I am very impressed with Sigma lenses. They are my preferred lenses. I am here at Photokina, Cologne, doing demonstrations on my Nikon D7000 and Sony A77, and they both have Sigma lenses.

Why Sigma? How did I wind up being a Sigma user, when I can afford any lens on the market, and when I have a bunch of Canon L lenses and Nikon lenses anyway? Because they’re INCREDIBLE. Forgetting about price – the build quality is amazing. Just go to a camera store and ask to feel a 50mm f1.4. It feels like a 50 f1.2 Canon. And when I switched to Sony, I had two choices (that I knew of) – a) Sony and b) Zeiss T* just like my old Hasselblad gear. I mean, I knew about Sigma, Tokina and Tamron lenses, and I thought they were all 2nd rate cheap stuff.

I found out about Sigma from my buddy Gary Black, who was one of the pro photographers that shoot Sony. He was giving demos at the Sony booth, and he had this huge 85mm f1.4 and it was beautiful. He told me that it was a Sigma, and that it was the best.

So, I bought a 50mm f1.4 and when I opened it, I said wow. And when I put it on, and saw the ripping fast focus and the great sharpness, I was convinced. That was many Sigmas ago. I have the awesome 35mm f1.4, the 85mm f1.4, I love my 24mm f1.4 Macro (macro!) and the 50-150f2.8 lens (which becomes equivalent to the 70-200mm f2.8 figuring in the crop sensor). I would pick these regardless of price. Then on top of that, they are substantially less than name-brand lenses.

Better lenses, cheaper prices.  Watch this video to see how Sigma lenses are made at the factory in Japan…