After much pondering and internal debate, I picked up a cheapo “Sigma 18-50mm f/3.5-5.6 DC Lens”:http://sigmaphoto.com/lenses/lenses_all_details.asp?id=3286&navigator=6 today for $109. I debated a lot between it and the “Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 ASP IF DC”:http://sigmaphoto.com/lenses/lenses_all_details.asp?id=3287&navigator=6 and I’m still not 100% certain I made the right choice.
I want a lens that will make decent images in most situations while remaining light weight and minimizing the need to change lenses. This will then allow me to “just shoot” so that I’ll be inclined to make more photographs. I get so much practice on the technical aspects of photography that I often forget that the creative side needs practice too. So, with this lens, I’m hoping to get that practice.
So, starting tomorrow, I’m going to keep the camera out and ready as often as possible. Feel free to offer themes, ideas, or concepts for me to attempt to photograph.
When looking for this lens, quality wasn’t *that* important to me, but I didn’t want it to be terrible. Most sites that rate lenses rate it *very* low, but all of the images I’d seen taken with it did not seem to be all that bad. My own tests show that it is a fairly decent lens, especially considering the price.
At 50mm and f/8, I could not tell its images apart from my prime Nikkor 50mm f/1.8. I know that sounds absurd, since the 50mm prime is one of the sharpest lenses Nikon makes, but from my unscientific method (use a tripod and take two photographs of the exact same scene from the same spot with the same camera and same settings. When I stopped down to f/3.5 (the max aperture of the Sigma at 50mm) you can just barely see a difference between the two, not so much in sharpness but in contrast.
The next time I’m at my Dad’s place, I’ll put it up against his Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G D70 kit lens at multiple focal lengths. If there’s interest in seeing these comparisons, I’d be happy to post the images with explanations and 100% view crops.