18-200 Zoom for Canon (350D)?

kenmc

I met a guy with a real nice Nikon lens 18-200, stabilized, and was incredibly envious of the quality of the pics he got at all ranges with it. And it's a great all-round size for travelling. Currently I've got the EF-S 17-85 IS USM lens, but would love something with a bit more zoom, but still with the same wide angle range - do any of ye know of anything suitable? Ideally with the stabilization if possible. Unfortunately I don't have too much money to throw at it though.

How good are Sigma/Tamron lenses generally? Are they worth looking at or am I better sticking with Canon?
Cheers
K

Fajitas!

Sigma 18-200 gets pretty good reviews. Don't know too much about the Tamron, but if the amount of advertising they do for it reflects on it...It should be pretty alright.

There's a Canon L equivilent for about... 2400...ish

kuroino

Checked 18-200 and 18-125 Sigmas recently. And also their 17-70. 18-200 is not bad at all for its money. No stabilizer though. Anyway, I've chosen 17-70 as it is brighter (2.8 on the wide angle).

Alun

There's a new Sigma 18-200 out now that does have stabilization. Don't know whether it's available in the shops yet.

http://www.sigmaphoto.com/news/news.asp?nID=3277

iconnect

kuroino wrote:

Checked 18-200 and 18-125 Sigmas recently. And also their 17-70. 18-200 is not bad at all for its money. No stabilizer though. Anyway, I've chosen 17-70 as it is brighter (2.8 on the wide angle).

I have the sigma 18-200mm and think its a great lens can post you some pics taken with it if you like.

kenmc

Thanks iconnect,
is it the OS model, or the regular one? How do you find camera shake affecting hand-held shots at full zoom? Whats the slowest sort of speeds you can get away with?

mloc

I have the Nikon 18-200 vr that you were talking about, but if you already have a 17-85 getting something like a 70-200 on top of that would nearly be just as good.

It's a great lens and all, no doubt about it, but AFAIK theres no real directly comparing canon.

iconnect

kenmc wrote:

Thanks iconnect,
is it the OS model, or the regular one? How do you find camera shake affecting hand-held shots at full zoom? Whats the slowest sort of speeds you can get away with?

No its not the os model and at the same time it needs a good amount of light but the lens is sharp, as regards the camera shake i posted a pic taken at nearly full zoom the other day amd the image below was taken at 200mm
Its not a wonder lens and it finds it hard to focus in low light but for the money its not bad im happy with it.
hope thats some help.

311

I enquired about the 18-200 OS lens last week and there isn't even a price for the lens yet. I asked the guy to estimate the price compared to the standard one and he said he wreckoned it would be a good bit dearer than the standard one.

Would the OS actually benefit the lens indoors and in low light ,or is it just to stop camera shake??? i.e ,is the amount of light getting into the lens the reason why the camera can't autofocus ??

iconnect

I dont think the os is going to help the camera focus any better in low light thats just the brightness of the lens. The only advantage to the os would be you could slow the shutter speed slightly without the camera shake being evident. The auto focus on the lens is a bit slow also but if you have decent light or can fire the pre_flash then its not a problem. By the way what are you getting quoted for the lens price wise

311

He didn't know what price ,but I said to him what did he wreckon OS lenses fetched in comparison and I think he was talking the 500 mark or more.
I don't think a lens of that range is ever going to be a great lens.
A 20-100 2.8 lens would be nice ,with internal zooming.

mikeanywhere

iconnect wrote:

I have the sigma 18-200mm and think its a great lens .

I have the non IS version too and its great value for money. I miss not having the IS like my 70-200 but the weight difference is immense between the two lenses.

If you are using shots with a tripod then it wont matter too much. Handheld at 200mm does get a bit dodgy