Not to beat a dead horse, but I have spoken to Sigma.
All of my lenses are "too old" to be upgraded, they state that they are "out of parts." The 400mm f/5.6, apparently was never upgradeable.
They do offer a trade-in program, here are the details...
Trade-in Get Cost B&H New Savings 14mm f/3.5 14mm f/2.8 EX $720 $899 $179 28mm f/1.8 28mm f/1.8 EX $183 $229 $46 400mm f/5.6 135-400 Zoom $430 $539 $109
In my opinion not very generous.
I know that many will think that I've gotten years of use out of these and why should Sigma owe me anything. I think it is a public relations and customer loyalty issue for Sigma. If they can't/won't keep their products usable, why should I trust them again. I could buy a new lens from them and discover that when Canon brings out the 50D in a few years that, surprise, the newer lenses are incompatible and too old to fix.
I've never had the product quality issues with Sigma lenses that I've read about over the years (but obviously I wasn't buying consumer zoom's) and I've been happy with these lenses and been satisfied with the photos that they've taken. Sure, I would rather have had the Canon "L" equivalents, but I couldn't justify or even afford them.
The thing that really makes me mad is that the Canon and Tokina lenses that I have which are equally as old as the Sigmas, continue to work on my 10D.
I'm going to write to the president of Sigma USA. I'll keep you informed of what happens.
Mr. Bill * **** ******* *********************************************************** * For list instructions, including unsubscribe, see: * http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/eos_list.htm ***********************************************************
