I finally got the opportunity to give my newly acquired telezoom lens a test run under sunlight! Well, I got to test it under poorly lit conditions the past week. It’s time I wanted to appreciate it further.

Thanks for this photo, Mark V!

So how it did perform?

Early on, I was contemplating on sending back my lens to the supplier to have it calibrated. I noticed that the shots taken at 200mm wide open at F2.8 were not very sharp. But after testing it further, I noticed that I only have to be more stable to achieve the sharpness I expected. No front focusing and back focusing issues too. Images are tack sharp as you narrow down the aperture.

So I no longer need to go back to JT Photo for calibration– but I think I need to lift weights so I can get used to carrying this lens for long periods. This baby is heavy!

Speaking of weight, I just learned that the Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 HSM II is the heaviest among it’s Canon, Nikon and Tamron counterparts. Oh well… I’ll just have to get used to its weight then.

This is my first lens with HSM (hypersonic motor) so autofocusing is blazing fast. It works well in both low light and well-lit situations. It’s just great.

The bokeh is just amazing. I am a sucker for shallow DOF (depth of field ). I like the separation of my subject from a cluttering background and I am pretty much satisfied with the DOF it provides.

I believe this Sigma, is a pretty good alternative to the more expensive Nikkors. For an upstart photographer like me who needs a fixed wide aperture telezoom but still can’t afford first party lenses, this Sigma does a great job producing quality images. I am very satisfied.