D90 with Sigma 18-200 OS

[bugshutter]

Hello,
Firstly i hope everyone had a great xmas and new year
My question is , i was wondering if anyone had or has experience with the sigma 18-200 OS lens as i can get my hands on one for a great price.
are there any drawbacks ? OR is this a good lens. Im Mating it to a D90.
Looking forward to your replies.
Thankyou Hans.

[Will Zhao]

I think it's worth considering the Nikkor 18-105 for its price, given from what I hear the Sigma 18-200 does not have a very good reputation

[arthurking83]

I've heard both good and bad of this lens, and have no experience with it, nor much interest in it personally.
Sounds like a good alternative to the far more expensive Nikon tho, and still with optical stabilisation.

According to SLRGear, they give it a good rap at 18mm and 200mm, but sharpness, and hence image quality in the focal lengths in between is both hit and miss and all over the place in terms of sharpness(PhotoZone report the same findings too).
So you can easily assume this lens is both good and bad in terms of sharpness. If your interest is in having a semi decent lens for a very low price, I'd be inclined to go for one, for sure.
But having the Nikon 18-105VR myself, and knowing how good IQ can be from this lens, Will's comments make the most sense. That is, if you think you may not need more than 105mm in focal length in an 'all rounder' lens, then the Nikon 18-105VR will give you very good to excellent images, and then all you'd need is something along the lines of a 70-300VR to get some excellent telephoto images as well.

I can totally understand the need to have 'everything in the one lens' manner of thinking, but then when you do capture that once in a lifetime image and it has some unacceptable image softness or other aberration, you then kick yourself for not having the better lens to capture it with!

[RRRoger]

I have found the new 28-300 FX Nikkor superior to the 18-200 Nikkor or Sigma 18-200 or 18-250mm

[johnnol1]

Hi ,
I used this lens as a general purpose/Travel lens on my D40 for about two years and had no problems or complaints about it,it seemed to be a much more robust build than the Nikon and was of course much cheaper. I recently sold it to fund the purchase of the Tamron 18-270 and so far the test shots I have done on this lens are also very satisfactory.
Regards
johnnol1

[peterb666]

I picked up the Nikon 18-105mm VR lens for $300 and it is hard to fault. OK, it has a plastic mount but it seems to be tough enough, AF accuracy is very good and the VR quite effective. It is an excellent match for the D90 and the standard kit lens for the camera. You can find new expamples at a reasonable price, particularly if they are de-bundled from the kit. The de-bundled lenses come in a white box. rather than the standard gold box.

Check out reviews for most recent lenses here...

http://www.photozone.de/all-tests

and

http://www.lenstip.com/Main_page

The latter site is excellent but can be a bit scary as you won't find a perfect lens. Bbear in mind that all lenses involve compromise so just make sure the compromises represent ones you can live with.

[fisher]

Hi Everyone,

I have the 18 to 105 and find it a good walk around lens for me. I dropped my camera bag of my desk at work and the lens and camera
(D90) parted company plastic mount gave way.Quickly put another lens on and the D90 worked ok. phew. I sent the lens to Perth for repair $70 all up for new fitting and fitted.

Cheers Fisher

[peterb666]

Fisher, that's quite a reasonable repair cost for replacing the mount. Looking on the plus side, it is probably better for the lens mount to break than the body side of the mount.

[wheellathe]

A mate of mine has a 18>200 sigma. Strange as it sounds, it seems pin sharp on some days but then on others it compares to my old Russian Helios.I dont know if it temperature related (internal expansion ) or something as simple as Planetary alignment