# Third Party AF - Which is Best?



## JumboShrimp (Nov 2, 2015)

Just curious. Lots of criticism regarding Sigma's AF, but Tamron and Tokina seem pretty neutral.


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## candc (Nov 3, 2015)

i have a couple global vision sigma lenses and had all kinds of af accuracy problems with them. i also have a tamron 150-600. it has some af issues at the long end and its not as fast but at least it always seems to be accurate. 

i have a couple older sigma lenses and they are fine. its the new ones that seem to be the issue. seems sigma just decided "why bother getting the af tuned? we'll just sell em the dock and get them to do the work for us!"


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## JumboShrimp (Nov 3, 2015)

Congrats, Candc, on your 1000 posts!


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## candc (Nov 3, 2015)

JumboShrimp said:


> Congrats, Candc, on your 1000 posts!



Hoorah! Now I just have to wait for my 1dx to come in the mail.


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## Ozarker (Dec 9, 2015)

JumboShrimp said:


> Just curious. Lots of criticism regarding Sigma's AF, but Tamron and Tokina seem pretty neutral.



I have the Tamron 15-30mm and the autofocus is great.


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## jilldwr (Dec 15, 2015)

I've got the Tokina 100mm Macro, it works well. I've also got the Tokina 12-24 F4, its quiet and accurate as well.


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## axtstern (Dec 22, 2015)

I have the Tamron 15-30mm and the autofocus is great.

Well I have the 15-30 from Tamron as well, the focus is great on the 5D3 but a complete and utter failure on the M3


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Dec 22, 2015)

Tokina and Tamron seem to have pretty reliable autofocus. Sigma has a long history of major autofocus issues, Virtually all Sigma lenses made for Canon EOS cameras and supposedly EF compatible would not work with Canon DSLR's. They were incorrectly reverse engineered. Sigma fixed the issue, but when the next model of Canon DSLR came out, they would not work with it.

Sigma offered to fix current production models for original buyers, which left millions of lenses as unusable for DSLR's. They also rebranded a ton of lenses for Quantaray and others, all suddenly junk.

I had five of them (1 Quantaray). Only one could have a new chip installed, and they charged me over $100 for the fix. The other four I sold for almost nothing.

Even the very first Tamron and Tokina lenses had AF that has worked on every Canon DSLR. They have had minor glitches, but they fixed them all at no charge.


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## Patlezinc (Feb 3, 2016)

My small story with Sigma.

Impressed By the 50mm ART , I bought one for my 70D.
You buy this Lens to shot at 1.4. So I started to shot at 1.4 And... Wow, weird focus issues... You shot at 30m And the focus Is at 40m.
You shot at 3m And the focus Is at 2m. And the next day It changed. 
You know the story. AF Is good via Liveview, etc, etc, I think You Have read tons of posts on this like me.
So, I bought the sigma dock to try to fix And after hundreds of shots only one conclusion : inconsistant focus.

Then I decided to send the Lens back. I take a new one. Same issue. I continue to read the forums.
Hmm. Many Poeple fire on Sigma everywhere. But others are very happy. All the data Put into my head I decide to try something : I send my 70d, I buy a 6d.

And... The miracle came 
Perfect focus.

So, I dont know what to conclude exactly but one thing Is sure : If You talk correctly to the Lens, It does what You expect. The 6d knows how to talk, the Liveview knows how to talk.
I cant say what happened to me Is what happened to others, but I am sure sometimes Sigma Is wrongly blamed.

And what I can say too Is that this sigma 50mm Is the best Lens I Have ever had.


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## Ozarker (Apr 15, 2017)

axtstern said:


> I have the Tamron 15-30mm and the autofocus is great.
> 
> Well I have the 15-30 from Tamron as well, the focus is great on the 5D3 but a complete and utter failure on the M3



This is an old post to respond to, but that sounds like a camera problem to me. Mine is used on a 5D Mark III and is great just like yours.


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