Filter Reviews

Unfortunately, Nikon made the Nikon Coolpix 5000 with a non-threaded lens front, and this adapter tube is required for several accessories. The metal tube is accurately made and well-crafted, and works well for its intended purposes. But I can't imagine Nikon engineers and designers could not find a simpler, more elegant solution to accessory lenses and macro lights.

This lens is an add-on to the camera... i m pretty sure it will fit the IS-30 model tooo becuase the C-160 and C-210 which are similar to this lens are/can be used for the IS-30... So check it out a local camera store if it will work w/ IS-20/30..
Amazon says that this lens is 180mm lens.....
AFAIK this lens is an add on to MANY olympus cameras and a few other cameras(most 52 mm cameras)... it increase the zoom of ur camera by upto 1.6x so if u hav a camera w/ 110 zoom it increase it to 180(110 x 1.6).
Olympus up to my knowledge has always been reliable .... so go for it if u can find a good price.

This moon filter is a great way to explore the moon for beginniners! This filter can reduce the glare of the bright moon so you can explore the moon easily. But for experts I would recommend to get a Orion Poliarzing Filter (...). This is because somtimes the moon is too dark. With a poliarzing filter, you can adjust the filter from 1-40%. For beginniners, I would strongly recommened this filter, but for experts, I would get a Poliarzing filter.

We have been using this lens with several pentax-type camera bodies for the past 13 years and have few complaints. With regular maintenance and care, this has become an indispensible tool in our professional practice. We work with historic buildings, and photo-documentation is critical. Short of excessively expensive photogrammetry, a perspective shifting lens solves those parallax skewed images with a reasonable investment. (I am not sure this model is even still in production. In fact, I don't believe there are many similar lenses made; Nikon makes a 35 mm with wonderful optics, but the extra wide angle provided by a 28 mm is fantastic.) We have used standard 24 mm lenses. We've tried those newer wide zoom 18-28 lenses. But for the ability to capture a shot with close to undistorted parallax, nothing beats a shift lens.

A word on its operation. I won't go into the technical details of the optics, but I have had no complaints unless you try to push the correction out to its limits. Say you are standing on a typical street looking at a three story building. It sits up on a natural rise above the street, and you can only move back 60 feet or so across the street. With a 28mm you still have to tilt the lens up to capture all of the building. You snap it and wonder why it looks so distorted when you look at thge results. The sides of the building are splayed at weird angles and the top of the roof is clipped.

Well, with the shift lens you compose the image right in the viewfinder through the lens. As you spin a knurled dial, the body of the lens shifts laterally off axis and compensates for the distorted view. (The barrel spins independently of the mount in 30 degree increments so you can turn the camera to any orientation.) You hold the camera level and shift until the splayed verticals of the building pull back closer to parallel, and suddenly the top of the building comes into the frame! Don't shift too far or it starts to look fudged; the eye likes a bit of parallax spread. The Greeks figured that out long ago. Now your photos look like those you've seen in the glossy magazines. Add the right filtering and suddenly you have publishable images.

I won't fool you: this lens takes some experimentation to get it right. Like any other adjustable parameter of photography, I recommend taking a few extra shots at slightly different settings (so you don't have to go back again). It is a bit on the heavy side, but with practice and a steady hand it works fine. At 1:3.5 it is fast enough for most lighting conditions with average speed film. One last bit of warning: it does not work on automatic cameras--only fully manual metering. But if you are serious about architectural photography, you'll either already have a manual camera or you can pop... for one of Pentax's plain jane workhorse bodies.

Not for everybody, but you definitely get what you pay for in this case.

I got this lense primarily to cover football and baseball. For action photography, it's a solid performer and an excellent value with a couple of drawbacks.

Quality of construction (5.0 out of 5.0) Very high. Sigma EX lenses are made much more sturdily than typical consumer-grade lenses. It has a sturdy metal housing with an attractive matte black finish that resists scratching.

Sharpness (3.5) It's pretty sharp at 400mm, with just a hint of softness. Comparable to other zooms at that length. For action shots it's fine, but it was a bit disappointing when I used it to photograph waterfowl at maximum zoom. (Most serious photographers use a regular telephoto lense rather than a zoom lense for bird photography.)

Color (4.5) Colors are rich and natural. No sign of flare.

Distortion (3.5) Despite the fact that this is an APO lense, there is some distortion, slight but noticable, at the edge of the frame when you blow up the pictures to 8x10. At smaller print sizes, it is not noticable.

Autofocus (2.5) The lense's biggest drawback is its relatively slow autofocus speed. When photographing sports, I get around this problem by prefocusing on a spot in advance and using focus lock. As a result I miss unexpected developments more often than when I use my faster-focusing Minolta 85-300. On the other hand, this lense gets you a lot closer than the 85-300 and the image quality is better.

Speed (aperture) (3.0) Well, this isn't a pro lense, so you aren't going to find wide-open f-2.8 apertures, but then again, such lenses start at several thousand dollars. If you're shooting film, modern high-speed film has advanced to the point where you can get by without a really fast lense--in bright sunlight, at least. I typically shoot sports with Fujicolor Superia 400 and Fuji NPZ 800 color negative film and Fuji Provia 400 slide film. On a bright day you can shoot any of these films at f-8 with this lense and be able to use shutter speeds of 1/500 to 1/1000. On an overcast day I'll use NPZ 800 and still be able to shoot at 1/350 - 1/500 at f-8, and you can always stop down to f-6.3 if you need to get a shorter exposure. All three films are fine-grained enough to blow up to 8X10 with no problem.

On the other hand, if you're shooting digital, you are going to have to decide if the tradeoff in noise at ISO 400 is acceptable.

Ease of use (2.5) This is a big, heavy lense. It comes with a tripod collar and I recommend using it whenever possible.

Value (4.5) Comparable lenses from the Canon, Nikon and Minolta cost nearly double this lense, so the price is right.

Overall: 4.0 (price dependent) 3.0 (price independent)

I purchased this lens for my Canon Elan IIe in June, 2000. I've run about 50 rolls of print film through the camera with this lens and have been very satisfied with this lens. Please note that if you get the Canon EOS mount, the HSM is "micro-HSM," which like Canon's "micro-USM" does not allow full time manual focus (you must toggle a switch on the lens barrel to go from autofocus to manual focus). Filter size is 82 mm, which is large and increases the price of filters. The up side is that I have had no vignetting with a Hoya HMC skylight filter (normal, not thin width) a very good performance with an ultra wide angle zoom. Minimum focus distance is 0.5 meters (about 19"), slightly longer han one would like. Flare seems well controlled with the included hood and ghosting is minimal when shooting into the sun at f/8-f/16. Lens has very usable depth of field scales for f/11 and f/16. Nice sharp and contrasty results with this lens make it a bargain when compared to some of its competition.

I purchased this sigma 170-500mm lens about 2 mos ago, and was very impressed with it from the start! The lens has a good feel to it! not very heavy, but well built! The only thing I would change is the manual focus ring! it is a bit loose and hard to micro adjust! after about a week of practice, I think I have mastered it. Now the important part! picture quality! I have used this lens to photograph birds, deer, seals, and zoo animals, every time the pics came out clear and sharp even at the edges. I sometimes use a Kenko 2X converter to bring my zoom to 1000mm and still get sharp pics! I've owned Canon lenses in the past and was very happy with them also, but Sigmas photo quality is very close if not eaqual to any comprable canon lens! why pay 2-3-4 times more??? I curently own 4 sigma lenses "20-70mm, 28-105mm, 70-300mm, and 170-500mm" and am very happy with all 4 lenses! the true test will be when you strap it onto you canon,nikon, or any oter camera you own and see for yourself.

I bought the Sigma 28-135mm 3.8 - 5.6 to replace my broken Canon 28-70 3.5 - 4.5. The Sigma is nearly as fast, but offers a much greater range of focal lengths - the 70-135 range that was NOT on my Canon makes the lens far more versatile. Furthermore, the Sigma offers a very effective macro range (at the 135mm focal length only). Even when not in the macro mode (which requires throwing a switch) the lens focuses very close (to about 20").

Like the Sigma 70-210mm, the 28-135 has a little difficulty focusing in low light settings (more so than did my Canon 28-70). However, in good lighting conditions it focuses very quickly. Photos appear sharp from edge to edge, at all focal lengths. Zooming is smooth, and I have noticed no "creep."

The lens comes with Sigma's specially-shaped hood, designed so as not to interfere with wide-angle shots. The hood makes it very difficult to put on and take off the lens cap (so far the only negative thing I have to say about the lens).

For what it offers - a great range of focal lengths and good macro at a reasonable price - this is a fabulous lens. It gets 4 stars instead of 5 because of its 3.8 aperture - a 2.8 would be nicer, but probably far more expensive. (And yes, I'm aware of the Sigma 28-105mm 2.8-3.?, but its reviewers have questioned its sharpness).

Get this lens and it will probably stay on your camera all the time. Mine will.

This is a nice compact lens at a great price! It fits so easily into a camera bag and is great for travel and just having a all-around general purpose lens with a great zoom...it's really like having 2 lenses in 1! (a 28-80mm, and a 70-200mm zoom lens). I really don't notice any aberrations in the picture quality, and it works just fine with the Nikon camera body. The only supposed drawback is that Nikon camera bodies purport to use a "3D Matrix Metering" system that allows distance to be used to enhance picture quality (and that feature only works on Nikon G and D lenses), but the pictures that I've taken in the automatic mode of the camera look pretty good. Anyway, to sum it up:
1. 2 lenses in 1
2. *very* compact, fits almost anywhere!
3. great price
4. good optics

Sigma lenses are high quality glass for those of us that don't want to throw away money on the company product. This lens will simplify your life. I was fortunate enough to have a friend loan me this lens for a couple of days and it covers the most widely used focal lengths required for professional work. I wasn't hunting around in my bag for a lens to get closer to my subject and I could easily pull away and get a nice wide shot. Lightweight and easy to focus - it just feels good. You will need a flash for indoor shooting, though. Get one - it might be the last lens you will ever buy.