Which 18 200mm lens is best

This is perhaps the ultimate lens for "get the shot" people, or those who take what I'd call documentation pictures. For me, it is not worth the trouble and risk of taking a DSLR if only to take documentation pictures of an event of place that is not particularly interesting.

Then spend on lenses that allow more creativity via higher image quality, larger aperture, more extreme focal lengths, etc. For this cost, I'd expect a lens that feels extremely well made, but this lens is merely average in that regard.

In the end, this lens is a jack of most trades, master of none. For those who'd rather not miss a shot than exploit what their DSLR is truly capable of, there is no current substitute.

Most of the time it is ok but there will be times when it simply isn't sharp enough even at F8 for a good shot at, say, 21" diagonal. You might want to try it at F11 a few times, once you get past mm or so. That's what I plan to do with mine. Supposedly that will cut the blur in half beyond mm. Still, that's really sloooow It does have good VR and that will count for about a stop as the sun drops below the horizon, and up to 4 stops at mm.

It's adequately-sharp and focuses well and it's stable in low light It's just not sharp or long enough during the day or fast enough at night, for every shot that you will want to take, so don't buy this thinking that you will be "set for life" with it. It's a good "starter lens", and, generally, it and one or two other lenses depending on what they are will fit in your bag with your DSLR, and make a good travel-kit.

I would at least get the Tamron for sharp day shots and save this one for short to midrange work in "less than perfect" light or that lucky long-range low-light handheld shot. The Tamron is smaller, lighter and almost half the price. Oh and did I mention that it's sharper and longer? I just looked at that insanity and traded the D and the for a Canon5D and the Tamron VC, then sold the rest.

Made a tidy profit. And now I don't have to run DxO at all. I took a lot of good shots with it, though. This was far better but still not really good enough. There's simply no other comparable alternative. The Sigma OS just doesn't have as good a quality, and it's ever slower to boot. And there are definitely times when I need that like, say, at the beach , times when I don't want to change lenses.

It's great for that, but it's not great. I much prefer my fast glass to this in most situations. It's a nice enough lens, though, a very nice range to have coverage on, and I would definitely recommend it as a primary lens to the novice or a secondary lens for the enthusiast. This is my lens of choice for all-around shooting on my D The performance of the VR system is excellent.

The sharpness is more than acceptable, and I love the wide zoom range. I am extremely unhappy with the way this lens creeps. I sometimes use a short piece of gaffer tape to hold the focal length.

Otherwise, lens construction quality is excellent, but Nikon really dropped the ball by allowing this lens to creep so readily. Can't complain. Image quality is good to excellent. Build quality of the lens could be better, when zooming back from mm to 18mm.

Made In Thailand. I wanted to throw my two cents in here so as to hopefully help people know what this lens is and isn't. What it is not is a pro piece of glass that will give amazing sharpness. I think a lot of people have established unrealistic expectations of this lens, which is unfair to say the least. Now, this lens is a great all-in-one walkaround type lens. You get consistently sharp yes, sharp. Just not as sharp as the pro lenses images throughout the zoom. The VR makes this lens usable in a number of circumstances without need for a tripod.

The only place this lens can get in trouble is if you need a fast shutter speed in lower light So if you want one lens that can stay on the camera most of the time and do an excellent job of making images, then buy this lens. If you want razor sharp images for fine art work, save your pennies and buy the faster 2. I bought this lens in August 06 and have taken over 2, pictures with it.

As you get older, like me, you discover that your hands are not as steady as when you were younger. Accordingly, the image stabilization in low light is worth it's weight in gold to get good pictures at slow shutter exposures. This is really great for we old duffers who don't like carrying around tripods or other stabilizing equipment.

Unless you are an absolute perfectionist, you will be very satisfied with the pictures you get from this lens. Sigma is suppose to be manufacturing an OS lens but it has not been released as of this review.

Don't hesitate to buy this lens and try it. If you don't like it, it is easy to sell on e-bay for about what you paid for it if not more. After all I have read of this lens I really thought it would be something special I wasn't planning a review of this lens as I returned mine, but I thought a reality check might be in order for those contemplating this as I did, due to all the glowing press.

Yes it has the kind of zoom range where it could be the only lens you use, and it is good throughout its focal range, but it is far from great optically. I see a lot of "tens" here and am wondering what they could possibly be comparing it to to justify a perfect score.

I find my G to be sharper and have better CA control, and my 50mm and mm primes blew it away. Although this is a good "all in one" lens, it is not without compromises, especially at this price point. To me this is the main advantage of having a SLR. And while I found the VR to work well, I am afraid it did not offer me much else so I saw little reason to keep it. For the price and versatility, this is an excellent lens. It is perfect for travel and general walk-around photography.

It does leave some to be desired though. The build quality is not great. Beside from the zoom creep, my barrel has a disturbing amount of play when fully extended. No matter how solid your tripod is, I'm afraid this can introduce some shake in gusty winds. I have had great luck using this lens in a wide variety of situations.

Recently, I got very good results in a low light, no flash situation. I like to have a very sharp image, so I sharpen the nef images with Raw Developer before printing. This lens is a great choice to keep on your lens. Just shot this last night. Just think what a bit of PP can do. I only had this lens for about a week. I was thrilled when it came. The range, VR, and AF-S had me immediately, but in use, I found the autofocus slower and louder kinda scratchy than my , distortion higher than , sharpness lower than Needless to say, I stuck with my I enjoyed the , but it didn't seem that much better range and VR were nice than my tried and true workhorse.

This one got sent back. It's by far the best out there currently Dec It would be all you needed for general shooting. Even though I returned mine, I recommend it to anyone looking for a good wide to tele lens. I purchased this lens to take aerial photos. I am shooting from a helicopter which has some vibration. The VR has worked well smoothing things out. I will have to agree with others in the respect that this is not always the sharpest lens in my bag.

Overall a great lens. What can I say that others have not. This is just a great carry around lens. I use it almost all the time. I wish it was better in low light situations, but that is just being picky. For the price, there is not much to match it, in my opinion. This is a very handy lens to have. I haven't taken the lens off my D since I got it in July.

It's replaced my and Nikkor lenses. It's has also been close enough to my Sigma mm that I haven't had to change to my Sigma very often. The lens is great for shooting in low light scenarios where the objects are stationary, but not the best when shooting moving objects. Lens is subject to "lens creep" which can be annoying. This lens deserves well its success - in its category, it definitely is one of the bests!!!

Of course, there are some design trade offs, resulting in various aberrations distortion, color fringing, If you really care about distortions, color finging, etc This lens is great if you just want to carry one around, leave your tripod at home most of the time thanks VR, even if it only partially compensates the smaller max aperture.

This lens, like all the consumer zooms I guess, performs well when you operate it in its sweet spot. After playing with some primes, I start thinking of this lens as 5 lens: 1 mm f 2 18mm f4 3 24mm f5. The 24mm focal length is undoubtedly the best optically due to the benefit of negligible distortion.

But, you cannot have everything with a do-it-all lens at this price point. On the plus side, the DC Micro Motor is quick to snap into focus and sharpness is very good from the widest to medium telephoto range. Sharpness does tail off approaching mm and does exhibit some chromatic aberration, but in general, the image results are pleasing across the board. Considering the focal range this lens has to cope with, it does a respectable job of producing good image quality in a wide range of scenarios.

This is the second version of this highly capable Nikon travel lens. The lens itself consists of 16 elements arranged in 12 groups, plus two extra-low dispersion ED and three aspherical elements. It also has seven rounded diaphragm blades and a Super Integrated coating to reduce reflections, flaring, and ghosting.

The lens is at its sharpest between mm, with relatively good center sharpness up to mm. Corner sharpness suffers the most at mm as with barrel distortion but is still acceptable for this price point of lens.

Generally, images are rich in color and when this lens is given enough light, resolution is better than expected. Designed for the APS-C-format of cameras, the focal range comes in an equivalent mm and a respectable weight of g.

Also rubber-coated is the base of the included lens hood, making the hood easier to graps during installation and removal. This hood is small and designed not block the image circle at 18mm, which means that its protection at the much narrower mm focal length is minimal. Especially obvious is that this lens, like all other lenses in this class, extends significantly when zoomed to the longest focal length. The C's zoom ring is very smooth with just the right amount of rotational resistance, even though it is moving the end of the lens up to 2.

The provided zoom extension retaining lock switch is not needed at this point in the life of the lens I have.

Sigma shrank their mm lens. This lens is both smaller and lighter than the previous Sigma — by a noticeable amount. One of the best features of this lens is its tiny size and very light weight. This lens is not weather sealed. The C uses small 62mm filters, but not many other lenses share this uncommon size. Sigma does not include a case with this lens. Apparently, "Art" and "Sports" lenses come with a case and "Contemporary" lenses do not. The USB dock allows the lens' firmware to be updated bug fixes, compatibility updates, feature enhancements, etc.

Positioned above from left to right in their fully retracted positions are the following lenses:. This lens is priced lower than most other lenses currently available. My standard disclaimer: There are potential issues with third party lenses.

Since Sigma reverse engineers vs. Sometimes a lens can be made compatible by the manufacturer, sometimes not. There is also the risk of a problem that results in the lens and body manufacturers directing blame at each other. Compatibility with the Sigma USB Dock is risk reducing as Sigma can release firmware updates for dock-compatible lenses. Sigma USA's 4-year warranty is superior to Canon's standard 1 year warranty Sigma's international warranty is also 1 year.

Everyone has their own values, and with this lens, Sigma is targeting those placing a high value on convenience and budget. Image quality: these super zooms do not rank in the same class as primes or heavier and more expensive lenses. Resolution: On resolution metrics, their results are very close as well. All the results correspond to the lenses being mounted on the cameras with the best resolution available at this time on the DxOMark database: The Canon EOS 7D for Canon lenses The Nikon D for Nikon lenses The Sony A for Sony lenses Vignetting and Chromatic aberration: Vignetting remains very well controlled on every lens, which is no great feat, as all the available apertures are small.

Distortion: All lenses in this review present very close results on distortion : strong distortion at 18 mm and pretty well controlled for the focal superior to 50mm. Mounted on Canon cameras, this lens provides very good results at a very interesting price. Sigma mm F3. It is the only lens that provides the same resolution at the center from 18 mm to mm.