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Sigma just sent this email to confirm the new [shoplink 35015 ebay]A-mount 24-105mm lens[/shoplink] will finally ship!
If you are receiving this e-mail, it is because you have previously inquired about the availability of the [shoplink 35015 ebay]24-105mm for Sony cameras[/shoplink]. After a very long wait, I can confirm that they will finally be available this month. We are expecting to get a shipment of them next week that will fulfill over 70% of our backorders. Hopefully the rest will be fulfilled within the month.
Thanks Stu!
Lens preorder at BHphoto (Click here) .
24 Responses
Sigma zoom lenses rotate the opposite way compared to Sony for wide to telephoto.
Annoying that third-party doesn’t match to the mount brands.
Best of luck to Sigma for trying to sell this lens to the mass.
Sadly the lack of a new ff a-mount isn’t exactly going to help sales…
I’ll just slap this onto my A7 via a LA EA4 adapter.
It seems to be difficult to built a standard zoom. For all brands, and whether it is a 24105/4 or a 2470/2.8.
It was expected to be better, as many were spoiled by the previous released “Art” labelled lenses from Sigma.
Price wise it is in the same range as the slightly better Tamron 2470 which is available for quite some time, and which is a better choice in my opinion.
What all these CanikonSony standard zooms have in common is wide open a good to excellent center performance and poor to very poor corner/borders performance, which can be improved by 1 to 2 times stopping down.
I don’t give much on pure MTF charts, however sharpness perception is much depending on the level off sharpness dropping to the borders. What I am thinking about is, that this sharpness drop will likely be more visible the higher the sensor resolution is.
The question should be whether that will be an issue unless printing larger than let’s say 8×12 or 12×18.
Actually… Look at the reviews. The Sigma is practically at its strongest wide open. With excellent borders and acceptable corners wide open. You get a tiny bit of improvement at 5.6, but already exceptional performance at f4.
Sorry, acceptable would sound fair, but of what I have seen (images from a friends 5DIII and via MBIV on my A7II, and in the web samples as well as charts) the borders are a bit away from being excellent.
Sure it doesn’t matter on every image as it’s depending on the composition.
Acceptable is as good as it gets for any zoom. You can’t expect prime results.
Looking at the charts on lenstip.com and photozone…. For example, the Sigma at 24mm and f4 has better corners than the Sony Zeiss at 24mm and f4.
So yes, the corners aren’t as good as the center. But they are as good as you will get out of any lens on an a-mount camera.
Show me any zoom lens with exceptional corners on full frame at f4… No such lens exists.
Agree to your comments. However some of the 2470 lenses are slightly better but also far from being excellent. And prime results are only available at the sweet spots of course.
I can’t judge the FE 2470 based on own testing, but the I used the ZA 2470 a long time on A900 and A99. From pure chart pov it is poorer than the Sigma, but colors and contrast are much ahead. And latter one is important for sharpness perception.
Admittedly for large prints I was cheating by composing in a way that I can cut off the outer regions of the image. 🙂
A little bit annoying is the fact, that the Sigma (considering its relativ young age) isn’t sealed which has become kind of standard for new pro level lenses.
I’m not going to lie and say the Sigma is perfection. I would certainly hope the Zeiss was a bit better at twice the price. But for half the price, a bit less weight, you are getting very comparable overall quality with additional range. It’s a very very good alternative to the Zeiss, which had really been lacking for a-mount shooters. (The 28-75 isn’t wide enough, is only SAM, etc)
Yes, the ZA’s and the G’s are very expensive.
Whether the typical look of the ZA’s is worth the price take is a personal decision. For me it was.
Some of it is subjective. Some of it comes down to budget, how you intend to use the lens, etc.
If I was a wedding professional, I’d need the 24-70/2.8…
If I was a hobbyist looking to build the best value kit, I’d have to seriously consider alternatives..
If I was looking for a walk-around lens to bring on a sunny vacation, I’d probably take the Sigma 24-105 over the Zeiss..
If I wanted every last ounce of IQ, regardless of price, I’d get the Zeiss AND the best primes, etc, etc.
It certainly is not a replacement for the Zeiss 24-70, but it’s a strong alternative for many types of situations and for many shooters.
I do weddings with multiple bodies. One with a 135 zeiss and another with a 50 zeiss. Then I switch out for wide- maybe a 35 here…85 their. Works fine. I don’t get the whole zoom for weddings bit.
I had an ZA 24-70 and used it on my a900. The sharpness on my lens was great at 24mm and from/2.8. But from 50-70 it was not even sharp across the frame @ f/8. I was very disappointed and sold the lens after 6 months of use.
Than I assume you’ve had a bad copy.
Center was excellent on any setting. And especially the 24mm was the difficult one with the ZA.
50mm was pretty much the best focal length.
70mm was suffering from weaker borders, but not all that bad. And it didn’t matter as long as you did not stop down above f9. Between 4 and 8 it is pretty much equal.
Well reviewed lens and fills a big gap in the a-mount lineup. Not everyone wants to spend $2,000 on a big heavy 3x 24-70/2.8 zeiss zoom.
So half the price and weight of the Zeiss, 50% longer on the telephoto end, just as sharp, and just 1 stop slower.
If they ever do release an a99ii, this would be a great pairing. I had it on pre-order back when I owned the a99, an eternity ago.
Rearranging deck chairs on A-mount’s Titanic.
There’s some fancy chairs on that deck mind you.
I had this lens on my 70D. It was bigger and heavier than the Canon 24-105/4. But, it had better build and IQ.
I’m not sure it belongs in their A “Art” line. Then again, it seemed better than their C “Contemporary” line.
Maybe they need a B line.
Maybe,just maybe, this lens is being released now because there is something new is coming to view in the full frame A-Mount horizon.
50MP BIS, multi-shot mode- touch screen, 5 axis, 4k internal- advanced SLT AF. 1600 bucks. That last part I made up.
Don’t forget flip-up SLT and on-sensor A7rII style AF as well.
Give me a flip-up SLT and a single AF point on sensor, that can focus A-Mount the way A7rII does, and i’ll be happy. Preferrably under 2k.
I know you are not directly claiming A mount to be dead, but I am not getting tired of repeating this:
Since Photokina 10 we got the 300 MK2, the 500, the 70200G2, 70300G2, 70400G2, 1635ZA2, 2470ZA2, the 24ZA, a brand new 50ZA, 4 new flashes (Ring, 32,43,60), the A77, A77M2 and the A99. Latter one is less than 3 years old.
Considering what we got compared to the relativ small customer base in the segment I don’t understand this continuous verbal burying of the A-mount.
It’s the relative comparison of A-Mount vs E-Mount. Customer base being the same, E-Mount consistently got more, in terms of bodies. Exactly what A-Mount needs. The lack of bodies has a tendency to shrink the already relatively small customer base.
While i’d be with A-Mount possibly until the last body is manufactured, and that being due to unique set of features that today I cannot get from any other mount on the market, I’m not blind to the fact that the customer base is shrinking.