Camera Labs

Sigma recently announced the SIGMA 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 II DC OS HSM. Differences from previous one include the addition of HSM and the use of their FLD element which supposedly is Fluorite like. List price is rather high but thankfully street prices are usually more sane.

From the images the HSM looks like the cheap type consistent with the 18-250 model. Question is will the FLD element bring a significant update to the superzoom lens category?

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

It might help with flare/overall contrast. I wouldn't expect a miracle, but since the previous one won a TIPA award I do have decent expectations.

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

Quite disappointing. The most important thing they should worry about is the f6.3 aperture. They really should make it f5.6 because autofocus at f6.3 is can be unreliable and slow.

I do hope it's faster than the current version which is really slow focusing on my Canon (it appears even Canon's lens, which isn't even USM, is much faster).

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My Gear:
Canon EOS Rebel XSi
Sigma 18-200mm OS
Sigma 150-500mm OS HSM
HD Camcorder: Panasonic HDC-HS60



Flickr, latest 200 photos: http://flickr.com/photos/frankyboy5/

YouTube: http://ca.youtube.com/user/PahangDragonbird (Piano, Singing, Slideshows and more!) I went to the New Year's Countdown at Times Square!

i am also waiting for this new lens!

I've been looking at this lens, but it seems to me that while the reviews I've found so far say it's not bad and fairly sharp:

Here are the reviews (I have found the links in a dpreview forum thread):
http://www.lenstip.com/328.1-Lens_revie ... ction.html
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/sigma ... view-19206
http://www.popphoto.com/gear/2012/05/le ... -dc-os-hsm
http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Public ... super-zoom

I've tried a used Nikkon 18-200mm VR and it's been very impressive, except at the long end, but the front element was had a scratch and it seemed the coating was coming off a bit, so I didn't buy it.

Anyway, does anyone have links to raw samples from this Sigma?
I'm asking because the difference between the samples in jpeg the owner of the Nikkor sent me were so soft that I thought the lens would be no good, but the raw shots I took with it were very sharp between 18-60mm and took me a bit by surprise. I've only found jpeg samples from the new Sigma so far and they were fairly soft, but if I were able to squeeze some extra sharpness out of the raw files....

Has anyone compared the lens directly to the Tamron 18-270 PZD? I've tried the Tamron out in a store and the AF speed just wasn't good enought for me. A little bit slower than the 18-55mm Nikkor kit lens through the range, but not that great when focusing between subject either. The 18-200mm Nikkor's AF has been about 2-3 faster than that of my kit lens.