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All In one – Superzoom lenses
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My girlfriend just got a 500D with the 18-55mm lens but now she wants something better. I’m thinking she should get one of those all in one zuperzoom types as she will not want to be switching lenses etc and I doubt she’s going to get super into it buying new glass etc.
My sister had the Sigma 18-200mm OS and I was very impressed with it. For the money it has incredible range and took some really great shots. 200 is more than you need really but I suppose its nice to have. I was also considering the Canon 18-135mm IS – seems like a good all rounder – and I’m guessing since its smaller range but more expensive than the Sigma, its going to be a better quality lens – am I right?
Are there any others I should be considering other than these two?
Any advice appreciated,
ThanksIn my opinion I had the 18-200, 18-200 OS and the 18-250 OS from Sigma, and the 18-250 was by far the best one, although I only had it on for a day before I returned it. Motor worked better, more accurately, and image contrast was better. That said, I returned it because it just had too many compromises with it.
I can’t say anything about Canon, but the Sigma 250 is OK, a bit heavy, that’s all. There’s the Tamron 18-270 as well, which has got some pretty good reviews.
If you say she isn’t going to get seriously into it, then Id go for the Sigma or the Tamron, just for convenience’s sake, that way if she ever did get into it, she could get other lenses but still have that one for travel etc. That’s just my (inexperienced) opinion, though. Hope this helps!
Canon 18-135 IS is not necessarily better than sigma 18-200OS. It is expensive, because it is canon, and it is a new model. 15-85IS appears to be more interesting, because of the range and optical quality.
About superzooms – forget about canon 18-200, tamrons 18-200 and 18-250. They are poor lenses. Sigma 18-200OS is better. Not as good as nikon 18-200VR, but still very good.
I’d go for sigma 17-70OS f/2.8-4.0. It is very good lens. I know it is not very long lens but with wider aperture and very good optics.
However, it always depends on what the expectations are. What she misses with 18-55? Quality? Range? Be more specific.Hi Colly,
As with many things photographic it really depends on what one is trying to achieve.
Piotr put his finger on the issue with the question in the last line of his post.The type of photographs she wishes to take and her budget should dictate what
equipment she purchases.Different types of photography (Landscape, Portrait, close up, low light events, sport) will
all have different priorities when it comes to the specification of the lens required to do
an ideal job.Whereas a lens with very large maximum aperture would be very beneficial for shooting
rock concerts or other low light events such a lens would not be vital at all if landscapes
were the main area of interest.So as Pietr asked what do you want to do with the lens?
Good luck.
John.
Thanks Guys. Well I suppose we’d be taking all sort of photos, low light is definitely important as is apature as I really like to take portraits. However it is really really nice to have a bit of zoom.
I actually used to have the Sigma 17-70mm when I had my camera (it got nicked :() – although I did like the lens I was not that impressed with it overall – I had used other lenses that were much more basic and thought they were almost as good. I also often waned more than 70mm of zoom which is why I wanted a bigger lens.
I know it’s a 2.8 but when I used my sisters 18-200mm which is 3.5 I think – I thought it was just as good really – however maybe that is just my lack of overall knowledge/ability.
Hmm I’m still confused :( – actually one thing that is very important is I will be using it to take photos in Nightclubs etc a lot – what would be my best option for this?
Hi Colly,
Two things.
1. There is a new model of sigma 17-70. This one is with HSM motor also for other than nikon F mounts (i.e. canon). There is also Optical Stabilisation implemented, and wider aperture at 70mm. As a matter of fact the whole optics was improved significantly. Your old s17-70 is a different story.
2. Your sister’s 18-200 has aperture f/3.5 only at 18mm up to maybe 25mm (don’t know exactly). At 35mm it is f/4, and f5.6 at 100mm. I mean ‘the longer it goes, the darker it gets’.If the priority is zoom go for sigma 18-200os or 18-250os. If you want better quality, playing with depth of field, landscape or … get something else. dSLR is not a compact/bridge camera. When you buy it you must consider buying good lenses, especially for camera with 15Mpixels. Otherwise buying dSLR was meaningless.
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