Canon 10D & New Sigma DC Zoom

Has anyone seen test reviews / user reports / or purchased the new Sigma
18-125mm DC lens? From a technical standpoint, the specs read great but I am
curious on its performance given the low price. Since the 10D cannot use the
new Canon lenses, this zoom range would theoretically make a great addition.

In article , Hans Fischl
wrote:

Has anyone seen test reviews / user reports / or purchased the new Sigma
18-125mm DC lens? From a technical standpoint, the specs read great but I am
curious on its performance given the low price. Since the 10D cannot use the
new Canon lenses, this zoom range would theoretically make a great addition.

The name Sigma says it all.

Randall Ainsworth writes:
In article , Hans Fischl
wrote:
Has anyone seen test reviews / user reports / or purchased the new Sigma
18-125mm DC lens? From a technical standpoint, the specs read great but I am
curious on its performance given the low price. Since the 10D cannot use the
new Canon lenses, this zoom range would theoretically make a great addition.

The name Sigma says it all.

No, Randall buddy, I'm afraid it doesn't.

But, I can appreciate that it's a very simple thing to say with brand
name snobbery. However, the truth is always more complex and takes
actual experience.

Sigma has made some fabulous lenses that cost a hell of a lot less
than their Canon counterparts and have optical performance that comes
very close. It's true you may run a compatibility issue down the road
whereby you have no guarantees from either company that Sigma EOS
lenses of today will work with anything more than today's EOS cameras.
It's also true that if you're a pro and make your living off your
photographic work that it's probably worth keeping your life simple
and spending the premium for Canon all the time if you're with the
Canon system. For the weekend warrior or prosumer photographer
though, the choice becomes an economic one trading price for perhaps
some performance.

So, the question remains "Anyone actually used the new Sigma 18-125mm
DC lens?

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

On 22 Sep 2004 09:42:19 -0500, (Todd H.) wrote:

Randall Ainsworth writes:
In article , Hans Fischl
wrote:
Has anyone seen test reviews / user reports / or purchased the new Sigma
18-125mm DC lens? From a technical standpoint, the specs read great but I am
curious on its performance given the low price. Since the 10D cannot use the
new Canon lenses, this zoom range would theoretically make a great addition.

The name Sigma says it all.

No, Randall buddy, I'm afraid it doesn't.

But, I can appreciate that it's a very simple thing to say with brand
name snobbery. However, the truth is always more complex and takes
actual experience.

It does, Sigma is probably the worst 3rd party lens company (of the
main ones), Opticaly they are fine, its the connection between camera
and lens that they don't get right. Tokina's are good. Personaly I
had a 3rd party Tamron lens, and the AF was so slow...

The truth is more complex but anyone can Google it. For a quick refresher
Sigma build quality is less than ideal, the lenses do tend to fall apart
Sigma compatibility is bad. They reverse engineer the mounts in order to
save a few buck on license fees - consequently a Sigma that will work on a
current model might not work on future models. Sigma claims they will
re-chip lenses but they will fudge this too.
A friend sent them a lens that took six months to re-chip and it came
back ready to go on his Elan II but then would not work on my EOS 3 - a
model that was on the market when the lens was sent in for re-chipping.
Sigma would not re-chip it a second time.
My own Sigma lens that was "Too old" to rechip - it was six years old. I
was still using my 13 year old first Canon zoom on our fifth Canon body at
the time so I have a different view of "old" than the slime buckets at
Sigma.
You are trading price for performance AND for permanence. Sigma is always
a bad deal.


--
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com
home of The Camera-ist's Manifesto
The Improved Links Pages are at
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com/links/mlinks00.html
A sample chapter from "Haight-Ashbury" is at
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com/writ/hait/hatitl.html

"Todd H." wrote in message ...
Randall Ainsworth writes:
In article , Hans Fischl
wrote:
Has anyone seen test reviews / user reports / or purchased the new
Sigma
18-125mm DC lens? From a technical standpoint, the specs read great
but I am
curious on its performance given the low price. Since the 10D cannot
use the
new Canon lenses, this zoom range would theoretically make a great
addition.

The name Sigma says it all.

No, Randall buddy, I'm afraid it doesn't.

But, I can appreciate that it's a very simple thing to say with brand
name snobbery. However, the truth is always more complex and takes
actual experience.

Sigma has made some fabulous lenses that cost a hell of a lot less
than their Canon counterparts and have optical performance that comes
very close. It's true you may run a compatibility issue down the road
whereby you have no guarantees from either company that Sigma EOS
lenses of today will work with anything more than today's EOS cameras.
It's also true that if you're a pro and make your living off your
photographic work that it's probably worth keeping your life simple
and spending the premium for Canon all the time if you're with the
Canon system. For the weekend warrior or prosumer photographer
though, the choice becomes an economic one trading price for perhaps
some performance.

So, the question remains "Anyone actually used the new Sigma 18-125mm
DC lens?

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

The truth is more complex but anyone can Google it. For a quick refresher
Sigma build quality is less than ideal, the lenses do tend to fall apart
Sigma compatibility is bad. They reverse engineer the mounts in order to
save a few buck on license fees - consequently a Sigma that will work on a
current model might not work on future models. Sigma claims they will
re-chip lenses but they will fudge this too.
A friend sent them a lens that took six months to re-chip and it came
back ready to go on his Elan II but then would not work on my EOS 3 - a
model that was on the market when the lens was sent in for re-chipping.
Sigma would not re-chip it a second time.
My own Sigma lens that was "Too old" to rechip - it was six years old. I
was still using my 13 year old first Canon zoom on our fifth Canon body at
the time so I have a different view of "old" than the slime buckets at
Sigma.
You are trading price for performance AND for permanence. Sigma is always
a bad deal.


--
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com
home of The Camera-ist's Manifesto
The Improved Links Pages are at
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com/links/mlinks00.html
A sample chapter from "Haight-Ashbury" is at
http://www.chapelhillnoir.com/writ/hait/hatitl.html

"Todd H." wrote in message ...
Randall Ainsworth writes:
In article , Hans Fischl
wrote:
Has anyone seen test reviews / user reports / or purchased the new
Sigma
18-125mm DC lens? From a technical standpoint, the specs read great
but I am
curious on its performance given the low price. Since the 10D cannot
use the
new Canon lenses, this zoom range would theoretically make a great
addition.

The name Sigma says it all.

No, Randall buddy, I'm afraid it doesn't.

But, I can appreciate that it's a very simple thing to say with brand
name snobbery. However, the truth is always more complex and takes
actual experience.

Sigma has made some fabulous lenses that cost a hell of a lot less
than their Canon counterparts and have optical performance that comes
very close. It's true you may run a compatibility issue down the road
whereby you have no guarantees from either company that Sigma EOS
lenses of today will work with anything more than today's EOS cameras.
It's also true that if you're a pro and make your living off your
photographic work that it's probably worth keeping your life simple
and spending the premium for Canon all the time if you're with the
Canon system. For the weekend warrior or prosumer photographer
though, the choice becomes an economic one trading price for perhaps
some performance.

So, the question remains "Anyone actually used the new Sigma 18-125mm
DC lens?

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

Phil Wheeler wrote:

Todd H. wrote:

So, the question remains "Anyone actually used the new Sigma 18-125mm
DC lens?


There is a review (with the 10D) here

http://fiedler.free.fr/review/

very interesting.

looking at the sigma crops at 125 mm hurts my eyes.


Phil

Phil Wheeler wrote:

Todd H. wrote:

So, the question remains "Anyone actually used the new Sigma 18-125mm
DC lens?


There is a review (with the 10D) here

http://fiedler.free.fr/review/

very interesting.

looking at the sigma crops at 125 mm hurts my eyes.


Phil

Crownfield wrote:
Phil Wheeler wrote:

Todd H. wrote:

So, the question remains "Anyone actually used the new Sigma 18-125mm
DC lens?


There is a review (with the 10D) here

http://fiedler.free.fr/review/


very interesting.

looking at the sigma crops at 125 mm hurts my eyes.


That lens in not on my list to buy. Other posters reported some build
problems as I recall.

Phil

Crownfield wrote:
Phil Wheeler wrote:

Todd H. wrote:

So, the question remains "Anyone actually used the new Sigma 18-125mm
DC lens?


There is a review (with the 10D) here

http://fiedler.free.fr/review/


very interesting.

looking at the sigma crops at 125 mm hurts my eyes.


That lens in not on my list to buy. Other posters reported some build
problems as I recall.

Phil