Sigma 18-35

[koolman]

I was thinking of purchasing this lens as a walk around for my 550d. I currently own the Tamron 17-50

Its quite allot of money - and I was wondering if anyone here in the forum can give me feedback on my debate.

I borrowed the canon 17-55 for a while - and for some reason - simply did not like it. Its heavy, build quality is dicey, and the IQ was somewhat boring as compared to L lenses like the 24-70.

Thoughts ?

 

[ajfotofilmagem]

I agree that Canon 17-55mm is very expensive for what it is. However, Sigma 18-35mm is even heavier, does not have image stabilization, and zoom is very short. Sigma has great picture quality at F2.8 or more diaphragm closed, but F1.8 LOCAS chromatic aberration is clearly visible. I think 18-35mm is not a replacement for 17-55mm, but can be a good addition to a 24-70mm.

 

[Salomon]

I owned the 17-50 non VC once, which is a good lens, but the Sigma 18-35 is in another class in terms of sharpness and lens speed. But, you have to consider, the focal range ist not very long in comparison to the Tamron. Also, it is considerably heavier, but feels also better with less plastic parts. The missing IS is usually not a problem due the lens speed (and you should be already used to it coming from the tamron. The tests, you'll find on the internet, speak for themselves.

Some words to the L-Lens: My 24-105 f4 fails to impress me on a crop body because the effective 38-168mm is not an appealing focal length for my needs, but it is cheaper though and comes with an IS (not on the 24-70 f4/f2,8).

I highly recommend the Sigma, if you want to keep using an APS-C Body and if you want a fast lens, high quality pictures and can afford the price(which is lower than for lenses with comparable apertures) . If you want to upgrade your body sooner or later, then you might want to search for something different.

 

[9VIII]

The 18-35f1.8 itself is spectacular.

The two primary reasons I got the lens are:
1. To use it as a wide angle lens on full frame, which sounds funny since it's really not the ideal wide angle lens, but it works and I love using things for things they're not designed to do. It looks best at 22mm with a 5/4 crop, or 1/1 crop to completely get rid of vignetting. Stopping down to f2.8 also gets rid of a lot of vignetting, which also takes you back to square 1 as far as low light is concerned but since you're on full frame it all evens out.
2. Sharpness and light gathering on crop. For those times when you only want to take a crop sensor, like, if I'm taking the 400f5.6 on a hike and want a regular lens to pop on occasionally for landscapes or after the sun sets. In a way I got this in anticipation of getting a 7D2, which will be able to take advantage of the extra sharpness much better than my current T3, which is pretty low on pixel density.

Realistically, the price of this lens is halfway to a 6D, or almost equal to a used 5D2. If you're just struggling with low light that is probably the best path.

 

[Bruce Photography]

While I don't have the Canon mount, I have the Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 lens on a Nikon mount and I can attest to this being one of the finest lenses I've ever owned. Currently I have some intermittent cold weather problem with the Nikon D7100 and this lens and I've talked to Sigma and they said the D7100 had some sort of power problem but that Canon should have no problems (Menu and Play buttons failed to function).

Other than that I hate to even send in the lens because I use it so frequently. Once I tuned the lens using the Sigma lens dock and added a simple -4 to the camera AF micro-adjust, the camera and lens combination focuses properly at ALL zoom settings. This is a first for me to have such accuracy. Now I'm spoiled and now I think all lenses should have a focus setting for each zoom and distance. This is way cool! I just can't say too many good things about this lens. On the D7100 the lens crop work out to 27 to 52mm. Yes the range is small and would not replace the Canon 24-105 because of the range but the sharpness corner to corner is amazing and has made my aps-c D7100 a landscape capable camera. The lens is also great indoors shooting family or indoor events. Who ever heard of a 1.8 zoom with corner to corner sharpness? I mostly shoot at 2.2 inside but 1.8 is also very usable at ISO of 800 to 1600. The D7100 is quite good at 3200 but I don't want to press it when I enjoy the sharpness of this lens at ISO 1600. Shoot it everyday for a week and you won't want to return it (get a Sigma dock too - it is worth it).

 

[pdirestajr]

I am mostly a prime shooter, and always gravitate to a 35mm on my 7D. Since this lens is a constant f/1.8, I think of it like having multiple APS-C primes mounted to my camera at once!

So I get the following prime lenses: EF-s 18mm f/1.8 prime, 24mm 1.8 and 35mm 1.8 for less than 300 each AND I don't have to swap lenses? I'll deal with a lens that is a bit bigger.

This lens is pretty cool.

 

[Bruce Photography]

I am mostly a prime shooter, and always gravitate to a 35mm on my 7D. Since this lens is a constant f/1.8, I think of it like having multiple APS-C primes mounted to my camera at once!

So I get the following prime lenses: EF-s 18mm f/1.8 prime, 24mm 1.8 and 35mm 1.8 for less than 300 each AND I don't have to swap lenses? I'll deal with a lens that is a bit bigger.

This lens is pretty cool.

Exactly -- I count 4 primes: 18, 24, 28, and 35. Way cool.

 

[axtstern]

This lens changed my complete selection of carry arround lenses.
After using it now for several month I never touched my EFS 18-55 2.8 und my Sigma 30mm 1.4.
The gap between 30mm and 70mm (my 2nd carry arround lens is the 70-200 IS L) can sometimes be to big so I use the EF 50mm 1.4 as a complement.

Be warned about 3 things: Weight and length and temperature of the Sigma 1.8
Weight is obvious, it replace 4 primes but also weights as much as two.
Length is a problem with real estate in your camera bag. With a protection filter and the very thick Sigma new style lens cap this lens is just a Little to long to stand upright in most backpacks.
Had to replace my Tamrac Expedition 4 with a 5 to gain the extra centimeter of protection but still feel not well about it.
Temperature: No other lens I have fogs worse than the SIgma 1.8 when moving from airco climate into hot and humid. Well most lenses fog up but the Sigma seems to have a core that changes temperature very slowly. My 70-200L, my Sigma 50-150 2.8 and my EF 85 1.2 all need less than 15 minutes to adapt but the Sigma 1.8 sometimes stays blind for more tan 30 minutes. So if (Sub) tropical destinations are part of your travel plan be carefull with this lens.

 

[candc]

The 18-35 is incredible, it is the sharpest zoom lens you can get for a crop body and it's f/1.8! It also works on ff at 35mm with vignetting but its easily fixed in post, the corners are dark but the image is there. I think around 28mm the corners go black. So you have the sharpest normal zoom for aps-c with the widest aperture and a good 35mm ff lens as a bonus.