I have a Sigma DL Zoom 75-300 mm lens that I would like to use on my new Canon Rebel T3i SLR camera. Part of the time when I try to use it, an error message comes up saying, "The lens is having trouble communicating with the camera. Clean the contacts on the lens. Any suggestions?

Sigma produces lenses for different brands of camera's. The optics are the same, but the connection differs from brand to brand. So if you have a Sigma lens for Nikon, you won't be able to use it on a Canon or Sony. Unless you buy a adapter. But when you start using an adapter, you will lose the Af in most cases, because the electronic in the lenses differ also. and that can't be bridged.

Yes.

Sigma makes their lenses with a variety of camera mounts. If you get the lens with a Canon mount then yes, it will fit any EOS Rebel camera body. A lens with a Pentax mount, for example, will not fit a Canon camera.

Yes. Bear in mind that many Canon digital SLRs have a sensor smaller than a frame of 35mm film. This results in the image being cropped, narrowing the field of view and making the lens behave as if it was of a longer focal length.

It will fit, but you cannot guarantee that it will be fully compatible.

Third party lens manufacturers have to reverse engineer the patented technology of SLR manufacturers and then arrive at their own alternative and non-infringing solutions. As a result, their lenses are only ever guaranteed compatible with the SLR models available at the time they were manufactured, and if those cameras subsequently have firmware updates then all bets are off.

Sigma do offer an update service on many of their lenses, but it's not free and the lens has to go back to them for modifications.

The only lenses you can be sure of being compatible are the original Canon branded models.

From working with third party lenses in the past what I've found is that Canon doesn't give up the "chip" technology so the older lens can not talk to the newer cameras. I suspect that Canon does this to promote their lenses over the competition. You might be able to send the lens to Sigma and have them re-chip it and have a great lens again.

Hi,

The original DL lens was designed for non-digital application and Sigma released the DG version that was optimized for digital bodies. That said, the lens should still function to a certain extent on both and function normally on your wet film SLR.

My first suggestion would be to check the contacts on the lens and camera. Give them a good clean with a pencil eraser being careful that nothing goes inside the camera body whilst doing it.

If this fails to make any difference than the next thing would be to try the lens on a different body. The fact that the lens isn't performing correctly on two bodies leads me to think it is a lens problem but it's good to eliminate the bodies.

If this fails to make any difference then the last thing is to get it professionally looked at. Most local camera shops would do this for you. Be wary though that repair may cost more than the lens and it might be the right time to upgrade to a nice new lens to get the most out of that new DSLR!

Hope this helps, if it does please rate my help.

Thanks

Yes, all 35 mm lens should work on canon's digital slr cameras

To NOT get that error you need to use in AV mode. It's the only way that old Sigmas work with the new Canons. It's an aperture bug that old Sigma lens have and some the only way to fix it is to rechip it. The problem is that Sigma no longer rechips the lens.

I was focusing to close to the subject & too much glare from a church window.