- High zoom ratio (11:1) lens designed for Canon digital SLR cameras
- 18 to 200 mm focal length
- 2 Special Low Dispersion glass elements; 2 hybrid aspherical lenses
- Compact, lightweight construction
- Lens coating reduces flare and ghosting
Product Description
U) 18-200MM F/3.5-6.3 DC – EOS
S. Kanter @ 7:44 am
I disagree with the previous poster. I think this lens is pretty great.
The quality is exceptional for a lens of this price and range.
There seems to be a controversy regarding how focal lengths of lenses are measured; from what I’ve read, the lens does go to 200mm if measured at infinity.
In the real world, the lens takes fine pics as long as you have enough light. The size and weight is perfect for a walk-around lens. My Rebel XT with this lens (and the Hakuba hand grip) is a perfect fit, and feels great to carry around and shoot. To get better optical quality at this range, you would need to get a few lenses that each cost a lot more. There is nothing quite like this, except for Tamaron’s 18-200, which I hear doesn’t compare favorably to the Sigma.
It seems that Sigma has quality control issues, so I would buy
the lens from a local dealer that has a return policy. Test the lens, and if you don’t think it’s up to par, return it for another.
HWS Branson @ 8:17 am
I purchased a Nikon D70S in August and decided on the Sigma 18-200mm lens instead of the 18-35mm Nikkor kit lens. It really boils down to how one uses this lens as to whether you like it or not. With the 1.5 conversion factor of the D70S, this lens operates as a 27-300mm. I do an ocassional wedding and senior photos throughout the year but I shoot more landscape/nature photography than anything. Unless a person requires a super fast lens, this piece does a very good job overall for the price. Since the majority of my work is off a tripod, the 3.5 max aperture has not been a problem even in very low light situations. Since it’s the only Nikon based lens I own, its like having several lenses in one and I never have to worry about dust getting on the sensor during lens changes.
The 27mm is not as wide as I would have liked, but I have had no problems in making due with it especially doing group shots at weddings and has been quite sufficient for most landscapes.
The autofocus is quite fast when needed and it does quite well for my use as a portrait lens. Its 300mm capability really lets you bring in distant objects.
Color accuracy is quite good on both people and landscapes, and works acceptable with neutral density and circular polarizing filters.
My biggest complaint with this lens however, is a bit too much barrel distortion when shooting linear subjects and lens flare when shooting into the sun at sunrise or sunset. The flare problem may be as much the fault of the digital sensor as it is the lens, but I have been told by more than one pro that it’s more the lens than the sensor. Therefore, that’s why I gave it only 4 stars instead of 5. I have used Sigma lenses on my film cameras for many years and not had this kind of flare problem. However, this lens is built especially for the smaller digital sensors, which may result in magnifying this problem. Both of these faults can be corrected with imaging software most of the time. It just takes time to have to mess with it.
Keep in mind, this is a general purpose lens, and will do a more than acceptable job for all but the most discriminating work. It is light and compact and has a quality about it which looks good on the camera. Overall I have enjoyed the lens, and can recommend it as a good piece overall for the money.
ShutterFlash @ 9:24 am
I got this lens a day before taking off for an eight day trip, and shot over 1800 photos with it. Though not the fastest lens out there, it did everything I wanted it to, both in the wide angle and the telephoto. I think I put it through a pretty thorough test over that week, and have these comments:
1. If I can only take one lens, this would be it.
2. I missed not having a macro feature, but I got close enough with the telephoto to make up for it in some cases.
3. The auto focus works fine in normal and bright lighting, but in dim lighting (like in a museum) it became confused and I used the manual focus option instead.
4. This is my third Sigma lens, and I haven’t had any quality control problems with any of them.
5. I have no experience with high end Canon lenses for my Canon DSLR so I can’t make a comparison, but I’m fully satisfied with the optics of this lens.
Excellent value and versatility.
T. Norris @ 10:58 am
Reading reviews is a crap shoot. You know nothing about the reviewer or the use of the product. That said, I am assuming you are not a struggling professional trying to shoot a high quality, tight-budget job. You are a user looking for one lens to carry to cover a wide range of service.
I’m a pro. I have a many bodies and L lenses to use.
I carry an XSI with THIS Sigma 18-200mm non OS lens just about everywhere I go. It is a great vacation tool, where most pix are shown in a digital frame or are never going to be more than 4×6.
Yes, the MTF is not great (simply: contrast across the lens), there is some chromatic fringing and watch out! the lens hood will cause vignetting and shadows with a flash at wide angle. I’ve been using this lens since it was released in early ‘05.
It’s a $300 lens. Does it compare to a $1500 L lens? Yeah – very badly. So what? The first rule of photography is get the picture. Missing the shot while changing lenses is not photography. Is this the preferred lens in my arsenal? No. But for general non-client, daylight, non-sports shooting, it’s the one I’ll probably be using. I prefer the non-optical stabilzed version – less complexity.
To help you weigh this review: I use five professional (5D, 1D) and several prosumer (40D, 50D, XTI, XSI) bodies and nine L lenses, plus a slew of others.
Photo tip: night shooting of foreground against backround (done a lot with this lens!): typical situation: girl on beach in front of sunset. Manually set exposure to flash shutter speed, aperature & ISO to get background. Turn flash on to expose and meter foreground. You’ll get some great “how did you do that?” pix. All the MTF, abberetion and linearity issues will mean nothing, because you got a picture no one else could and th L doesn’t really add anything, because you want depth of field here.
Thanks for reading my review.
TheTeh @ 12:40 pm
3 stars because of:
1) soft corners at 18mm (f3.5)
2) vignetting at 18mm (f3.5)
3) lens creep (self extension of lens barrel while walking) if not retracted/lock at 18mm
This lens has the most useful range one can possibly have. It has become my only lens for short travelling trip when I don’t want hassel of changing lens. I took only this lens with my Canon XT to Amsterdam (5days) without missing my other lenses at all. Here are some photos taken with this lens in my website:
http://www.theteh.com/html/london_street_.html
http://www.theteh.com/html/croatia.html
http://www.theteh.com/html/index1.html
For this price range (other than the Tamron 18-200) there is no other lenses that can compete!