Surprisingly solid build quality. Decent little lens at a fantastic price

Small maximum aperture, no built in focus motor (won't AF on D40 / D60)

I just switched back to Nikon for DSLRs, and I bought this lens because it was cheap, and I needed something to get me below 24mm on a Nikon DSLR as a stopgap before I make a major ($400-600) investment in a serious, high quality wide angle (My Nikon-mount AF lenses were left over from my 35mm film days, so naturally, I had a gap in wide angles when moving to a smaller sensor). I was pleasantly surprised with this, especially it's build quality, which is quite substantial and noticeably better than the Nikon 18-50mm kit lens. It's definitely a decent inexpensive lens across it's range, and a reasonable wide in the 18-24mm range that does what I need it to do, and for under $50 I have no complaints. Distortion is not too noticeable, and it's reasonably sharp across the field. It's no $500 lens, but I think it's as good or better than Nikon's 18-50 kit lens in the wide range.

Customer Service

Never used.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 18-50mm kit lens, Tamron and Sigma 28-80mm zooms

Price

Dark... Contrast... Sharpness...

This lens is unsharpness, especially in corrners. Contrast is very weak.

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 18-50

• Light weight
• Cheap price
• Fine results
• Short Close Up distance (25cm)
• Average to good results

• Relatively Slow
• Focusing Clunks from one end to end

Non Serious Weaknesses
• Difficult to put lens cover (if hood installed)
• Can't ocus manually with hood in reverse
• Difficult to remove filter

I got this lens from an auction site, with the box, a uv filter, manual and singapore warranty.
Although I agree with all the reviews I read about the lens, but this lens for such a price is good to have.
You can get close to an object as short as 25cm (10 Inches) which is almost a macro distance.

I took close ups of dolls, watches, purses, pefumes, water bottles, juice cans and all found their way to magazine and newspapers ads.

I used it on a Nikon D80.

Finally, for such a price, even if it was made of window glass, its good to have.

Fadi - http://www.webandmedia.com

Customer Service

The dealer in Dubai are very nice and helpfull
http://www.grandstores.com

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 18-135

Sharp, no visible CAs, very good contrast, well built, no rotating of front lens during zooming and focusing (pol filter use!)! Fast lens 2,8 helps AF to find its focusing points.

No! HSM is not important for landscape and for wide-angle.

Great lens! I have the 4/17-40L (on the 5D), but on the 30D the Sigma 2,8/18-50 is sharper and has no CAs. And the sigma is only a crop lens! I ever was a Canon fan (because they were and are the first with good ideass lik USM , and a "L" lens fan (because the L lenses are built very well). But in last time they have problems to keep their promises - they have big problems with quality, especialy with the expensive L zoom lenses. But I have great lenses like 24 TS-E, 2,8/28-70L, 4/70-200L IS too!

So I looked for an alternative zoom lens possibility for lightweight 30D equipment. No even it is neccessary to take the heavy fullframe camera. I tested some lenses, and yes, the Sigmas (2,8/18-50 DC EX and the 2,8/50-150 DC EX HSM) were the sharpest, lightweight, well-built and low-priced lenses for my 30D.

Customer Service

Canon: bad in Austria. Sigma: not needed

Similar Products Used:

Canon 4/17-40L

Light, compact, sharp and reasonably well built

Would not recommend for high quality, pin-sharp, high resolution applications. None otherwise

Excellent value for the money. It is actually very sharp but at the expense of some distortion and resolution. Very good walk-around and general purpose lens. It is a temp solution until I know what I want to fill this gap in focal length.

Similar Products Used:

Tokin ATX 28-70 Pro II, Penatx FA 20-35.

Small size
Lightweight
Rugged
Best performance per £££ paid that any other kit I have right now.

Slight vignetting at wider settings
Does not like 58deg cent + heat (same as most things really)

Price should be GB£100

Purchased this lens to fill a gap when I got my Canon 10D, quite an amazing little lens for the amount it costs!

I was mobilised as a reservist to Iraq last year where I worked as a unit photographer (amongst other things). The lens performed remarkably well the only problems I had were with heat (I may have gone above the recommended max temp a couple of times) where it the rings became quite stiff but all inner workings worked as they should. Also at the larger end some vignetting was visible depending on the light I was shooting in. This was easliy fixed though with a couple of minutes in PS.

It stood up nicely to knocks and bangs (including an empty case fired from a pistol hitting the front element!) and a constant barrage of Iraqi talc like fine sand.

In fact 70% of the images I took in theatre were using this lens and the results are now starting to go up on Alamy as stock photography.

Over all a lovely little lens that I will continue to use, despite recently getting higher spec lenses!

Sigma deserve a pat on the back for this one!

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 20-40mm f2.8 DG EX Asph

Sharpness, contrast and range. 18-50mm

Light weight

Low cost

No HSM

No full time manual focus

I have used this lens with my 20D and have been able to comapir it to several other lenses I have owned. This is the sharpest lens with the best range and at the best price you can get. I have had the Canon 24-70L and I prefer it for several reasons. 1. It goes as wide as 18mm you might say 18 instead of 24 big deal. Yes there shots and effects you can get at 18 you can't get at 24.Especially with the digital crop factor. 2. It is sharper and has better contrast than the Canon (sorry L lens users but it's true!) 3. It's weight is so much less than the Canon. It's easy to carry around your neck. 4.The cost is soo much less for what you get.

Customer Service

n/a

Similar Products Used:

Canon 24-70L (image quality not as good as the Sigma)
Canon 10-22
Sigma 17-35 HSM (this lens sucks is soft even at f/8

Good color and sharp
Light
Tight finish
Circular Shade, lens looks a lot more professional than some flower type shade

Purchased this lens to be used on D50.
I don't understand why few people uses this len. The finish and look is great and the result is vibrant and sharp. I especially like the shade, which is circular. This lens is far better than the sloppy kit lens of Nikon D50.
Overall, I find great value. In against light situation, this len do shows its limitation but overall, I am very happy and what a good job Sigma has done. Too bad, Sigma did not get its deserved credit. Personally, I think Tamron is so overated and Sigma is so underrated.

Customer Service

NONE

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 55-200

Smooth focus and zooming. Good color. Good center clarity and sharpness. Fast AF. Handy 58mm filter size.

Plastic construction, though not terrible. Would prefer a petal hood. Cannot focus manually with hood reversed (not a 'real' problem) A bit slow a 3.5-5.6 for anything other than daytime and flash use.

This lens was one of two in a 'kit'. Sigma's 18-50 3.5-5.6 is an amazing performer for $100! This lens compares quite favorably in terms of sharpness, clarity, and color rendition compared to many far more costly and certainly even some primes I've used. Yes, it is a lttle ''slow" on the 50mm end of the zoom but for a general lens out of doors or with a flash unit it works very well. The real bonus with this that pushes the value over the top is that it is 18mm wide. For $100 dollars. There is a very minor amount of corner softness at 18mm/3.5 but by 18mm/5.6 it is no longer noticeable. I thought I was imagining things, but would recommend potential buyers to check the MTF chart for this lens. For the money for an 'APS' sized Digital Lens, its a steal. Toss this one on your DSLR and you've covered most of your casual shooting needs. I've used this in two mounts (EOS and Sigma's SA) and had tremendous results. Pretty good with flash as well. The similar lens listed below are all far more expensive units but in terms of the range convered are the only ones available with which I'm currently personally familiar. Their build is radically different but at least one of those listed cost me over 12 times as much money.

Customer Service

Not needed at this time, though have had prompt response from Sigma in the past.

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 18-50 F2.8 Canon 17-40L Canon 24-70L (fairly similar)

Price, hood included, sharp, lightweight

less you imagine...

As I posted 55-200, this lens is also a nice relation price x quality. I compared with Canon 17-40 4.0L, and I got a big surprise with it quality image, just few purple fringing, but canon it does too ( a little bit). Sharp images, contrasty and colors. Lens construction is much better than canon 18-55 so far...Congratulation Sigma for both lens (18-50 and 55-200)!!!

Customer Service

no needed

Similar Products Used:

canon 17-40 4.0L canon 70-200 2.8L Sigma 55-200 4.0 5.6 DC