The Love and Hate Relationship With Sigma
By Archie Fresco
16 Feb 2009
It's Valentine's Day and maybe you guys are celebrating this special occasion with your love ones.
Anyone one hugging their cameras right now?
Well, you should or else your camera will hate you, give you bad images and then break your heart.
Go ahead and give your camera hug and kisses.
Anyway, I have been reading a lot of reviews of Sigma products from lenses to cameras. I found two results
"Love it" or "Hate it".
Why some Love Sigma?
1. Sigma is a cheap alternative to big names like Canon or Nikon. They have the lowest price lenses around. They could go from 10 to 50 Dollars cheaper or even more, isn't that tempting? For the budget concern, Sigma is on the top of their list.
2. Cheaper Price and Competitive glass quality. Sigma marketed some of the best lenses like the 50mm f2.8 macro, 180mm f3.5 macro, 50mm f1.4 just to name a few.
Why some Hate Sigma?
1. Sigma product could be a miss or hit. Why? I believe this is quality control issue. Some users made comments about the quality control of Sigma. They say it is poor. Out of 10 lenses, 1 or more would likely fail. Users encountered back and front focusing issue and incompatibility issues which needs either calibration or re-chip.
2. Sigma after sales service is slow. The most common comment made by users is "why repairs are done in Japan which could take at least a month or more" while the big names have service centers all over the world. Slow service could be inconvenient to some.
As a Sigma user, I do admit that I am experiencing a love and hate relationship with Sigma. I don't actually hate Sigma, sometimes I am just bit disappointed especially when I need a fast result from my camera. It's hard to wait for 10 to 45 seconds after 6 consecutive shots to make another shot. Yet, I love Sigma for the quality of images they gave me. The only time I get disappointed is when I didn't get it right. I don't blame the camera, it functions like the big names. I don't blame my lenses, I have very good copies. It's my fault getting a blurred image and bad exposure due to carelessness.
In a relationship, understanding and acceptance is very important. There are no perfect persons likewise there are no perfect camera. If we understand how our cameras behave and accepted the fact that it was built the way it is, it would give the result that we want. Love flows if there is understanding, acceptance, and communication. The relationship that we and our cameras have is the passion for making images.
Happy Hearts Day!
