Suitability of Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG for gig photography

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Al de Man

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As the title really.

I'm investigating how good the Sigma will be for low light shooting on a Canon 400D. Anything else I need to know about this lens? :shrug:

I've made a similar enquiry in the Price Check forum as a second hand opportunity has come up right on my doorstep.
 
Alan with the lens being f2.8 it should be fine for gig photography. A lot of people use fixed focal lenses as they can get f1.8 but the sigma should work fine.
 
With the ISO performance of a 5D it'll be great.
 
Thanks for the responses so far.

I already use a couple of Canon f/2.8 lenses with my 5D at gigs, but this is going to be for a friend with a Canon 400D, so wondered if the Sigma will have trouble focus hunting in low light?
 
it'll be fine. the AF sensor in the camera is the critical thing there, not the lens.

Some people use a flashgun with the flash turned off so that they get the AF illuminator beam to help focus.
 
Al de Man said:
Thanks for the responses so far.

I already use a couple of Canon f/2.8 lenses with my 5D at gigs, but this is going to be for a friend with a Canon 400D, so wondered if the Sigma will have trouble focus hunting in low light?
Click to expand...

Wouldn't have thought so, the 5D and 400D have a similar AF system just with a different control interface (buttons instead of the wheel on 400D).

However I'm going to throw a different idea out there and say rather than getting a fast lens you might be better with a Sigma 10-20 f/4 EX DC (but it won't work on your 5D) and coupling it with a flash gun. The reason being that 24mm on a 1.6x crop body isn't that wide and at gigs/events you don't always have a massive amount of room to work with. With the money saved from not getting a Sigma 24-70 you can than get a 50mm prime or 85mm f/1.8 USM to give you the reach when you need it. Obviously this works better if you have two bodies to shoot with because you can use the 10-20 on one body for getting crowd/location shots and use the 85mm to concentrate on the band. Thats the setup that I'd be most comfertable with anyway :)
 
Good call, Steffan. I use my 10-22mm at least as much as my primes for gigs.
 
Cheers Dave. That's what I needed to know.

Hey Steffan. A Sigma 10-20? A bit like the one I sold on TP last month? :lol: To be honest, I'm a bit of a purist and if he started using flash at gigs I'd disown him, but I hear what you're saying about the difficulty of going wide on a 1.6 crop. I think I'll just tell him he can't go really wide until he goes FF.
 
Ive past used a sigma 24-70 (non hsm one) on a 400d/450d/40d worked fine on all of them in some really dark places.

The wider shots in this gallery were shot on a 400d with the siggy:

Marina & The Diamonds, Radar Tour 2009

Note to self, don't look back at old stuff - you'll want to re-edit them all again....
 
I used a sigma 24-70 on a 1d mark 2 up until recently and it was fine for the odd gig, but that was on a 1.3x. Right now I have the 24L on a 40D and that's a bit of a compromise; insanely sharp and fast but sometimes it can be a tad restrictive with the crop. I think he'd be better off with one of the other sigma or tamron offerings that'll go from 17-18.
 
Al de Man said:
Cheers Dave. That's what I needed to know.

Hey Steffan. A Sigma 10-20? A bit like the one I sold on TP last month? :lol: To be honest, I'm a bit of a purist and if he started using flash at gigs I'd disown him, but I hear what you're saying about the difficulty of going wide on a 1.6 crop. I think I'll just tell him he can't go really wide until he goes FF.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily true, but a common discussion none the less! 10mm * 1.6 == 16mm. So using an EF 17-40 f/4 L USM on full frame is, as near as makes no difference, the same focal length as using a Sigma 10-20 on a crop body! :thumbs:
 
Bendihossan said:
Not necessarily true, but a common discussion none the less! 10mm * 1.6 == 16mm. So using an EF 17-40 f/4 L USM on full frame is, as near as makes no difference, the same focal length as using a Sigma 10-20 on a crop body! :thumbs:
Click to expand...

I use a Canon 17-35mm f/2.8 on my 5D though, so there may not be much of a difference in how wide I can get the shot but I can get away without using a flash. :D
 
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