How good is Sigma 70-300mm F/4-5.6 DG Macro Lens

Question

Planning to buy this lens for my D-90, but not sure how good it is, though i have narrow down my search based on budget constraint.

But i have read that it has given good results for wildlife photography and a bit (not good/ may be OK ) macro at 200-300 only.

Though there are some issues with this also

1. Auto focus noise.
2. Build Quality

But based on the Budget i assume that one has to comprise at some aspects.Need your valuable inputs should i go for this or should wait to get some other good alternative.

Update

I am looking mainly for a good affordable telephoto lens was only considering this after reading its a bit capacity of macro.

But after looking at the answers think that i should avoid this.Is there any other recommendation since i am planning to double my budget.

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

I have that exact lens, the APO DG version even. Its ... 'ok'. It has really poor contrast is my biggest gripe and the autofocus is dreadful slow.

For pics of slow moving wildlife in reasonable light - it does pretty ok with a little contrast help in post production. Example below:

For macro pics..its well, not very macro. It just doesn't get as close as you'd think and the lack of sharpness really shows compared to better, sharper lenses. It's not terrible but not great. See below:

I've tried and tried and TRIED to get birds in flight with this lens, but the autofocus is far too slow. You get a lucky shot every once and awhile, but it just can't keep up.

I actually find it does portraits pretty decent in the 200-300mm range - which is like a fashion photography range. You don't need it super ultra sharp and you get nice blurred backgrounds. See below:

It feels cheap, especially the lens hood. The hood fits loose and if you're not careful, you can grind the gears in autofocus mode when turning by hand.

Overall its a pretty ok lens, but only if you stay within its autofocus ability and you fix a little contrast in post. If I was shopping again, I'd spend a bit more.

Answer 2

I have it, the non-APO version, also on a D90. It is cheap, but really, it's not good. It's by far my worst lens quality-wise. And if you want to buy it, play with it, and then sell it, you'll find the market is saturated with these lenses. I don't know where you are but perhaps you are able to rent it and see for yourself.

Maybe there is someone else here who can comment on the APO version, but I would tell you to save more and go for a nikon 55-300. I don't recommend you the Nikon 70-300 4.5-5.6 because you are on a budget.

Answer 3

I purchased this lens because it was the cheapest. It has no image stabilization and has that familiar whrrrrrrr sound during autofocus. These are common in lenses at this price point. I mostly use this lens in manual focus mode. To get a good lens, doubling the budget is not enough. You have to pay much more for lenses like Nikon 200-500 which is a good lens. Probably you can buy this lens and use it till you have the budget to get the good lenses. You can get it for less than RS. 10000 nowadays.

Some samples from my Flickr album taken with this lens: sample 1, sample 2.