Wedding Photography - sigma 70-200 or nikon 80-200

[itznfb]

The corner sharpness of that lens is horrid.

lol. that's the most ridiculous statement.

 

[Garbz]

A ridiculous statement made by angry 70-200 + FX camera owners all over the internet. I noticed you have a DX camera. So your definition of corner sharpness is probably what is ridiculous in the terms of this discussion. Have a look at FX performance : diglloyd: Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR Sorry but if I had an FX camera I would definitely not pay the $2800AU for this lens, not when for $1500AU I can get a much better one.

 

[Dao]

hum .. but the review I read said the same thing

Quoted dpreview

".....Unfortunately the big problem is that we're not dealing with just a little corner softness and vignetting, but a lot, and there's simply no way to sharpen up those soft corners...."

Nikon AF-S VR Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8G Lens Review: 7. Conclusion & samples: Digital Photography Review

 

[Double H]

FWIW, I have the Nikon 80-200, ƒ2.8 D. I wish I could have found the AI-S version, so quiet and fast (my buddy sold his AI-S, what a dumb-ass!). Anyway, I love it. It is still very fast and pretty quiet on my D700. I've used this lens on my Fuji S5 also, and it performs wonderfully! It's a must-have-lens for wedding photographers.

 

[Montana]

The corner sharpness of that lens is horrid.

lol. that's the most ridiculous statement.

Its not ridiculous, and I am not trying to bash you or your equipment. You shoot crop sensor, so it works terrific for you.

 

[JerryPH]

Honestly, until you have used both lenses on a FX sensor, all one is doing is regurgitating 2nd hand info. I've had a chance to use two Nikkor 80-200 and two 70-200 Sigmas on my D700 as well as my own 70-200 Nikkor. On the lenses that I had on my camera, the Sigma was by far the worst compared to the Nikkors. The 80-200 was uber slow focusing and showed more camera motion artifacts thanks to no VR at 200mm F/2.8 and low light scenarios (like 99% of weddings are done in).

The Nikkor 70-200 vignette issue... well, all I can say is this:

Nikkor 70-200 at 200mm and F/2.8. This picture is a a RAW file converted to JPG and reduced by flickr, that is 100% all that was done, and has no in camera vignette control activated at all, so this is about the worst possible set of circumstances for vignetting that you can get with the 70-200 and F/2.8... far from the black circle that was mentioned. Is it a lot? That is objective. There is nothing in the vignette area that cannot be removed 100% in either post processing or in the D700/D3 camera menu under Vignette Control... voila all gone. Personally, all my pictures get a vignette added anyway, it just looks better.

Edge clarity... no BS, I have not tested it, but Saturday I have a graduation and an E-session and on Sunday I have a wedding to do. I will purposefully use the 70-200 more than usual and take more shots to see how in real life situations it performs (I know already, but this is for the sake of testing now). I will also tack a newspaper to my fence, crank the lens to 200mm on my D700 move back until it fills the frame and shoot away. This will easily show any differences becuase if it is as bad as some people say it is, text in the corners will not be as clear as text in the center.

Having had the 80-200 and 70-200 on my D700, I can say that I am very happy that I put out the cash for the 70-200 and have no regrets. I know that if I had a 80-200 and after last weekend, I would be looking to sell that 80-200 right now and saving to move to the 70-200.

The comparison above to a 200mm F/2.0 PRIME at $5500 to the $1900 zoom is big time apples and oranges.

 

[itznfb]

A ridiculous statement made by angry 70-200 + FX camera owners all over the internet. I noticed you have a DX camera. So your definition of corner sharpness is probably what is ridiculous in the terms of this discussion. Have a look at FX performance : diglloyd: Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR Sorry but if I had an FX camera I would definitely not pay the $2800AU for this lens, not when for $1500AU I can get a much better one.

i shoot with my friends D3 when i'm with him.

The corner sharpness of that lens is horrid.

lol. that's the most ridiculous statement.

Its not ridiculous, and I am not trying to bash you or your equipment. You shoot crop sensor, so it works terrific for you.

jerry is correct. but i would consider his example extreme. the shots i have taken on Fx with my 70-200mm had no where near that much vignetting (which is still so minor) and litterally takes .5 sec to correct in PS.

i had inquired about the vignetting issue prior to puchasing the lens and as always it was blown way out of proportion. there is no better 70-200mm f/2.8 for Fx or Dx. and yes. i've tried the sigma, nikkor and nikkor 80-200 side by side when i rented them prior to purchase.

 

[Garbz]

You could also have a surprisingly good copy of the lens. Just with lemons there are occasional gems released. I'm just saying if it works for you great, but it doesn't agree with the vast majority of images and complaints I've seen online.