What's your best 3rd party lens..

[Oren]

Sigma 150mm f/2.8 macro.

[fred2112]

Tokina 11-16

[Sheiky]

I've used the Tamron 17-50 f2.8 on my 50D and I was very pleased with it. I exchanged it for the superior AF and IS of the Canon 17-55 f2.8 when I had the budget for it.


Nowadays I shoot with the Sigma 50mm 1.4 on my 5D and it's awesome! Much better than the Canon 1.4 (at least that's what I think [A]). The Sigma's tend to have AF issues and luckily my Sigma only had a slight front-focussing issue which was easily solvable with some micro-adjustment []


Anyway. Perhaps I'm lucky with 3rd party lenses (perhaps European quality-control is btter?), but a lot of times they just give you more for your money.

[Brendan7]

The Sigma 180mm macros is awesome. It does exactly what the Canon 180 does for 1/2 the price. I second the recommendation of the Tokina 11-16mm. If you have the $ the Sigma 300-800mm is awesome. I tried someone else's for 3 shots. But it weighs like 12 pounds.

[Jarhead5811]

<span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"]The only third party lens I've used ismyTamron 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di IIand I'm very happy with it. <span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"]<span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"]Although my <span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"]Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 <span style="color: #ff0000; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"]L<span style="color: #000000; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"] USM[/b]makes it seem awful loud, slow and fairly lightweight as far as build quality goes.


<span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"]<span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"]<span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"]<span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"]<span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"]<span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"]I'm not opposed to using third party lenses, nor can I really afford to be, just wary based on all of the reviews I've read.


<span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"]From what I gather the <span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"]Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSMis a good one and I think I'll eventually give it a shot,butI've got to get a <span style="font-family: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'; color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"]Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USMfirst.



(EDIT: I sometimes wonder if professional reviewers aren't overly critical of the third party lenses. You know if you use "<span style="font-family: Arial; color: #ff0000; font-size: x-small;"]L"s all of the time everything elsewould probablyseem like crap. That same lens may be great for a more average guy? I figure you can't go wrong with the "<span style="font-family: Arial; color: #ff0000; font-size: x-small;"]L"s but you may very well go broke.)

[Jon Ruyle]

My only third party lens was a tamron 28-75 f/2.8 which I liked. I rarely use it since getting the 24-105 f/4.


No sigmonsters out there?

[Sheiky]

No sigmonsters out there?

I would also expect that, but I guess not [A]

[Dan Fleming]

Sigma 150mm f/2.8 macro.

Second