Sigma 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM IF Lens for Pentax Digital SLR Cameras

Buy Sigma 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM IF Lens for Pentax Digital SLR Cameras Order Today!

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Sigma
Over All Rating Reviews :

Great Deal :
$479.00
Date Created :
Sep 17, 2010 15:34:12

The SIGMA 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM incorporates Sigma's original anti-shake compensation function, with a 13.8 times zoom ratio. For the camera have anti-shake function in the camera body, this lens's Hybrid Optical Stabilizer provide not only anti-shake function for the camera body compensation, but also provide the function to compensate the image shaking in the view finder of the camera like anti-shake compensation built in the lens. Incorporating four Special Low Dispersion glass elements and three Aspherical lens elements provides excellent image quality throughout the entire zoom range. This lens has a minimum focusing distance of 45cm (17.7 inches) at all focal lengths and a maximum magnification of 1: 3.4 reproduction ratio, making it ideal for close-up photography. An inner focusing system eliminates front lens rotation, making it suitable for use with circular polarizing filters and the supplied petal-type hood. Incorporating super multi layer coating reduce the ghost in the backlight photography.

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After tons of browsing reviews for superzooms from Nikon, Sigma, and Tamron, I took a gamble on the Sigma for reasons I found all over the reviews: low distortion, HSM (focus), and bokeh. And below is what I found after using it for a while:

Pros:
1. The most surprising factor on a D90 body is that it is only slightly bigger than D90's kit lens 18-105mm VR, and therefore IT DOES NOT BLOCK THE FLASH! I was almost ready to squeeze some money for an external flash, but it was put on hold because the camera flash can work fine.
2. Virtually no lens creep (and there is a lock button in case it happens). Quality construction that is.
3. Nice bokeh, as usual Sigma lenses have creamy bokeh, which is a big plus for such zoom lenses.
4. When in manual focus, the focus ring is very smooth

Cons:
1. The biggest problem for me is no manual overriding the focus. Auto focus would lock the focus ring on the lens, and the ring actually would rotate when it is focusing. Only when switching to manual focus can I turn the focus ring.
2. As indicated in most reviews, the sharpness may not be optimal (I can only compare it to Nikon 18-105mm). BUT it is not that bad, even for a pixel peeper like me, I am fine with its sharpness most of the time when looking at it @100%.
3. OS functions kind of oddly (to me). The Nikon 18-105mm turns VR on only when I half-press the shutter, otherwise it is off. But Sigma 18-250mm seems to have it on for a certain time. When the camera is idle for some time, OS is then turned off, and you can hear it from the lens. Wondering if this is wasting more battery. Also as indicated in the reviews, the OS doesn't seem to be as solid as Nikon's or Tamron's stabalization. But of course, it's no big deal when you have a steady hand.

Overall, it's a 5 star for me. Good features, quality, price, and some minor cons. I was worried the most about its sharpness, but it turned out satisfactory. So I am very happy with it.

• Pentax K-7 14.6 MP Digital SLR with Shake Reduction and 720p HD Video (Body Only)
• Tiffen 72mm UV Protection Filter
• Hoya HMC Haze UV(0) - Filter - UV - 72 mm
• Pentax D-Li90 Lithium Ion replacement battery
• Pentax Remote Control F for Pentax Digital Cameras

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