SteveG Loc: Norh Carolina

Hi!

I am selling a Sigma 70-300mm OS for Sony Minolta A mount. It's like new in the box. Makes a great inexpensive option for adapting to an E mount using the LAEA4 adapter. The results are really stunning. I'm asking $250 but will entertain offers! They originally sold for $349 and they are extremely hard to find anymore in this mount. Let me know! Thanks for looking! Steve

photogeneralist Loc: Lopez Island Washington State

I had an example of this lens. (On a Sony DSLR A 100 then on a Sony A77II and on a A 77. (All A mount cameras) It was a little soft from 70-100 particularly at wide apertures. It was quite soft from 220-300 mm settings. I actually got better results cropping a 200mm image to match the magnification that I would have gotten at 300 mm. In between 100 and 200 mm it was a very good lens but beware the extremes of the zoom range.

SteveG Loc: Norh Carolina

Are you sure it was the OSS version and not the one that comes with a macro switch? I have had pretty sharp results pretty much throughout the full range of the zoom, surprisingly so. Now I'm not talking about comparing it to a prime but as far as a zoom, at least this particular copy, it's "pritty, pritty good!"

photogeneralist Loc: Lopez Island Washington State

I may have mistaken the lens that Steve is selling for one that I once owned. I no longer own the lens so cannot verify the exact model number. I originally bought the lens about 13 years ago. I do know that it was a Sigma 70-300 in Sony A mount. The EXIF data identifies a photo taken before I give the lens away as taken from a Sigma 75-300 macro with another photo from the same lens a Sigma 70-300 Macro and yet another as a Minolta 70 -250 Yet another identified the lens as a Tamron). My one photo (from another camera) that includes the camera and lens slung around my neck is too fuzzy to identify the exact model. ( Macro in that case meant about 1/3 life size not a true 1:1 Macro) Reviewing the exif data for my old pics reveals that the last use of that lens was Aug 2016. My earliest photo with the lens was July 2007. I believe that when I bought it, that it had been very recently discontinued. Perhaps that timeline can help identify the lens model that I suffered with at the ends of it's zoom range .

SteveG Loc: Norh Carolina

There were two models. One that had a macro switch, and this one that I have, no macro and it has Optical Stabilization. The two optically are worlds apart. Reviews on mine bare out my experience that it is pretty good at both ends of the zoom. It's not a G lens or an L, but it's pretty darn good.

photogeneralist Loc: Lopez Island Washington State

Doing a quick investigation of Dyxum.com A mount lens reviews, I see that the Sigma 70-300 f4-5.6 DG OS model is rated by it's users at 4.45 out of 5 for sharpness This is perhaps a bit better than average of all lenses that Dyxum has rated.

The Sigma 70-300 F4-5.6 DG Macro has been rated Sharpness on average at about 3.59 of 5 Well below mediocre. The details of the reviews are especially bad beyond 220 mm and merely bad from 70-100 mm In between is just OK. My model must have been The DG Macro model. I blamed myself, rather than my equipment for the lackluster photos and was astounded how much "I" improved when I got a Sony 70-400 G Master lens. My conclusion? I WAS WRONG WHEN I BLASTED THE LENS THAT STEVE IS SELLING. It cannot be the same lens model that I struggled with. I had no idea that Sigma has made so many (at least 5 models) different 70-300 f4-5.6 zoom models nor that the optical and build quality could/would vary so widely. I apologize to Steve for my knee jerk reaction.

SteveG Loc: Norh Carolina

Thanks for clearing that up!