Sigma 17-50mm Lens Is Sharper The Second Time Around
I got my Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM lens last month from Amazon.com. I fell in love with some of the pictures I saw online that’s why I picked it instead of the more expensive Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8. With my initial review, I really thought I received a good copy. Then I started taking pictures with this lens. From the first few photos I took, I knew there was already something wrong with it. It wasn’t focusing correctly and the photos looked underexposed by at least one stop. I thought it was just me or the camera setting. I took it to an event and guess what, almost all of the pictures I took were crappy. It was a mistake trusting the lens. I did a serious test and I was right, it was badly front focusing.
I heard it is normal that sometimes you will get a bad lens. It happens even with Nikon and Canon who are known for producing high quality lenses. I don’t know how they test lenses but that’s a pretty bad QA/QC if you ask me considering that lenses are not cheap. So I contemplated for a while if I should return it to Amazon or send it in to Sigma for a warranty repair. I know it’s a new lens and I should just return it and get a hassle free replacement from Amazon but the problem is, I might get another bad copy. Everything I read about Sigma’s service is excellent and even exceed the lens quality after they work on it. I thought about calling them up. Well, actually I did but the bad news is the turnaround time is at least 2-4 weeks for the lens to be repaired. I couldn’t wait that long because I need the lens next week. So I decided to just return it to Amazon and keep doing it until I get a good copy.
I got my replacement lens today, thanks to Amazon’s exceptional customer service! Tested it right away and I am a very very happy man! Focus was spot on and pictures look very sharp. For sure this time I will do a thorough testing before I take it to Disneyland next week.
Here’s a sample picture I took with my new lens, f/5.6 @ ISO-3200. That is the old Sigma lens that I’m returning to Amazon.
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