Could this lens possibly become the best 70-200mm f/2.8 on the market?

Sigma first unveiled their new series of lenses series at Photokina in Cologne, Germany last September. This new collection includes five new lenses to their three Global Vision product lines: Art, Sports and Contemporary. As a sports photographer, I was really intrigued by the announcement of their highly anticipated 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom lens. I made sure to stop by their booth at PhotoPlus Expo to get more information about this new high-performance telephoto lens.

10 exclusive low-dispersion glass elements

What in the world is a low-dispersion glass and why should I care? (This is actually a real-life question that I have asked myself.) Low-dispersion glasses (which can be called UD, ED, FLD or SLD depending on the manufacturer) helps maintain sharpness, resolution and color accuracy of images made with this type of glass. It also optimizes spherical aberration by minimizing distortion and help create the beautiful bokeh (the “blurry” effect we love so much).

The Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM has 5 UD elements. The AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II has 6 ED elements.  The new Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 DG OS HSM has 9 FLD elements and 1 SLD element.

Weather sealed and tough build

I don’t know about you, but I am always get involved in some way with dirt, rain, snow or other less than ideal situations for my gear. Sigma uses magnesium (smelted in their own magnesium factory!) to create a portable, durable, dust-and-splash-proof lens structure. They also use a water and oil repellent coating on the front lens to make it even safer. To know that the Sigma Sports line is made exactly for this kind of purpose makes me feel more confident in investing my hard earned money into a significant piece of equipment like this lens.

Hyper Sonic AF motor

The HSM (Hyper Sonic Motor) guarantees a high-speed AF (Auto-Focus). But between you and me, as long as I feel like “High-Speed AF” means “High-Speed As F**k”, that’s what really attracts my attention!

A complete f/2.8 zoom line up

This 70-200 is the third high-speed zoom lens Sigma has introduced recently. This lens completes the range of zooms with focal lengths from 14mm to 200mm that feature a f/2.8 large-aperture.

Outshot

No doubt, this lens seems really promising with all its professional features and special glass. Whether it’s used for sports, landscape, nature or portrait photography, the new Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 DG OS HSM | Sport might just become the next “best telephoto” zoom on the market.

It will soon be available in Canon, Nikon and Sigma mount. If you want more information about this lens and the complete list of new Sigma lenses, have a look at the Sigma website. To stay updated about the upcoming release, click this B&H link! I can hardly wait to put one to the test in my dirty, splashy, snowy photographic environments.

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Michèle Grenier

Michele has developed a distinctive expertise as a sports portrait photographer. Specializing in commercial, event and advertising photography, she help companies and professionals in the industry to stand out and showcase their products and services with striking, high-quality images. She has created portraits of dozens of national and international athletes in more than twenty disciplines and realized numerous projects with major sports-related organizations and events such as Atlas Project, Lululemon, LYFT-RX and XPN World. See her portfolio: www.michelegrenierphoto.com

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