner since: 1 month
    Price: 600 euro
    User profile: Semipro

    Cons: Awesome sharp from 2.8 and across most the frame Light weight lense

    Pros: None for this price

    Summary: Highy recomend, a little better them the 17-40 F4 i had before

  21. Canon 7D
    Canon 7D 3 August 2011, 01:38
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 195.23.x.x
    Owner since: 3 months
    Price: 580 Euros
    User profile: Semipro

    Cons: Focus ring rotation in front if that upset you. No manual focus override, but the button for change it in a good position.

    Pros: Amazing sharp at center from 2.8 From F4 is sharp from center to extreme border, the OS works very well.

    Summary: Very sharp lense with and Extra L sharp at center, very fast focus. I´ve tested in low light and it was great no back focus. Recomend for sure

  22. Andrew
    Andrew 31 July 2011, 15:52
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 149.6.x.x
    Owner since: 3 months
    Price: £400
    User profile: Amateur

    Cons: A little heavy

    Pros: Very sharp, autofocusses precisely. Affordable 77mm filter diameter. Build quality seems very solid.

    Summary: Very happy with purchase; this standard zoom takes photos that match up to the quality from my prime 30mm and 50mm lenses

  23. Greytata
    Greytata 17 June 2011, 14:55
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 89.214.x.x
    Owner since: 6 months
    Price: 590 euros
    User profile: Professional

    Cons: That focus ring...

    Pros: Excelent image quality, good AF, good stabilization

    Summary: Probably the best ratio price/quality in this category

  24. hakr100
    hakr100 10 April 2011, 15:57
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 69.250.x.x
    Owner since: 1 month
    Price: $649
    User profile: Semipro

    Cons: Clumsy manual focusing

    Pros: Seems as good as similar Canon for a little more than half the price.

    Summary: Nice piece of glass

  25. Dil
    Dil 21 January 2011, 19:25
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 92.9.x.x
    Owner since: 1 month
    Price: 580
    User profile: Amateur

    Cons: Not weather sealed

    Pros: Solid build lightweight compared with Nikon Close minimum focal distance Sharp? OMG - this lens is sharp HSM v quiet and quick

    Summary: This is a really excellent lens - great value for money but not at the expense of quality

  26. martinh
    martinh 20 December 2010, 11:50
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 95.103.x.x
    Owner since: 1 month
    Price: 630 euro
    User profile: Amateur

    Cons: AF not accurate on 17mm

    Pros: Sharp wide open, OS

    Summary: Focus on 17mm is lottery

  27. Koulang
    Koulang 1 October 2010, 08:29
    Build quality
    Optical quality
    Value for money

    Overall

    IP 115.178.x.x
    Owner since: 1 month
    Price: 650
    User profile: Amateur

    Cons: Soft image at the frame edge at wide open Focus ring rotates during AF No full-time override manual focus Focus not so accurate at widest angle

    Pros: Good build quality Very sharp at the center at all focal lens Sharp across the frame when stopping down to f4 onward Small and light Lens hood included and nice soft case

    Summary: Good quality and recommended lens for its price.