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chilliz

chilliz

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Ian
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I had more or less decided on a 18 - 125 Sigma zoom as a replacement for my 18 - 55 kit lens which seems soft at the best of times, but I read quite a few reviews from people who basically said it wasn`t very good. I am now considering a Sigma 17 - 70 F2.8 lens which is a similar price.

I just wanted to know if there is anyone with experience of either lens or possibly even both lenses, or that can recommend another lens which would do the job for between 200 and 300 pounds.

One of the reasons for looking at these 2 lenses is that they offer a bit more flexibility at the tele end.

Thanks
Ian :)
 
What "job" do you want the lens to do?
 
How wide do you want to go, because that is your limiting factor at the moment, if 17/18mm is the starter length.
A general walkabout is gonna have a limitation at on end or the other.
 
17/18 is fine for what I need, I don`t really want to specialise at the wide end and go for a 10 - 20 zoom, that can come later when finances allow. :)
 
The 17-70 is a nice lens. I went for the Sigma 18-50 2.8 Macro to replace my kit lens.
 
Lenses with very wide zoom ranges often pay a price in lesser IQ, slower auto-focus and smaller apertures.

They are, however, very handy and selecting or not selecting one of these lenses would be determined by:

Your use for the images - I would not select a lens of this type if I were wanting large blow-ups of my images. However, they are fine for a lot of uses.

What you shoot - I would not select one of these lenses if I planned to shoot in lower light levels or if I planned to shoot fast moving subjects such as in sports

Your personal quality criteria - I demand the highest quality from my images but, realize that there are photographers who do not demand that level of quality

Your personal aversion to or willingness to change lenses in the field - I personally hate changing lenses. Arthritis in my hands slows down lens changing and increases the possibility of dropping a lens. My solution is to use two cameras with two lenes mounted. I use a 17-55mm f/2.8 IS and a 70-200mm f/4L IS on 30D and 40D cameras. I am willing to pay the price in initial cost and extra weight in order to have a 17-200mm (I don't miss the 55-70mm gap) focal range with top-notch IQ, relatively wide apertures, IS at all focal lengths and very fast and accurate auto focus.

My personal recommendation would be to buy a top-notch mid-range zoom lens with a constant f/2.8 aperture, such as the 17-50mm f/2.8 Tamron, and augment this lens with a telephoto lens that has IS capability such as the (in order of increasing cost) 55-250mm IS, 70-300mm IS or 70-200mm f/4L IS.
 
I do understand what you`re saying, but I simply don`t have the money to do this. I know what you mean about not constantly changing lenses which is why i`m leaning towards one with a little extra reach.

Thanks for the recomendations. :thumbs:
 
chilliz said:
17/18 is fine for what I need, I don`t really want to specialise at the wide end and go for a 10 - 20 zoom, that can come later when finances allow. :)
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I was thinking the other way :|

a rigid 18mm start doesn't give you the widest choice for walkabout.
 
Well, nothing in particular, I'm just saying that "wide angle" covers a larger area than 18, you'd have much more choice if you included walkabouts with minimum focal lengths in the 20's in the same search.
Ofcourse, there not as wide, but they don't have to make the same sacrifices as a 70 stretched down to 18, or vice versa, most have to cut one corner or another be it distortion or effective max aperture or whatever.
I dunno, personally, I'd buy a walkabout 20's to 70ish, and a proper wide angle if I needed one, I just think walkabouts are not very wide and not very telephoto, the wide thing is complicated a bit with crop sensors though, maybe 24 isn't wide enough...:shrug:
 
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