3.1.2015

If you are reading this you probably are thinking of buying this lens. I've written this with you in mind. There are many reviews of this Sigma lens on the web, all rating it highly. Yes, this lens is a stellar performer.It's really comes down to two questions: whether this is the `right' focal length range for you? and do you really need 1.8 or would a 2.8 do? This 18-35mm 1.8 lens is made for crop sensor cameras; don't buy this for a full frame camera.18-35mm focal length might be too limiting for many. A Tamron 24-70mm 2.8 is about the same price and would make a more useful [hi-quality] workhorse lens (gets good reviews too). Sigma also do a 17-50mm 2.8. Nikon produce a 17-55mm f2.8 (look 2nd hand)that is said to be more useful on DX than 24-70mm - there are alternatives.If you're into wide angle, 18mm isn't what many consider true `wide angle'. Look at the 10-24mm range.The Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 is a very high quality lens - essentially a prime you can zoom between 18-35mm for framing (approx. 28-55mm full frame equivalent); being able to go as wide as 18mm (28mm fx) opens up many possibilities.I also own a Nikon 50mm f1.4, a Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 and a Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 lens.I found my Nikon 50mm limiting framing wise, as I guess other primes would be too in situations such as photographing in a workshop, an office, at an awards presentation with lots of seating etc. and shooting architecture at night where 'zooming with your feet' can be limited, or impossible.Portraits? Professional portrait photographers will be looking at a minimum of 50mm, 85mm, 105mm, 135mm etc.Street photography? Probably too big and obvious for many photographers; but for photographing large groups or individuals at awards ceremonies etc. this is the lens I'll reach for; results are acceptable.Low light often means having to use slower shutter speeds, which means thinking of using a tripod, or introducing flash.I have used this handheld on the street in near dark conditions, but you really do need very steady hands; focus wise you are better off focusing manually as AF will struggle. In low light (which can mean room lighting) I've found there is a point light-wise where it's better to focus manually than rely on AF - or start using flash.Being honest, it's rare you need to use f1.8. In day-light be prepared to stop this lens down to prevent images being overexposed. If doing landscapes, or daytime long exposures, you'll probably need a ND or ND grad filter. On the other hand 1.8 is useful in low light situations, if you really do need it...Lens flare control is excellent. You can shoot almost directly into the sun and flare is minimal - compared to other lenses (I leave the lens hood off).I often use this for long exposures at night; it gives great clarity and colour. It also gives good starbursts. For long exposures at night (30 seconds plus) I'm using f16 and an exposure compensation of -5 to stop the sensor being flooded by light. (I also shoot RAW and do post in Photoshop).Some reviews mention a miss-focusing issue. I've used my 18-35mm lens on a Nikon D90 and can't say I've noticed any focusing issues - certainly no more than with any other lens. When it nails focus it's very, very sharp; nice bokeh too...If, like me, you already have some good workhorse lenses - but need a good lens to go below the 50mm focal length, then this 18-35 costs less than several prime lenses (35mm, 30mm, 24mm etc.), and goes down to 18mm (dx) and gives stellar quality.Personally I'd be happier if this was, say, a 12-30mm lens (I love wide angle); for me this was a must have lens. I saved for a year to buy it and have no regrets.Downsides of this Sigma: it is big and heavy.You'll need a large carry case for a DSLR with this lens on; though this lens comes with quite a nice Sigma padded lens case for storage.If you buy from a dealer in a non EU country (I ordered mine from Japan via Amazon) bear in mind you will have to pay excise duties & VAT when it arrives in the UK. That added £140 onto my bill; I ended up paying the same as I would have had to had I bought from a UK retailer.

21.6.2016

I bought this to essentially replace my 35mm 1.8 DX lens (Nikon prime) which is, as most of you know, itself a very good lens.Here are my observations so far, starting with the cons:- Very heavy. It's basically 3 primes in one lens, and to achieve this it means it's a whopping 800 grams. Personally I'm OK with the weight because it means on holiday I can use this one lens to do 99% of shooting while walking around cities, etc. If you want something light and easy to lug around all day then you have to ask yourself if the fantastic image quality this lens delivers is worth the extra weight. TOP TIP: If you are going to buy this lens I recommend buying a glide shoulder strap like a Blackrapidor some similar brand to make the weight far more comfortable to deal with.- the barrel length ruins the built-in flash; If you are going to use a lot of flash get a small external unit like a Speedlight SB-300 or SB-400 but bear in mind this means you have EVEN MORE weight to carry around :P However to be honest with a f/1.8 maximum there are many situations where you USED to need flash but won't anymore.Now for some basic facts:~ As with any zoom lens you get a little barrel distortion at shorter focal lengths and some pincushion at the longer ones. This is normal.~ At longer focal lengths some vignetting occurs at wider apertures but this basically goes away completely by f/2.8 and it's not a huge problem. If you use post-processing it can be removed with a single click of the mouse. Lightroom calls it 'Lens Correction'.~ You can only use one filter at a time or vignetting occurs. Only use circular screw-on filters.Now the pros:+ Can anyone say sharp? Sharp enough to cut your eyes on! This thing is not only the sharpest APS-C zoom on the market, it's SHARPER than the famous Nikon prime lenses. Remarkably for a zoom even in the widest aperture sharpness remains high across all but the extreme edges of the frame. Step down to f/2.8 and the entire frame is razor sharp. Heck this is possibly one of the sharpest lenses you can get on a cropped sensor full stop.+ For a zoom the image quality and amount of light is so good most people consider it the same as having all your wide through standard primes rolled into one single lens.+ Autofocus on my D5300 is fast, a fraction faster than my old 35mm Nikon prime but it seems to spend less time hunting for focus. The HSM motor is substantially quieter than the squeaky SWM on the Nikon lens. I've heard for some people the autofocus is dodgy out of the box and requires calibration, but the box that came with my lens said "D5300 compatible" and indeed it is; it works perfectly straight out of the box. So if you're buying this for a D5300 or D5500 it should work flawlessly straight away.+ Chromatic aberration and lens flare is extremely low on this beast. You're basically going to have a hard time spotting any such faults in the images it takes.+ At f/16 and things are still respectably sharp. Obviously not razor sharp (as is the nature of using a narrow aperture) but things still look pretty darn good.+ Focus and zoom operations are all internal. No moving external element means no suction to pull in dirt, which means a longer-lasting lens. It also means no zoom creep (IE: gravity won't pull the zoom when you're not holding the camera flat) and finally it means any ND grad or polarising filters you put on the end will stay in the same orientation.+ Focus and zoom rings feel nice and grippy yet smooth. It feels like a classic manual lens zoom ring from a few decades ago.+ It's the quietest autofocus motor I've ever tried. It's almost silent. Makes the Nikon one sound like a banshee.+ Financially more practical than buying multiple prime lenses and also saves the trouble of having to swap lenses to suit the scene, which not only takes time but increases the risk of dirt and dust getting inside the camera.

16.2.2016

I bought this lens as an upgrade from the 18-55mm kit lens on my Nikon D3300.I deliberated for months before buying this lens. I was looking for a lens that I could leave on the camera for most of the time, that had a bit more reach than the kit lens in both directions, was fast and light, had optical stabilization and was optically brilliant. There isn't such a lens, so then it was about where to compromise, which resulted in 'deciding' on lots of different lenses before this one.Prior to buying the Sigma, the Nikon 16-80 was ticking most of the boxes. However, when I looked at pictures taken with it on Flickr, they were good but nothing special. I upgraded to a Digital SLR from a compact because I wanted to take pictures that were wow,and the Nikon 16-80 wasn't going to deliver on that front. Before buying any lens, I recommend that you go to Flickr and check out pictures taken with that lens.I had been looking at just Nikon lenses, assuming that they would be best. Having not found a lens after many months, I went to DXOMark to check out how the third-party lenses compared. To my surprise, other than Carl Zeiss lenses, the sharpest lens they have tested on a D3300 is the Sigma 18-35, even beating the Nikon primes. The Sigma 18-35 failed to tick a lot of the boxes, it wasn't light, it didn't have the range I was after, and it didn't have optical stabilization. However, the pictures on Flickr looked fantastic, I wanted to take pictures that looked wow, so I ordered the lens. I then wondered if I'd made a big mistake.Firstly the concerns I had. The weight hasn't been a problem. The Sigma is a lot heavier than the kit lens, but the D3300 isn't that heavy so it hasn't been a problem having the two of them round my neck all day. The lack of reach hasn't been an either. I do not print my pictures, so with the pictures being as sharp as they are, I can crop them quite heavily and still have great results. The lack of optical stabilization is balanced by the fast F1.8 aperture to a large extent, although at F1.8 the depth of field becomes very narrow. I have used the lens indoors at the Harry Potter Studios and it worked just fine.Now the good stuff. I can't tell you how sharp this lens is, the pictures it returns are awesome. Going from my compact camera to the digital SLR was a big jump in quality. Upgrading the kit lens to this Sigma has been another big jump. Also, being able to open the lens to F1.8 has been more rewarding than I imagined. At F1.8, the progressive blurring can bring pictures to life.So should you buy this lens to replace the 18-55 kit lens? If you want to take pictures that are wow, this lens delivers big time. For me, having that quality outweighs its limited zoom range, weight and lack of stabilization. The F1.8 aperture gives you options for being creative with each photo you take, and it is great fun having it available; I would now take F1.8 with no stabilization over F3.5 or whatever with stabilization any day. This lens feels lovely in the hand and it is great fun to use. As an update to the 18-55mm kit lens, I am delighted with this lens and I thoroughly recommend it.A note about the auto-focussing. Some reviews of this lens mention problems with the auto-focussing. I don't know if this is something Sigma has improved on (most of the reviews were written when the lens was first released, about two and a half years ago now), but the auto-focus has been spot on for me.

16.9.2014

I read all the information from magazines, and reports from those who had bought this lens, though none was for a Sony camera, but it had good reports. As with any subject people have different opinions, so with this in mind I will compare it with what I already have.Background information -- I used to carry a Canon G5 and a camcorder with me, it was a bit of a pain swapping from one to the other, TVs had gone HD so I looked for a camera which would do both. I went into Jessops they recommended a Canon Power Shot SX1-IS. The photos weren't as good as the G5, but the video was very good. That would have been the end of the story if the photos had been better.Again looking around I went for the Sony A65 which came with a 18-55mm lens, I also bought a Sigma 18-250mm lens at the same time. Comparing the two, the Sony lens was boxed and went into the back of the wardrobe.Now for the Sigma 18-35mm lens. The lens measures 125X80mm with a 72mm filter thread,and comes with covers both ends in a well padded case. It has manual or auto focus, But no image stabilization. It's unusual in that it's like a zooming prime lens which is done internally.First the video. I videoed two of the same scenes with both Sigma lenses at 18 and 35mm, ( 8 videos in all ). I couldn't see any difference, so I decided to compare the Canon which proved to be better, this must be down to the format MOVHD against AVCHD for the Sony.Second the photos. With all my cameras / lenses I do a primary check photographing the house wall. Using both Sigma lenses at 18 and then at 35mm, at the same distance from the wall. Both showed the brick work to be square with very little distortion (barrel/pin-cushion). The centre of all the pictures were in focus. The new lens was better, as the edges of the picture were in focus also, there was also less chromatic aberrations at high magnification when viewed on the computer screen. For many years I have photographed the garden from three different positions, so I used this lens at 18mm to do the same. The results were the same as the wall test, the edge of the photo was in better focus. These were the best to date. The final tests were from a high vantage point photographing a tower about 5 miles away and a TV mast about 10 miles away. The new lens had a better depth of field with both distant and near objects in better focus. All tests were carried out in auto focus, and max resolution 6000X4000 pixles, finally I tried manual focusing on the tower, the results weren't as good as auto.So the bottom line is this, it is a good lens but expensive. Would it be better to have the 18-250 lens and have a standard prime or two? You pays your money and make your choice.

23.12.2013

This lens is absolutely brilliant. I have a D7100 and have been shooting with Nikon kit for many years. When I bought the d7100, I bought the nikon 24-120. It was too slow, doesn't balance well on my d7100, wasn't wide enough and the picture quality was very average. Out the door went the 24-120. Spent time trying out many Nikon lenses, 17-55, 16-85, 24-70, 16-35, etc. All good lenses, but I always felt like I compromised too much with these lenses. Then I went to the shop and came across the Sigma 18-35 and I went back 2 or 3 times because I was so fascinated by the lens. I took the plunge and I love it!! Yes, it has a few compromises like most lenses, but It's a lens that gets me excited.

4.7.2019

Got this lens on Amazon for around 600 pounds about 6 months ago.I had recently started photography and owned a Canon 80D camera. I wanted a lens for my APS-C sensor which would give me f/2.8 full-frame equivalent results. I was not disappointed with the results in terms of image quality! I like to shoot portraits (full body to closer) and I shoot wide open most of the time (probably because of lack of talent/practice). So this lens is perfect for that, I can get nice out of focus background and the 18-35 range is great for me.But... the autofocus on my Canon 80D was nothing short of horrible in the viewfinder (phase detect)! AF was perfect in liveview however (as expected).

21.2.2017

This lens looks and feels quality. The image is sharp and beautiful. I have two Sigma art lenses (I also have the 50-100) now and opted for these as they are billed as professional quality glass for aps-c cameras. I'm very happy with my purchases.Buying the lenses you are kind of making a choice - its well noted people tend to graduate from aps-c to full frame and a lot of reviewers will suggest therefore spending money on full frame glass. This lens will sit on a full frame but suffers heavy vignetting wide open. So it is for the aps-c system. That said, I get amazing images now and I'm very happy with my choice.I have given it five stars and it is genuinely worthy of it however there is a

11.12.2016

Believe the hype, this is without a doubt THE best lens I've ever shot with. Images are painfully sharp at any aperture or focal length, and colour rendition and contrast are beautiful. You get wonderful, creamy backgrounds, though admittedly not to the same extent as with a fast portrait lens. It's built like a tank and feels really great to hold and use ; the focus and zoom rings are quite firm but not at all in a bad way. However, it is quite heavy but it balances really well on my camera and I rarely notice the weight.The only real downside I can think of is the quite short zoom range, but I've rarely had it bother me - I bought this to replace a couple of primes so any zoom at all is excellent.

1.2.2014

First i have to say English is not my first language, and if you see some mistake in typing peleas forgive me.after waching and reading about this lens, i deside to purchas it, and igot it.if i want to find out, how good is lens,,i use the entry level camera, and i done it with,, NIKON D3200,, and took some shot, when i wach in my laptop couldent belive my eyes D3200 BECOME like D800 Oh man,,this lens is FAAAANTAAASTIC.Focusing is fast and smooth,,image qualety is very good and very very Sharp.Culours turu this lens is perfect. the Down side of this lens is lack of ,,VR,, to be honest with focusing this fast and wide WHO needs ,,VR,,This lens is heavy,

27.9.2013

Sigma deserve a massive pat on the back for their new line of ART lenses. The 35mm DG is being rated as good, if not better that the canon 35mm L, at half the price which is insane! I read that they have completely up'd their QC procedures which means you'll receive a great, reliable product from the word go! The 18-35 f1.8 is the fastest zoom lens money can buy for a cropped sensor camera and it produces great, sharp, vibrant results. I used this lens on my 7D for a couple shoot and I was blown away by the results. When shooting at around f2.2, the results are outstanding. Yes it's big and heavy, but it feels expensive and well made. If you own a cropped sensor camera, this has to be in your kit,

22.8.2016

Well where to begin, firstly this thing is a beast! Very solidly made with a great focus and zoom feel it really does feel like a high end lens. The shots you can take with this beauty are absolutely stunning, from razor crisp wide angles to artistic soft focus shots at 35mm it really is like everyone says...a whole bag of primes in one lens.The only reason I am not giving it 5 stars is the focus can be tricky to master. Many people have said the dock and an afternoon of calibration will improve this but really for the price they should not need that kind of work. However using it mostly in manual as an alternative to multiple prime lenses this thing is cheap as hell and well worth a purchase.

27.11.2017

Excellent lens! Image quality is fantastic, on par or better than many good prime lenses I've tried, even more so for the price.Well built and easy to use, both dials are firm and have the right amount of travel and dampening to offer precision and stability. It's also very easy to operate with outdoors and/or at night, even with gloves.As for taking pictures of the night sky, it's also great: the zoom range gives flexibility for composition, the large aperture shortens exposure time (so no mandatory star trails :), and the image quality translates into pin sharp stars.Main downside for me is the size, but given the quality and unique flexibility this lens offers,

24.3.2018

I've had this for quite a while now, and for video work it is simply in class of its own. The zoom and focus rings are buttery smooth (much more so than any canon lens I've used), the F1.8 aperture lets in more light than most primes, its built solidly, and is incredibly sharp.Oh, and it comes with nice case and a solid lens hood (neither of which canon include outside their expensive L series).This lens deserves all the praise it almost universally gets in the press. My one caveat would be if you want to use this as a stills lens then the autofocus, although good, is not as reliable as canon lenses... so you just might get some shots that 'miss'.however,

4.4.2019

Got this lens for my canon 80d. I noticed very soon that I was having focusing problems. I was hesitant to attempt to use the dock, so I sent the lens of to sigma together with my camera and they calibrated it for me. It now works really well and I'm very pleased.The reason I gave it 4 stars in stead of 5 is not because I had to send it off, not because I had to pay £30 insured postage (they paid for sending it back to me). The reason I gave it only 4 stars is the length of time it took. They held on to my camera for a week and a half! I cannot think what took them so long. Any one reading this is probably into photography and would understand the hardship of parting with a camera for so

30.5.2014

Ok when I first about this lens I thought whats all the fuss about? After many hours reading reviews I decided to bite the bullet and purchased a Nikon version to attach to my Nikon D7100. I spent several hours shooting and looking at the images on my Mac book Pro retina, and unfortunately I had a few front focussing issues which are obviously magnified at F1.8. (shallow depth of field). I decided to send it to Sigma UK for calibration with my camera body. Once calibrated with the body this lens is a joy to used, the images are pin sharp. This lens is sharp at f1.8 and gets better when closed sown to F2.8. I just love this lens.

Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM Art - Reviews

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