This section goes into more detail about the best 70-200mm lenses. We receive a lot of questions on this topic, so we’ve answered the most common ones. The answers will help you find the best 70-200mm lens to improve your photography. What Are 70-200mm Lenses Good For? Some third-party lenses have a questionable reputation. But Sigma has proved that they are more than just a budget option. And the Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 APO is the perfect example. It’s a well-constructed telephoto zoom lens. It has a fast max aperture and built-in optical stabilization. You don't have to use DMF, though, and it's easy to toggle via the switch on the left-hand side of the barrel. The expected AF/MF switch is right above it, and the focus limiter sits below. The limiter sets the lens to look for focus across its full range, on subjects 9.8 feet (3m) or further, or for those nearer than 9.8 feet only.

With a minimum focus distance of 1.6 ft (50 cm), it’s an ideal lens for product photography. You can capture gorgeous, tightly-framed close-ups of your product. And these are positives for portrait photographers too.Less of an Achilles heel, more a slight tweak of the angle, the Mark II fares rather worse than the original lens for distortion. Pincushion is noticeable at 70mm and gets steadily worse as you extend through the zoom range. Even so, automatic in-camera is available which effectively makes it a non-issue. Verdict This is also beneficial if you’re shooting product photography. You can get close-up, detailed shots of your subject. And the zoom capabilities mean you have more flexibility with positioning. That’s why this type of lens is also popular in fashion and editorial photography. Sports and Wildlife Photography

The autofocus performance is unrivaled. The two Ultra-Sonic Motors make it fast and responsive. You really appreciate the speed when working with fast-moving subjects. And that makes it a great zoom lens for wonderful wildlife photography. If you have a Nikon DSLR, you need the Nikon AF-S FX 70-200mm f/2.8 II. It’s a top-quality telephoto lens with fantastic optics and exceptional build quality. You can use it for portraits and fashion photography. And you can also use it to shoot sports and wildlife photography. The lens contains 23 glass elements arranged in 17 groups. They are a combination of aspherical and Extra-Low Dispersion lenses. They suppress chromatic aberration. And ghosting and flare are kept to a minimum. The results from our Image Engineering tests are very impressive indeed, with a quite astonishing performance at the corners. Our plotted results tell us it’s sharper in the centre between 70mm and 135mm at f/2.8 than it is at 200mm. Sharpness improves at 200mm by stopping down to f/4. By f/5.6 the corners are close to being as sharp as the centre right across the zoom range. ShadingThe autofocus is driven by a Hyper-Sonic Motor (HSM). It’s fast and reliable but barely makes a sound. And you have a full-time manual override option.