Sigma lenses ..are they any good?

[BVC4us]

I have been looking everywhere online for reviews of the Sigma 18-125 lens or Sigma 18-200 lens. After finding nothing, I thought "Oh Kelly, on the photography board would probably be able to give me some answers. So ...I have a Canon XT. I'm just your basic photographer. In other words, I like to take pictures. I don';t need anything fancy. Are either one of these lenses worth buying? Right now I'm using the kit lens and a Canon 70-300 lens that I had for my film camera. I would love to have a walkaround lens but only if it's as good as what I already have. So..Kelly and anyone else what are your opinions of these lenses.
Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

[jemilah]

I have a camera store here in las Vegas and yes those lenses are good...the longer zoom would be better, as you could travel with only one lens.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

The 18-200 is more convenient than the 18-125 just because of the more zooms. There are some caveats, however.

1. More zoom means higher distortion (pincushion and barrel distortion), invisible for most people unless you're taking pictures of brick wall, or something with 100% symmetrical patterns.

2. from 125-200 (on the 18-200) the aperture is at f/6.3, so it's a really slow lens. Unless you're outdoor or in a brightly lit indoor situations, you can't really take a good picture without at least using ISO800 if not ISO1600 (meaning more digital noise due to higher ISO, but you can get rid of the noise using freewares anyway).

Due to the two caveat and the price difference, I use the 18-125 instead (then again I'm very picky). If you're not THAT serious about photography (or you're serious but want one-lens for the trip without lugging any other lens), I do recommend the 18-200 Sigma.

Also FYI, when you're taking pic of Spectro or fireworks, even though the lens is capable of f/3.5 at 18mm-24mm range, do NOT use any aperture larger than f/5.6 because it will cause vignetting.

Hope it helps.

 

[WillCAD]

I own 3 Sigma lenses, including the 18-125, which I just got last week.

I've only taken a few shots with the new lens so far, but my first impressions are that it's sharp, focuses quick, and is physically much smaller and lighter than my old Sigma 28-200, and feels like it is made of a better quality plastic or carbon composite material.

But I also noticed right away that the focusing motor is much louder than my other Sigma and Canon lenses - not a big deal at all for a casual photographer like me, but noticable.

I spent several years and many WDW trips shooting with my Canon Rebel G 35mm and my Sigma 28-200 lens. The 18-125 gives my Digital Rebel the same range of zoom that my 28-200 gave my Rebel G, so my digital outfit is now even with my 35mm outfit, except that the digital stuff is all much newer technology and has many more capabilities.

I found the 28-200 to be the perfect walkaround lens for me at WDW, giving me plenty of wide angle capability coupled with 6.9x zoom. Since the 18-125 gives me the same range of zoom on my Digital Rebel, I'll be happy with it as a walkaround lens for years to come.

I did consider spending the extra money for the 18-200, but for the reasons Kelly described above, I decided to save my money and go with the 18-125 instead.

BTW, I got mine from Tri-State Camera, through their eBay store, which has better prices than their regular web site. It only cost $230+$16 shipping, and Tri-State sent it out the day they got my payment info.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Sigma-AF-DC-18-...56066QQcategoryZ30067QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

 

[BVC4us]

Wow, thank you so much for your quick responses. I really appreciate it. I do have one more question. Do you think the quality of pictures on the 18-125 or the 18-200 will be as good as my film lens that is a "canon ultrasonic EF 75-300 "lens?Thanks again

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Autofocus: not as fast as Canon USM series
Loudness: louder than Canon USM series
Picture quality: just see below:

 

[Kelly Grannell]

can you tell the difference which one is taken using a Canon L lens and which one is using Sigma 18-125?

 

[BVC4us]

Thanks again you guys. I can't tell the difference. Are you going to let us know which ones are which? Anyway, I'm going to the local camera store today and see if I can try one of these lenses.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

ONly the first picture is taken using an L-series Canon lens (70-200 f/2.8L IS, using Canon 30D). The rest were taken using Sigma 18-125 f/5.6 lens using Canon dRebel.

NONE of the picture was photoshopped other than picture 2 (the eBay pic - alas still not selling) was cropped to 16:9 HDTV aspect ratio.