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Customer Reviews:- 3.5 would be more accurate
I have had this lens since 9 July, and used it without incident until 25 July, when the OS failed. Up to that point, I would have given this lens a five-star rating without the slightest hesitation. The distortion control, as well as the sharpness on the first sample were excellent. Furthermore, the focus was accurate to a T in all situations, including very low light.
The replacement lens, which I have now used for about a week, does not have nearly the same sharpness at the edges. It is fine in very bright light, but in dimmer situations, both the sharpness, and the focussing ability, are not up to the standard of the first sample.
I also find that the OS on this sample does not give the same f-stop compensation as on the first one.
This said, the lens remains a good one, and I would still recommend it for use with the Nikon D40.
Whether or not I will retain this one, or again request a replacement based on the less than stellar focussing ability in low light/low contrast situations remains to be seen....more info - excellent lens
I have tried many lens with my 40D. I like the 18-55mm IS kit lens. It's probably the sharpest standard lens that Canon ever made. 28-135mm IS is also good, but lack of 18-27mm zoom. I sold it and bought the Sigma 17-70mm and Sigma 18-125mm OS. I returned 17-70mm because I have shaking hands and most of my photos are indoor. I also returned 18-125mm because it produce very very soft and lack of contrast. Almost like older P&S digital camera. I then bought the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8. Hoping the f/2.8 will help with my shaky hand and indoor situation. I return it after compare to my 18-55mm IS. Not worth the extra $300 for Tamron for the same zoom. Finally, I decide to buy the Sigma 18-200mm OS after reading many positive and negative reviews. To my surprise, 18-200mm is very sharp lens in ALL ranges. I read that lens can be soft at certain zoom. I have tried for a week to try to find the soft spot, I can't find it. The only thing I noticed is the "strong" OS motion. I can really see the OS kicks-in. I was surprised that I got almost all keepers in my "walking" shots. Highly recommended. I don't know if any lens in this range can be better, especailly with OS. ...more info - Sigma made a fine lens- New HSM motor is wonderful!
I just purchased this lens and received it yesterday, AUG 21. What I can say from my initial impression is that I am very glad that I purchased it! the writing is on the wall with the reviews, just go look them up, but here are the key points I notice:
-NEW HSM MOTOR- VERY QUIET! I have read reviews about the "old" micro-motor that was in the earlier copies of this lens being a distraction, the new HSM one is silky smooth and AUTO FOCUS IS QUICK. I would not hesitate to take this to a wedding, ceremony, library, whatever
-Autofocus is quick! Had to repeat that one, no hunting here, from wide to tele, I have not had any problems, even in low light, low contrast it does very well. I have been very happily surprised
-It is pretty heavy! Be prepared to have a work out with this one, although compact it is DENSE, hopefully a sign of quality (which seems good to me). As a wonderful walk around lens, this one will get your arm in shape- mine hurt after about 1 hour of shooting handheld.
-The zoom ring is a bit tough to turn (very very well dampened)- The NIKKOR is much easier and smooth . . . and tends to creep a bit from what I have read (although I didn't notice it). I feel confident that this lens will not creep- you are going through a huge zoom quickly, so I cannot say this is a detriment to the lens user, just takes some getting used to. This is not an issue that I would pay $200 to correct.
- As others have noted, the VR is a bit loud, but not really LOUD, just louder than any other VR type mechanism I have heard, which is to say that you cannot hear it from more than a foot or two away
-Color, contrast are great, I couldn't ask or more in these categories
-Bokeh, this is subjective, but I find the bokeh to be neither great nor poor. It isn't beautiful or distracting. Nobody I know would buy a zoom for this anyways.
Read the reviews for all the technical stuff, to me this thing is very capable of making great photos. If I were a new DSLR user, this would be my first lens. There are very few gaps that this lens leaves behind. It replaces nearly every lens I own, or want to own.
Overall, I find the barrel distortion to be the biggest drawback, and really only at 18mm- I use Photoshop to correct this when needed, to great effect.
I would highly recommend this lens.
WARNING: THIS LENS WILL MAKE YOUR CAMERA HARD TO PUT DOWN!!
:)
...more info - OS/AF Mechanism Fails
Go for the Nikon, or buy the lens in your local store, so you can return it within the one year warranty. The OS/AF mechanism is defective in 30-40% of the lens (it shows up after 200 shoots). You will not be able to return it to Amazon if it fails beyond the 30 days of purchase......more info - excellent quality lens
this lens is great. i have trusted sigma lenses for years because you know you are getting a great quality lens for a great price. the optical stabilization works great and the automatic focus is nice and sharp. this is a great lens to add to your collection. it sure beats having to switch from an 18-55 to a 55-200! ...more info - Sigma AF 18mm-200mm review
This is a great lens. My wife is a newspaper photographer/reporter. She uses this lens as her primary walk-around. The 18mm-200mm range gives her a great deal of flexibility without having to carry extra lenses and go through the lens changing dance. Imagery with this lens is first rate. The optical stabilization works like a charm. We use it on Canon 30D and 40D bodies. You can find some low-res images here:
[...]
...more info - Sigma 18-200mm Image stabilization, for Canon
I bought the lens to give me more range without changing lens. Does the job. I bought it right before I went on vacation. Took a while to get use to it. Makes very good pictures at all ranges. I found that I didn't need the 200mm, except for rare occasion. The Image Stabilization was what I wanted since I could not use a tripod on vacation. Only a few pictures showed movement. Even used it in helicopter ride. Got some good pictures.
The only problems I had were the weight. It is heavy for me. Carrying it all day gets tiring. The barrel is quite big, but know it is the I.S. There is some lens creep, had to use the lock. One thing that was hard to get use to was grabbing the focus ring with it in auto focus. The ring is too easy to find.
Overall, it is a good lens. Picture quality is good, and price is good. Good general use lens. ...more info - Struted at track meet
The lens performs well when you do not put in situations when you know it will not perform well. There are enough reviews out there to inform you of the lens weakness, low light etc. I made one of those mistakes too. It can be great walk around lens for you. I used it recently at track, and a coach asked me to take some pictures for their team. I took photo's of their 4 x 400 relay team. I took a least four shots each leg using a D90 and all of the shots turned great. All of them could be used by the school. If it continues to perform, that $250 saving really looks good. At four shots per leg, auto focusing had to be on top of its game. Great value, give it shot....more info - Amazon should not be selling this Lemon Product
I purchased this lens thinking it was a good value, and I got disappointed when the lens completely failed in the middle of a trip after getting the famous error message. Since I was within the 30 days purchase, I got it replaced by Amazon. The replacement started failing this morning... same error. I did some research, and apparently 30-40% of this particular sigma lens are lemons (google it!!).
Unfortunately, this happens after taken about 200 shoots..... if you are beyond 30 days of purchase when the lens start failing AMAZON DOES NOT REPLACE THE DEFECTIVE PRODUCT, despite the one-year warranty. Sigma customer center sucks, and they make you pay for a secure back and forth shipment.
I STRONGLY recommend this product. The price is very attractive, and you might find the lens you get is a not a lemon (btw, the lens takes wonderful pics!!).... if you wanna give it a try... i would recommend NOT TO GET IT IN AMAZON, but in a local store you can return the lens within the one-year warranty offered by the manufacturer....
AMAZON told me I have to eat mine now.......more info - Perfect walk around lens
I love the performance. Best fits wedding shoots. As an amatuer, with one body, it lessen the time of changing lensen, unless very neccessary. for me i love it....more info - this lens is big
I use this lens on my Canon Rebel XTI as a replacement for the EF-S 18-55 1:3.5-5.6 II that come with the kit. I am generally impressed and satisfied with my purchase.
I am not qualified to discuss every aspect of the optical performance, but I can point out a few negatives that would concern the amateur:
1) It is huge! holding the camera makes my wrists sore, and It no longer fits in the carry case I use. The lens attracts a little more attention than I would like.
2) It makes a very faint high pitched noise. The noise goes away when I press the depth of field preview, or when the camera goes into powersave mode after a few minutes of inactivity. It is unaffected by the image stabilization feature. It is not loud enough to bother anyone, but when I hear it, I think of the battery getting eaten away.
3) The lens cap is difficult to put on / Easy to drop.
4) It is just a travel lens. Professionals hate that these are so popular, because they compromise optical perfection for extreme zoom range....more info - Great Lens for the Money
I purchased this lens in September '07 after I spent a week in FL and I was tired of changing between my 17-70 & 70-300. During those changes, I often missed good shots. I considered the Tamron 28-250 VC. However, I wanted the extra mm at the wide angle end. Also, I realized there was not a large difference between 200mm & 250mm at the telephoto end.
The first test was a trip to Turks & Caicos where the lens worked beautifully. However, after a few months, I noticed extreme vignetting in photos at the telephoto end. Also, I noticed my images were not as sharp.
I read about the potential trade-offs when I purchased the lens. However, I figured something must be wrong with it.
I sent the lens back to Sigma and they fixed the vignetting and the sharpness has improved. I'm pleased with the lens and I higly recommend it as a travel lens.
I have a Tamron 28-75 F/2.8 that produces sharper images. Yet, I enjoy the convenience this lens gives me. For everyday and travel photos, it is a great buy.
-Roger...more info - If you want sharpness, this isn't what you are looking for
I bought this lens from Amazon last month and sold it this month. The reason ... its not sharp enough.
Focal length is great. The lens is well built. The price is quite reasonable as well. The piece that I got didn't have any focusing issues either. But I was expecting it to be very sharp.
It is sharp enough if you store your images online and view it zoomed out at 25%. But if you are looking to print your images, you might have to run them through Photoshop a bit to fix the softness.
I would recommend it for a casual photographer who wants to carry just one lens while roaming around. I have taken out one star for its lack of sharpness.
Don't expect miracles out of OS either....more info - Good lens for the money
I buy many products based upon reviews from other users. That is also the case with this lens. I bought my Nikon D40 about 3 months ago (after 10 years of using point and shoots, including my treasured Canon S2is super zoom), with the kit 18-55mm lens, plus I bought a Nikon 55-200mm VR lens. I love the VR lens, but traveling through Europe for 2 1/2 weeks proved to me that I HATE changing lenses. It's inconvenient and potentially contaminates the inside of the camera body. So, I started looking around at something that I could use as a single walk-around lens. I love the wide angle perspective of the 18mm end, plus needed at least 200mm for the telephoto end. I liked the idea of Tamron's 18-250mm, but it's not image stabilized, which is really essential at the telephoto end. So, back to the Sigma. I read Camera Labs review of the non-stabilized Sigma 18-200mm, and it was favorable. So, I figured that the new stabilized version would be at least as good, and probably better.
I have not used this lens much over the past couple of weeks, but have found that (with a couple of exceptions), it focuses at least as quickly as the 18-55mm Nikkor kit lens, if not faster. The OS works great, making hand-held photos rock solid at 200mm. The only thing that I haven't spent a lot of time doing is taking indoor photos with it. I have taken indoor photos with the onboard flash, and they seem to work fine. I have not had much luck getting sharp photos at the telephoto end indoors, but admittedly have not tried very hard. I'll update this later, as I get more experience. Based upon what I know now, I am NOT AT ALL SORRY that I bought this lens. I was really having a hard time choosing between this and the [MUCH more expensive] Nikkor 18-200mm, but this lens seems like it is well worth the money spent. The focus/OS noise does not bother me at all (In fact, it's reassuring to hear that the camera is trying to focus, etc...). The only thing I wish Sigma had done was to make the lens Auto/Manual focus without having to move the switch from Auto to Manual, which the Nikkor can do. However, if it auto-focuses reliably, I guess it won't be a big deal. The zoom ring is a little tight right now, but I imagine that it will loosen up over time (hopefully not to the point of requiring the lock to be engaged). I also like the large manual focus ring; the Nikkor's is much smaller. Don't be put off by the 72mm diameter (which I was initially). It's not a big deal. Yes, it is quite a bit heavier and larger than the kit lens (or even my 55-200mm Nikkor), but not overly so. In fact, it makes the camera easier to hold, since I think the D40/40x/60 grip is just a little too small. I was concerned that the onboard flash will be blocked by the lens, but it seems to have no effect. I'm not seeing any shadowing. I'll keep you advised on how my ongoing review is going.
Happy shooting!
Update: Sept 19, 2008 - I continue to love this lens. The ONLY thing that bothers me about it is (as someone mentioned in another review) that the zoom and focus rings are too close together. When I hand this to my wife or son, I have to remind them which one is the zoom ring, and not to touch the focus (BTW - It makes a gears-are-grinding noise when you move the focus ring without moving it to manual - Not good, although it does not seem to have hurt the lens). There is a slight amount of shadowing the on board flash when you are at any zoom over the 18mm. However, I rarely if ever use the on board flash. I have a Nikon SB-400 flash that is absolutely essential inside, where you can bounce it (read Ken Rockwell's review at www.kenrockwell.com). I have not put the 18-55mm kit lens back on this camera since I have had the 18-200, and probably won't. I have a very old Nikon G model 50mm f1.8 that I can use (no metering or autofocus) on those low-light non-flash indoor shots, where the Sigma is not at it's best (although it's still very good)....more info - An Excellent Buy
This lens will be on my Nikon D40x permanently. Ease of use, quality of results, flexibility - landscapes, family portraits, it ticks all of the boxes. I'm a very satisfied customer....more info
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