18-50mm F2.8 SIGMA DC EX MACRO for CANON (72) AUTO FOCUS STANDARD ZOOM LENS

One of the little noticed 3rd party lens around, the sigma was made as an equivalent to rival canon's 17-55F2.8, truth is.. optically the sigme does perform well, and give some very sharp images wide open at F2.8. Sadly however, due to lack of good marketing and pricing, most people seem to going for the tamron eqivalent instead. Not to say that the tamron is not good, but its body is pretty plasticky... especially if you are used to good old manual lenses or L lenses. The sigma definitely proves to be more solid in built.

The sigma 18-50F2.8 gives a wide to tele range on a cropped factor body, and is a fantastic kit lens (18-55) replacement, the F2.8 constant aperture allows even beginners to shoot well in low light condition, combined with today's excellent noise controls at high ISO, low light shooting has never been easier before. This range is fantastic for daily street shooting, some portraits, and event coverage, because any wide than 18mm there will usually be the unwanted distortion and stretching, any longer than 50mm, usually not needed in covering events.

Next useful function is the macro of this lens. No need to switch to macro mode, it allows a min focusing distance of only 0.38m from the sensor to the subject, which means to say you can shoot macros on the go. Of cos it isnt a dedicated 1:1 magnification, but hey.. you ain't shooting bugs with this lens either. Image quality is pretty good, in fact, compared to the $1500+ canon 17-55 IS, or nikon's $1800+ 17-55F2.8, you most probably cannot tell the difference in the image taken.

There is a newer updated version of this 18-50 for sale in stores with OS, however sadly to say, it is not an F2.8 constant lens, at 50mm it becomes F4, thus less incentive to buy that.. not to mention that it will cost more than 2 times of this lens.

Image taken with lens by LENS.sg staff:

Taken at F2.8 on a 7D, very sharp lens.