sigma

The main reason why I am writing this review is, the details of this product captured by Amazon are not correct. I ordered the item and then after re-reading the product specification and comparing with what I really thought I was ordering, I did more research on the web and came to the conclusion that Amazon probably had the details wrong. But since I am spending so much money, I wanted to be sure and sent an email to Amazon with more details of why I think they may have the details wrong.

I got a reply back telling me to talk to the manufacturer for more details. I sent them the product anouncement from sigma's website and asked them if that is what I ordered and if not to cancel my order. They said that the item I ordered was different and that they can't cancel the order by that time though they sent me details about how to return. I am sure they would refund me appropriately.

I decided to wait and see if the product is really different (as I couldn't find any where on the entire web a sigma lens with these specs) knowing that I would have to spend for shipping cost if I have to return (on the otherhand if I rejected from UPS, then I don't have to pay).

Finally the product came. And as I was almost sure, the product description that they have is completely wrong from what I got. And to my pleasant surprise, what I got is actually what I had in mind from the beginning.

The specific wrong information they have about this product in their "Product Specification" are
1. Lens construction: 18/16
2. Minimum focus distance: 32.7-46.1 inches
3. Maximum Magnification: 1:5
4. Filter Size: 72

Note that their mfg # is 793-110 which is consistent with Sigma's mfg # (I contacted Sigma to confirm).

Here are the real specs of the product as given in the documentation of the product I got

1. Lens construction: 15/13
2. Minimum focus distance: 19.7 inches
3. Maximum Magnification: 1:3
4. Filter Size: 62

I am leaving the product with 5 stars as I haven't used it much ( I just got it). My few minutes of experiment shows that the lens is working fine (and can already feel the difference from my 28-105mm lens that I got when I first bought SA-9 a year ago). I feel the zoom ring a bit unsmooth compared to my other lens. But may be because it is new. Other than that, I can't comment much on this lens at this time.

My main reason to write this review is so that Amazon will improve their catalog content management (and more importantly take customer inquiries more seriously and fix data errors) and people who are actually trying to buy this product will not be confused with the spec like me