Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM | C review

The newer, more attractive option for a Sigma APS-C format standard zoom

(Image: © Future)

Digital Camera World Verdict

A stable jack-of-all-trades with macro capabilities, the Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM | C is surprisingly small and light for a lens that offers so much focal range and functionality. Its image quality is generally excellent throughout the zoom range, and while autofocus could be better, it’s overall a great lens for the price and gives the user real options when shooting both up close and from a distance.

Pros

  • +

    Sophisticated image stabiliser

  • +

    Excellent for close-ups

  • +

    Sharp throughout zoom range

Cons

  • -

    Autofocus good but not great

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While Sigma also offers a capable 17-50mm f/2.8 lens, which was launched back in 2010, we prefer this newer offering. The Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM | C has a bigger zoom range packed into a more compact, lightweight build. Announced in 2012, this was actually the first ‘Contemporary’ class lens in Sigma’s Global Vision line-up. As such, it aims to keep size and weight to a minimum without compromising image quality.

As you’d expect from a lens that’s only about two-thirds the size and weight of the competing Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom, the Sigma lacks a constant f/2.8 aperture. Even so, it delivers f/2.8 at the short end of the zoom range and only shrinks as far as f/4 towards the longer end, which is still an f/stop faster than many competing zooms. That’s no mean feat considering the physical compactness and generous zoom range of the lens.

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Matthew Richards

Matthew Richards is a photographer and journalist who has spent years using and reviewing all manner of photo gear. He is Digital Camera World's principal lens reviewer – and has tested more primes and zooms than most people have had hot dinners! 

His expertise with equipment doesn’t end there, though. He is also an encyclopedia  when it comes to all manner of cameras, camera holsters and bags, flashguns, tripods and heads, printers, papers and inks, and just about anything imaging-related. 

In an earlier life he was a broadcast engineer at the BBC, as well as a former editor of PC Guide.