Wah lao! Is Sigma lenses that bad! How to test on the spot?

[noobie]

I just bought a Sigma lens from a shop and I told my friend about it. He asked me :"Did you test the lens on the spot?" I say "No, cause I dun have my cam body with me!" then He said "You should because Sigma's QC is terrible one!....." I then call 2 more of my friends, whom have about 5 and 10 years photography experience, and they re-iterated what the 1st guy said. Wah kaozzz! I should have asked them for opinion first before heading down to buy the Sigma lens. But anyway, how do you test a lens "on-the-spot" in a shop? Firstly, you need your cam body and then a PC to view the downloaded photo and furthermore you need to bring the lens out of the building to take test shot, if not you cannot actually "test" a lens right?

[Rashkae]

Best to buy at a place like John 3:16 where they'll help you in any way possible if your lens is faulty.

[Belle&Sebastain]

Originally Posted by noobie I just bought a Sigma lens from a shop and I told my friend about it. He asked me :"Did you test the lens on the spot?" I say "No, cause I dun have my cam body with me!" then He said "You should because Sigma's QC is terrible one!....." I then call 2 more of my friends, whom have about 5 and 10 years photography experience, and they re-iterated what the 1st guy said. Wah kaozzz! I should have asked them for opinion first before heading down to buy the Sigma lens. But anyway, how do you test a lens "on-the-spot" in a shop? Firstly, you need your cam body and then a PC to view the downloaded photo and furthermore you need to bring the lens out of the building to take test shot, if not you cannot actually "test" a lens right?

sorry for the trama, but did you actually tested your brand new lens before posting all this?

[noobie]

well, I dun have the time to bring it outdoor (and it's raining!) for testing, but from the indoors pix...... I took about 20 shots with it, all indoors, I still cannot conclude based on them, most of the shots are soft. Must wait for the sun to come out!

[Adelfin]

This should help:
http://forums.clubsnap.org/showpost....89&postcount=2

you should ALWAYS check and test your lenses when buying. Yes it's not as good as testing in real life shots, but it brings down the possibility of getting a lemon. You need to test for physical defects, lens centre and outer sharpness, focusing accuracy, zoom/focus ring quality.. all this testing can take some time but i find it necessary. For me, I'd ask for 2 lenses at least to test, and pick the better one.

Most 3rd party lenses will have a bit more QC problems so u have to be extra careful... Anyway there's no use fretting. Go check your lens now, and if there's any problems go back to the shop.

[Adelfin]

Originally Posted by noobie well, I dun have the time to bring it outdoor (and it's raining!) for testing, but from the indoors pix...... I took about 20 shots with it, all indoors, I still cannot conclude based on them, most of the shots are soft. Must wait for the sun to come out!

u can actually check for focusing indoors. look here:
www.focustestchart.com

For sharpness, it can definitely be tested indoors, just use a tripod.. you don't need the sun. Then you can point at light sources in your room to test for flare control/purple fringing/colour abberation. not as good as the sun, but it's a start..

[noobie]

thks Adelfin for the tips. If I found that the focusing is off from my cam focus point, should I drop by the shop again to ask for a lens swap? will they allow? Or should I send in to Sigma service centre? Now then I realise that buying lenses got so much chore.

[lsisaxon]

Originally Posted by noobie thks Adelfin for the tips. If I found that the focusing is off from my cam focus point, should I drop by the shop again to ask for a lens swap? will they allow? Or should I send in to Sigma service centre? Now then I realise that buying lenses got so much chore.

You will have less of this problem if you buy original lenses.

[night86mare]

Originally Posted by lsisaxon You will have less of this problem if you buy original lenses.

And pay a lot more..

I'd rather put in some effort, save the money and enjoy it in other ways. =D

[noobie]

Then what about consumer level Canon or Nikon lenses like e.g. Canon EF 50mm 1.8 mk II? This is a consumer lens also, will this suffers the same QC issue as Sigma/Tamron? I mean if I am buying this 50mm 1.8 lens, if I take 1 hour to test the lens in the shop, I think the shop keep will show me black face as this is only a $120.00 lens only.

[deckard]

sigma stuff is not so bad lah. even if you spend lots of time there, you have the right to do so because you are the customer. just attach to your camera and set the various apertures to shoot try out all sorts of exposure to see anything wrong or funky. some people spend $470 to buy lens from belarus and still get good lens, so sigma should not be a problem.

[ExplorerZ]

Originally Posted by noobie well, I dun have the time to bring it outdoor (and it's raining!) for testing, but from the indoors pix...... I took about 20 shots with it, all indoors, I still cannot conclude based on them, most of the shots are soft. Must wait for the sun to come out!

how hard, oopz sharp, is the sharp you want?

[Yatlapball]

Uh... I find bringing along and shooting test charts a little too extreme. Heh. use whatever that is available at hand... a shelf full of boxes to look at distortion. Shoot a newspaper from a sharp angle to check for front-back focusing

Probably the only thing you need to bring is a laptop to view the photos at 100%.

Oh, and do please mount onto a tripod when testing for sharpness.

[zj2000]

Originally Posted by night86mare And pay a lot more.. I'd rather put in some effort, save the money and enjoy it in other ways. =D

To tell you the truth you are just as likely to end up losing more by buying third party. Third party lenses have been known to not work on the latest models of dslrs... So the "L" quality sigma lens that you bought for half the price of the canon lens might stop working on the next dslr that canon launches. You can ask those who have been using sigma lenses since 10 years ago and they'll tell you the same thing. Solution? Send the lens to sigma to rechip... it's gonna cost you $ and that's the good news.... the bad news is that they might not even be able to rechip it.... so you're forced to sell it... except that people are now using the latest dslr and the market for your lens just keep getting smaller and smaller.... you end up selling it for 10% of the purchase price... the canon lens however might depreciate less than the sigma.... more importantly all original canon lense will work on all canon dslrs even those lenses made in the 80s so you are not forced to sell if you don't want to... resale value? look in the BnS, people are selling 10 year old 70-200mm f2.8 at 14xx when the new ones cost 1888.... a brand new sigma 70-200 f2.8 cost 1395... imagine what it is going to be worth 10 years later when it no longer works with the latest dslrs.... $200? $300?

Make the smart choice... buy original

[zj2000]

Something to back up my claim...

http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/canonFAQ.htm#3Q2c

look at item 6 of faq.....

[night86mare]

And I suppose that's the third party lens company fault,

Not your greedy grubbing selfish little first-party companies.

For all I know, tomorrow your Canon L lens might drop into the river and vanish. I'd rather get something much more affordable for my budget - those who can afford the moolah do what they want, just stating a valid point, which is that if you do your homework properly and get a sharp copy of a third party lens, the performance difference is MINIMAL, at a MUCH LOWER COST. End of story.

[zj2000]

Originally Posted by night86mare And I suppose that's the third party lens company fault, Not your greedy grubbing selfish little first-party companies. For all I know, tomorrow your Canon L lens might drop into the river and vanish. I'd rather get something much more affordable for my budget - those who can afford the moolah do what they want, just stating a valid point, which is that if you do your homework properly and get a sharp copy of a third party lens, the performance difference is MINIMAL, at a MUCH LOWER COST. End of story.

First of all... it is the third party company's fault for not bothering to obtain a license from canon or nikon.... the way you put it it sounds like you're the kind that likes to side with the underdog... in that case why not go all out and buy a sigma dslr? why buy a canon or a nikon since they are "greedy grubbing selfish little first-party companies"

Secondly, we are not talking image quality. Your initial post talks about cost so I am just highlighting that third party lenses are not the bargain that they seem to be.....

True my canon L lense might "drop in the river and vanish" like you put it... but so might your sigma... and dslr... so by your logic we should all buy pns since they cost the least to replace if indeed it 1 day "drop in the river and vanish"...

Just found it strange that someone can take offence to me highlighting the shortcomings of goin third party....

[Yatlapball]

Heh. Sorry but I can't help but take a dig at this

Quote: more importantly all original canon lense will work on all canon dslrs even those lenses made in the 80s so you are not forced to sell if you don't want to...

Canon betrayed (ok maybe this is too strong a word. forgive me) their FD mount users in 1987 with the introduction of the EF mount only SLR and DSLRs from then on. So technically... your statement is not quite accurate.

[night86mare]

Originally Posted by zj2000 First of all... it is the third party company's fault for not bothering to obtain a license from canon or nikon.... the way you put it it sounds like you're the kind that likes to side with the underdog... in that case why not go all out and buy a sigma dslr? why buy a canon or a nikon since they are "greedy grubbing selfish little first-party companies" Secondly, we are not talking image quality. Your initial post talks about cost so I am just highlighting that third party lenses are not the bargain that they seem to be..... True my canon L lense might "drop in the river and vanish" like you put it... but so might your sigma... and dslr... so by your logic we should all buy pns since they cost the least to replace if indeed it 1 day "drop in the river and vanish"... Just found it strange that someone can take offence to me highlighting the shortcomings of goin third party....

HA!

Got you there. I use Pentax. Pooooooooo. Incidentally, Pentax DSLRs can use any Pentax lens ever made! So they claim!

You seem to like to keep lenses for a long time, maybe you should have started with Pentax and stayed with it all along. Hee hee! =)

[zj2000]

Originally Posted by Yatlapball Heh. Sorry but I can't help but take a dig at this Canon betrayed (ok maybe this is too strong a word. forgive me) their FD mount users in 1987 with the introduction of the EF mount only SLR and DSLRs from then on. So technically... your statement is not quite accurate.

Ok, if canon decides to kill the EF mount then sigma and canon lens buyers are both screwed....

Having said that even after the death of FD mount there still is a resale market for canon FD lenses... can't say the same for third party FD lenses.... you can pick up a third party 1 on ebay for $10?