Emmanouil Skoufos , Aug 24, 2005; 10:53 p.m.
Did you have any experiences with any or all of these lenses? Which
lens would you recommend? I am looking for a replacement for my
Nikkor 18-70 and thought about getting a lens for light weight travel.
I've seen mixed reviews of these lenses individually, but not a
comparison-type review and from my experience I probably prefer Tokina
and Tamron over Sigma for qualityt, but I would like to see if anyone
has any experience with these lenses. Thanks for your input
Jeff Hershberger , Aug 25, 2005; 08:49 a.m.
I went through this same dilema a few months back and ended up with the 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF Zoom-Nikkor http://www.nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1&grp=5&productNr=2143 and am pretty happy with it. I am getting ready to go on an Alaskan cruise and it will be my primary lens. I only plan on getting the 18-70 out if I need to get that ultra wide shot that I cant fit in 28mm. I have noticed though that there is some distortion since the 18 is so wide. Trees and building edges lean in or out towards the top of the picture depending on how I hold the camera, but that is to be expected with such a wide angle.
Glenn Holden , Aug 25, 2005; 09:01 a.m.
Emmanouil:
I have a Pentax DS. I went through the same thing with the Pentax. I thought that the 18-200 would be an ideal "travel" lens.
Fortunately, I am a friend of the camera store owner, and I borrowed both the Sigma 18-200 and the Tamron 18-200. I already have a Tamron 28-200 for my film camera, so initially I was biased towards the Tamron.
I was disappointed in both lens, although I think the Sigma had a slight edge on the Tamron. There is a lot of distortion at the 18 mm end with both lens, and it seems to me more distortation with the Tamron at 200 mm than the Sigma.
In the end I didn't buy either lens, I kept the kit lens that came with the pentax and I use my old 70-210 zoom as the telephoto lens, not ideal, but a good compromise.
I have a friend that has the 18-125 Sigma lens, (unfortnately on a Nikon so I cannot tell you first hand, but at first glance, based on his pictures, it seems to be a better optical quality than the 18-200 lens.
LGH
Bill Tuthill 
, Aug 29, 2005; 01:57 p.m.
Last weekend I culled thru back issues of Popular Photography
magazine, comparing various small-circle lenses for DSLR.
Judging by SQF scores, the best lenses are the Sigma 18-125 and
Sigma 18-50/2.8, although neither Canon 17-85 EFS IS nor Nikon 17-55/2.8 has been tested yet. Pop Photo tested the Tokina 24-200
long ago, and I remember it being not very good, plus it's heavy.
Judging by SQF, either 18-200 is a slight improvement at 50-70mm
over your 18-70, but not at 18mm, and at 200mm both are quite poor
(D grades).
Verona R , Sep 07, 2005; 11:45 p.m.
