Product Reviews

Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 EX DC Lens
By Kathleen Walls

The Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 EX DC Lens is a great close up and macro lens. It has an optical stabilizer (the equivalent of Canon's Image Stabilizer).

I got this lens to replace a Canon 18 - 55 kit lens without a stabilizer. First trip out using this lens made me very happy with my new lens. The weather was gloomy and rainy but I still got good (considering the weather) outdoor shots. These pictures are not processed at all other than to reduce the size to place on this review. This one is using f5.6 18 mm 400ISO. It was actively raining here.

One of the negatives sometimes pointed out about this lens is that it vignettes (creates darker softer edges) but I find that to be such a slight problem as to be unimportant for me. This picture was taken using f4 18 mm 400ISO. I am shooting with a Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi. I see very little vignnetting. There is a slight darkening at the right bottom while the top right is just as bright as the rest of the picture. The left side was naturally darker due to a dark cabinet just in the frame of the picture.

I am posting a small actual size crop of the above picture so you can see the clarity I am getting with this lens.

I took almost 400 pictures over a three day period and had no blurring . I would highly recommend this lens to anyone, even a professional photographer.

Pros: Low price, lightweight, comfortable.
Con: Very slight vinnetting if you are extremely picky. Otherwise none at all.

Price range: $185 - $500

Compared to
$1000 - $1244 for Canon's EF - S 17 - 55mm f / 2.8 IS USM
$495 - $590 for Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II Lens

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