Postby Duane 3NE 2NR » January 29th, 2008, 6:36 pm
WRT Sigma lenses:
my most versatile lens for my Canon 40D is a Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 OS (object stabilisation)
its not as fast in autofocus as an L series but it is faster than a 28-135mm IS Canon lens.
18 means you get pretty wide and 200 means you get decent zoom - all in one lens with image stabilisation. Its a great workhorse lens and very very versatile. In fact its so versatile it hardly ever comes off the camera since I hardly ever need to change it!
Sigma is also usually cheaper than Canon - in fact nearly everything is usually cheaper than Canon, even Nikon!
The problem with Sigma and Tamron lenses is that their quality control is not as good as Canon's and you can get a bad copy of a lens, maybe with a softspot somewhere in all your pictures or unsually slow auto focus - the best way to buy a SIgma or Tamron is to go try ti out yourself at a store - and that is difficult for us here in T&T to do.
I have three Sigma lenses
a 10-20mm EX
a 18-200mm OS DC
and a 50-500mm EX
and 1 Canon lens - a fixed 50mm f/1.8
I ordered all through Amazon.com, never had a problem with any - but I've heard some horror stories and lenses having to be returned from other online buyers who werent able to check the lens before purchasing.