Sigma 18-250mm

So, after giving it a lot of hard thought, I decided a fortnight ago to get an all-in-one travel lens that would give me a bit more reach beyond 55mm, and which I hope will see extensive use when I’m in Japan later this year for a couple of weeks.

Problem is: creating a lens that has a wide zoom range involves all sorts of compromises, including length, portability, weight, cost, and optical anomalies and distortions. Oh, Nikon has a very popular 18-200mm VR lens that is optically superb but potentially problematic mechanically depending on your luck. The new iteration of the lens to be released next month probably solves that, but the asking is a terrific street price of USD850 (the Sigma was USD529).

So, I went with Sigma’s equivalent that’s already released: 18-250mm f3.5-6.3, attached to my D300 in the picture from the last post. The lens is sold for SGD960 in Singapore, but the B&H Photo-Video order saved me SGD75. The lens has a slightly longer reach than Nikon’s, and I’ve had very good luck with Sigma lenses – this is my fourth lens from the manufacturer.

Initial comments on the lens: I’ve always liked the black-matte finishing on the Sigma lenses. The lens doesn’t feel consumer-grade, but instead solidly compact as though there’s a lot of glass and electronics jammed pack into the slightly heavy lens.  There’s been some reports of the paint on the barrel or collars apparently wear off if you put it through rough and tumble usage, but I don’t see myself bringing these things to harsh environments.

OK; the next couple of pictures are some 100% cropped shots I took at different zoom lengths. For pixel-peering geeks only.

There’s a figurine of Lara Croft sitting on top of the metal cabinet just outside my cubicle. A lady colleague gave it to me as a gift, and I thought the figurine was kinda cute, so it sits there beside my potted plant. Took these early in the morning LOL.

blog-len-test

Next couple of shots. These were casually taken in semi-low light, hand-held. Tried to keep the ISO semi-consistent too:

At 62mm, 1/50 sec, 100% cropped, ISO1600 (below)

DSC_1627-62mm-1600iso-small

At 92mm, 1/50 sec, 100% cropped, ISO2000 (below)

DSC_1625-92mm-2000iso-small

At 175mm, 1/50 sec, 100% cropped, ISO2200 (below)

DSC_1626-175mm-2200iso-small

i.e. it doesn’t look too bad in terms of optical sharpness. I couldn’t step back further to try a shot at 250mm though (my back was already against the wall), but I’ll see about trying it at home.