Sigma 18 - 200mm, any good?

[Concentration face]

on sale at £153 @ amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007U0GYS/ref=pd_luc_mri?_encoding=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

seems like a bit of a bargain. They have nikon fit too for the same price.

[styru]

Well between the Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com pages there are 76 reviews for this lens - have you read through them as a starting point? ('cos I doubt you'll find 76 people on here that have it)

Agreed, it's a good price.

Remember to check your sensor size against the lens specs.

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[turkey]

Just remember is isnt a fast lens. At 200mm its f6.3 aperture will make you struggle to take pictures (flashless) without being in daylight....

[Voodoo]

I got the 70-300mm Sigma (Nikon fit) from Comet earlier in the year and it seems really good. It was only about £140 at the time.

[Alias]

TOO much zoom will be very soft at the extreme ends. and as Turkey says very slow as well.

[BenCooper]

I used to have it - it's not bad, reason it's cheap is that there are 18-250 lenses out now. Lenses like this are called holiday lenses - you can take just one lens on holiday with you. It's a bit soft at the extremes, it's not fast, but quality is perfectly reasonable.

The 70-300 isn't bad either - if it's the same one I have, it can also do 1:2 macro at 300mm, which is really cool for photographing insects in flight and stuff like that. It's way too long for urbex, though, and it's quite plasticky.

[snappel]

I gave my Sigma 70-300mm APO away! Heap of crap! Lumpy zoom ring which kept sticking, bad build quality and generally soft photos.

Unless it is f/4 at the long end or has IS/VR, then it's not much good to me, but then it depends what you do with it. If you're always going to be using a tripod or shooting in bright light then it may not be a problem.

[Alias]

Yep my sigma I sold for £50 was too soft and slow to even consider using.

[BenCooper]

Ha, that's the advantage of bodies with IS built in - you can use cheap long lenses :)

Pllasticky is right, though - I can't focus to infinity on mine. Well, I can, but the plastic cog is stripped, so it jams.

[clebby]

I have the 70-300 and it is pretty soft, but it doesn't seem too slow ? I barely use it though - as has been said, it's too long.

[Alias]

By slow I mean focus speed and also f stop for longer focal lenths you need at least f4 and ideally image stabalisation.