I just took delivery of a used Sigma 70-200 F2.8 II APO EX EG MACRO. Looks in great condition and autofocus works fine and very fast through the View Finder. However, I tried LiveView and the lens fails to focus at all. It tries and either immediately gives up, or actually says it got focus – when its miles out.
I contacted Sigma Support, and they say the lens needs to be re-chipped to work with Live View. So it needs to be posted out, will be with them for 2-3 weeks and Sigma say will cost:
- If under a year old and supplied with original purchase receipt it will be f.o.c.
- £5.00 per lens if you have proof of purchase for the lens from new which is to cover return p&p.
- £37.99 per lens if you have no proof of purchase which is to cover the cost of the rechipping.
So looks like I’ll be without it for a short while before I can post a review. Anyway, anyone with a D7000 contemplating buying this lens please take note – you may need to get it re-chipped for it to work with Live View. At least the good news is that it can be fixed! Some of the latest lenses will already have the latest chip – so you should be OK.
The lens was with Sigma for only about 3 weeks. Just 2 days after posting the lens I got a letter from Sigma to confirm their receipt of the lens, itemising everything they had received.
When I got the lens back, I checked LiveView and it works just fine.
At some point, I’ll post my findings of the lens.
I’m a fan of sigma lenses & often they are lower cost alternative, but they can’t agree with Nikon to use the specs, so have to reverse engineer. If you buy a used sigma that is OK on a D5100, it won’t always work on the D7000. Sigma will re-chip, but for 40 quid, so beware.