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Ebay prices im going by

The 24-70 Macro is about another $150 and apparently has improved AF. They claim its contrast/sharpness isnt onpair with the older, now dated 28-70 F2.8 EX

Which lense should I be opting for? anyone have any suggestions ? Thsi will be my primary walk about lense for my European travels which I will supplement with a Sigma 10-20 UWA

Many reviews say both lenses some times have required a rechip which is a concern as im going to europe so getting a lense fixed will be near impossible

This will be mounted to a canon 30d which I pickup next week..

thanks guys

I haven't used the 28-70, however i use the 24-70 daily. it's sharp, contrasty, heavy, reasonably quick AF, and well built.

cheers

And for a walkabout lense, would you recommend it?

Should I buy new, given I hear of focusing issues requring a rechip?

I would definitely recommend it as a walkaround lens... it's heavy.. but not too heavy.

I don't know anything about the focusing issues with canon, haven't had a problem at all with the d70. For the price these are I think you may as well buy new.

cheers

I can only comment on the Sigma 10-20mm and it is a nice lens. Wide shots capture so much.

I used it on a 350D body and some of my shots are on the Images and Critics, take a look

Rechipping happens when Canon release your camera after the lens is manufactured - I bought the 18-50/2.8 for my 300D and I'm very happy with it. But when I got the 30D every now and then it'd give me a burst of Err99's. Still worked fine on the 300D though. So I gave it to Kennedys and they fixed it under the international warranty (this thread). Took a couple of weeks.

My advice is to test whatever you intend to take with you quite intensely before you leave. Not just the usual test shots that you take to make sure you know how to use the camera and that the things work. A serious, 1000+ photos in a day type shoot. That way anything that is likely to happen early on should happen on day one, and you're in a good position to get it fixed or replaced quickly. BTW, with the 30D I find I'm shooting a lot in RAW+med/fine or large/fine with the picture modes turned on. That way I get a saturated, sharpened jpeg that I can see on the camera and faff with, then tweak the raw files later. Coz I also got a nice fast 4GB CF card from Birdy. The 30D shows the difference betwen my old 52x card and the new 120x card quite well.

Thanks Moz, ill keep this in mind. With 4GB shooting raw/jpeg together isnt so bad! I've only got a 1GB & 512

Looks like thats another expense!

Seeing as Ill get the body first, i doubt a shop will let me test it extensively but ill be sure to 'some' shots.

I'm going to go with the 10-20 Sigma & 24-70 F2.8 Sigma macro.. That shoudl cover 95% of the shots ill do OS

kris,
im looking to also get the 24-70 macro in the next week for my 30d.
I shoot with a wedding photographer who says most of his shots are taken in this 24-70 range. with the 1.6x crop, 24 makes a big different to 28.

Ill eventually upgrade to the canon 24-70L... yummm

J

hi!

I purchase the 30D on the weekend and I also brought a slightly used 24-70 F2.8 Macro, I'm just waiting for it to turn up (hopefully tomorrow)

I'll let you know how I go and put up some test shots..

After alot of research I went the 24-70, 95% of people rave about it for a walk about lense

I just got confused ordering a sigma 24-70 f/2.8 over ebay... my post here - http://www.dslrusers.net/viewtopic.php?p=214495#214495 might be worth a read in telling the difference and asking the right questions to sellers over ebay...

cheers,
J

Ah, I have the newer version

is your sigma noisy when focusing?

Yep, all of the 24-70's are. I actually dont mind it at all

jdear wrote:is your sigma noisy when focusing?

Lubricate it with the SAE90 and the noise will be gone.

the Sigma 17-70 has been getting a lot of great comments lately ... they reckon the lens is very very sharp and could be worth looking into.

I actually dont mind it at all

i think it will be too noisy for weddings...

where do you add lubrication?

maybe it will age... the zoom ring is a little stiff also.

J
ta!

jdear wrote:

where do you add lubrication?

maybe it will age... the zoom ring is a little stiff also.

J
ta!

Dip it into the bucket of SAE90.

maybe I need to use some of this stuff... [other thread i posted in]start ya...


J