I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the new Sigma 300mm F/2.8 HSM? I tried it at a camera store, and the AF was excellent and it felt very well built, but how does it perform optically? How well does it work with the two dedicated Sigma TCs? Does it accept the Nikon TCs? How does the lens compare to the new Tokina 300mm F/2.8? Any comments are greatly appreciated. -Nick

-- Nick Stevens (nickstevens@hotmail.com), August 30, 1999

Answers

I was just looking over the same choices that you are. One site I looked at is www.photodo.com. they give the Tokina an optical rating of 4.0 out of 5.0, the Sigma a 3.6 and the Tamron a 2.8. At B&H the Tokina and Sigma both sell for $2200 USD while the Tamron goes for $2600. the Tokina has a $200 rebate and the Tamron has a $100 rebate. It looks like only the Sigma has the focus motor in the lens and it's one of those HSM (like Nikon AF-S & Canon USM?) motors for quiet fast focusing. Also, the Sigma looks a lot more like the newer Nikkors (at 3 times the price) than the others. That puts the Nikon lens out of reach for most of us. Don't get me wrong, the Nikkor is superior in many ways, all my lenses are Nikon but the 300mm f/2.8 AF- S goes for near $7000 bucks. The Nikkor 300mm f/4.0 AF-S is a quality peice of glass, and light enough to carry in a camera bag, for more like $1000, works for me. Sometimes I have to use faster film (which costs twice as much) but my clients pay for that directly.

-- Kevin R. Weiss (KRWeiss@juno.com), May 03, 2001.