Canon 55-250 IS vs. Sigma 70-300 APO DG Macro



Initial reactions:

Canon Pros:

IS - IS on this lens is great, although you can hear it. The Sigma has no IS.
Weight - Light lens. I know that his contradicts with build quality, but I still consider it a minor pro, although I'd rather it be as sturdy as the Sigma.
Zooming - The zooming on this lens is smoother than the Sigma's.

Sigma Pros:

Goodies: The Sigma comes with a hood and case, Canon comes with nothing
Build quality: This lens is heavier. It feels much more sturdy and better built than the Canon. It has a metal mount vs. the Canon's plastic.
Looks: This lens looks much more impressive than the Canon does. I know it doesn't matter, but I prefer the looks of this lens.
Price: The Sigma is about $210 while the Canon is about $250, plus another $20 if you want Canon's hood.

Those are my initial reactions, but which can produce better images? On to the IQ comparisons! Note that I used auto-focus in all of the pictures here. I did some other tests with manual focus/live view, but the results were not significantly different than what's seen here. Plus, I'm going to be using AF with these lenses most often anyway.

Hand-held test: I know, it's not fair because the Canon has IS and the Sigma doesn't. But I decided to do it simply because I'm going to need to shoot this lens without a tripod. So for my needs, I believe it's fair.

The first set of images is a vitamin bottle from about 15 feet away. I was sitting and bracing my elbows on my knees.

Shot info:

Canon - 250mm, 1/60th, f/5.6, ISO 400
Sigma - 238mm, 1/60th, f/5.6, ISO 400

Canon:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/bergmann/bottle-canon.jpg

Sigma:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/bergmann/bottle-sigma.jpg


Canon 100% crop:
[URL]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/bergmann/bottle-canon100crop.jpg[/URL]

Sigma 100% crop:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/bergmann/bottle-sigma100crop.jpg

The second set of hand-helds is outside, for the brief 20-30mins of sunlight we got yesterday. This building is about 100m away, shooting at the top floor (10th floor.) I was resting against a railing to avoid camera shake as much as possible.

Shot info:

Canon - 250mm, 1/250, f/9.0 ISO 100
Sigma - 238mm, 1/250, f/9.0, ISO 100

Canon:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/bergmann/bricks-canon.jpg

Sigma:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/bergmann/bricks-sigma.jpg

Canon 100% crop:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/bergmann/bricks-canon100crop.jpg

Sigma 100% crop:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/bergmann/bricks-sigma100crop.jpg


Tripod test:

I turned the Canon's IS off and setup the tripod inside (raining outside.) The first shot is without flash. I was going to do it with flash, but the box was too shiny, so I had to get something less reflective for the flash shots. I don't have a remote trigger, so I used the 2 second timer for these shots.

Shot info:

Canon - 250mm, 1/4th, f/5.6, ISO 200
Sigma - 238mm, 1/3, f/5.6, ISO 200

Canon:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/bergmann/front-canon.jpg

Sigma:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/bergmann/front-sigma.jpg

Canon 100% crop:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/bergmann/front-canon100crop.jpg

Sigma 100% crop:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/bergmann/front-sigma100crop.jpg

Here are two more 100% crops of the box's nutrition label:

Cannon 100% crop:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/bergmann/side-canon100crop.jpg

Sigma 100% crop:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/bergmann/side-sigma100crop.jpg



Finally, the beer test. This one is the same as the box, except it's beer instead and I used the flash. No original photos on this one, because I got sick of uploading/resizing near the end.

Shot info:

Canon - 250mm, 1/3, f/9.0, ISO 200
Sigma - 238mm, 1/3, f/9.0, ISO 200

Canon 100% crop:



Sigma 100% crop:

hmm the pics taken with the canon lens look so much sharper... I wonder if its because it got IS. btw how come you can hear when it IS is working? lol I mean I never hear any noises from my lens other than when the focusing motor was working even that was barely noticeable since its USM. About build quality I am a lil surprised that the Canon lens got the same crappy plastic mount as on those 18-55 kit lenses

well great review! very interesting!

That is makes small humming sound when you push button to adjust.

hmm lol guess I was just too busy focusing on taking pics... or simply because Im half deaf jk I will try to listen to that humming sound in the future

some lens are louder than others, my 70-200 2.8 IS is very loud

lol i see I thought they are all the same.
My lens is the only IS lens Ive ever used, the other being 18-55 non is kit lens

btw its nice to see some tutorials, guides and comparisons in this forum. hopefully I will post one too, one day

This post was edited by Futurama on Nov 16 2008 12:11pm

I'm probably going to take some more comp. shots with these two lenses. These shots were more 'real life' shots, where I used autofocus. I plan on setting up some tests outside, on a tripod, with mirror lockup. This way I can compare them in bright light and hopefully get some ideal shooting conditions. I may re-try that brick building shot on a tripod. I'll post in this thread when I do.

Update:

Did some more testing, this time with a 10 second timer and mirror lockup. Same story with the lenses wide open at f/5.6, but when I closed them down to f/9 the Sigma came to life. It isn't enough to justify keeping it yet, since the Canon is just as sharp at f/9 but is also sharp wide open. I'll post some more of actual objects instead of print when I have time.

Canon:


Sigma:



100% crops:



This post was edited by bergmann on Nov 17 2008 10:28pm

wow very nice! again. lol reading this review is like reading one of those done by professionals posted on dpreview or something. It's really a shame that people like you who actually seem to have talent cant afford better equipment while spoiled kids, like the 10 yr old a friend of mine told me about, who got a EOS 5D as a birthday present I mean ffs how could a 10 yr old even hold such a big camera. oh well some of us dont have the luck of being born in a rich family and have to work our asses off just to afford some standard photography equipment. It's so unfair when I think about it sometimes but oh well enough with the ranting now

This post was edited by Futurama on Nov 17 2008 11:08pm