Sigma 18-50 F2.8

D

daharro

Messages
446
Name
David
Edit My Images
Yes
Right, here's the story!

About a year ago I hired a Nikon 17-55 f2.8 to shoot a friends wedding on my D300s. As Im sure you can imagine I geeked out massively and fell in love with it almost immediately. So, for the last year I've been trying to work out how to pay for one!

Whilst searching for that bargain second hand one I saw some reviews saying that the Sigma 18-50 f2.8 is as good as the nikon, if slightly less polished and a bit noisier. So, my question to you is if I buy one am I going to be putting straight back up on sale here? Has anyone used both and can give me an opinion on the image quality? Will it be significantly better to justify selling my Nikon 16-85 for it?

Oh, and if youve got a 17-55 that you want rid of please let me know!
 
I'll qualify by saying I'm a Canon user. I bought the Sigma and kept it for a very short while, why?
Because although the image quality was great, the usability didn't compare to my good Canon glass. The Canon 17-55 focusses accurately and so fast, whereas the Sigma was slow and noisy in comparison.
So it depends on what it is about the Nikon zoom that you fell in love with, the Sigma might do it for you, or it might fall woefully short as it did for me.

My wife uses a Sigma 24-70, again the image quality and build quality are great, but I can't use it because the focussing infuriates me. But she's more than happy with it.

Loads of people will tell you that the image quality rocks and that it's great value for money, but if you gave me one it'd straight on eBay, not because they're wrong, but because the focus motors on my Canon lenses are so much better.
 
I use a Tamron 17-50 2.8 on my D300 and I find it a cracking wee lens for the price I paid (£200). I'd heard more favourable reports about it over the Sigma (which was the other lens I was considering at the time).However I'm not sure what either are going to be like in comparison to the 17-55 simply because it really is in a different class( I've not had the luck to use one myself though).
 
Thanks for your replies, Im glad you've confirmed its for good iq and I think I already knew that if they are going to save money its going to be in the feel rather than the glass. I've ordered it anyway, at the end of the day I need a fast lens and cant at the moment afford the NIKON. If I find it unusable ill have to sacrifice another lens and get the sigma back on eBay. Eating beans for a month can't be that bad! I'll let you know what I think of it!
 
we've had 2 of the canon mount "macro" version and the IQ is definately very good.

worth noting about the above regarding AF speed, only the nikon version is HSM. never found it "that" slow unless light was poor.
 
I have the Sigma 18-50 F2.8 on my D300s, I've used it for one wedding so far and have another two weddings booked early next year and this will be my main body and lens. I wouldn't say it was noisy at all. Focusing speed is very quick. Quality is very good, feels well made and I would recommend it to anyone.
 
Last edited:
I'll also firstly qualify that I am using a Canon.

I use an 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC Macro and I find it a fantastic lens for the money. It is a lot faster focusig than the Canon kit lens, but not as fast as the 17-55mm IS. However, if I had the cash I would of gone for the Canon equivelent. With the Sigma you get 95% of the lens for 50% of the price of the Canon.

One thing worth noting is that I think that the Sigma Nikon lens is HSM, so its focusing speed should be faster than the Canon variant.
 
They appear to all be HSM now, so if it's a new one it should focus better than mine did.
 
I've bought this one : Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 EX DC Macro Lens for Nikon AF D
I think this is one of the newest ones, but im not sure. does it have the HSM?
 
This must be the one before that as it does not have OS.
 
Last edited:
If this is the lens, the Nikon has HSM.

http://www.sigma-imaging-uk.com/lenses/dclenses/18-50mmEX.htm

Sigma seem to update their lenses every couple of years so it can get quit complicated. Sigma 18-50 F2.8 lens are as following:

18–50mm f/2.8 EX DC
18–50mm f/2.8 EX DC MACRO
18-50mm f/2.8-4.5 DC OS HSM (note no EX on this model)
17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS MACRO HSM

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigma_Corporation#Zoom_lenses
 
Yep thats it, looks like i did get one with HSM! Wish they wouldnt keep changing things and confusing me!
 
DaveKing said:
If this is the lens, the Nikon has HSM.

http://www.sigma-imaging-uk.com/lenses/dclenses/18-50mmEX.htm

Sigma seem to update their lenses every couple of years so it can get quit complicated. Sigma 18-50 F2.8 lens are as following:

18–50mm f/2.8 EX DC
18–50mm f/2.8 EX DC MACRO
18-50mm f/2.8-4.5 DC OS HSM (note no EX on this model)
17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS MACRO HSM

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigma_Corporation#Zoom_lenses
Click to expand...

And just to confuse things further, I have a 18-50 2.8 that doesn't have OS but it is HSM and is EX.
 
Recieved it today, and so far im impressed. A few things that niggle, cant ovverride the AF like you can on the nikon, but nothing major. Seems to be incredibly sharp too. For the money I parted with it looks like a bargain! that said i'm still going to be saving for nikon one!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top