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Review on πŸ“· Sigma 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Nikon DSLR Cameras by Josh Payton

Revainrating 5 out of 5

best hyperzoom for Sony/Minolta (at the time of writing)

love this lens on my Sony A700. I use it more than any other lens. The bokeh is not bad, the sharpness is excellent, the color saturation is reminiscent of Minolta's "secret handshake". The distortion is quite easy to correct in post-processing, very stable. PRO: - 27-375mm FF equivalent range, awesome. - Sharp for hyperzoom, especially between 50 and 150mm - Solid feel including zoom lock. - Fast autofocus, HSM is great. Less distortion than many other hyperzoom designs. The magnification of f/2.9 (at 250mm) is excellent for hyperzoom and enables all kinds of applications as a single lens solution. Works great with E-mount when used with LA-EA1.-CA is very minimal (for hyperzoom), strongest at 250mm. - The colors are great. - The weight is light, about 1 pound. CONS: - The zoom seems strange: the zoom ring rotates back from 18mm (Nikon style). far left and 250mm far right. - Manual focusing is very difficult: the focus ring is very light, short stroke, almost zero damping. Wide aperture range, wish it was F4-5.6 instead of F3.5-6.3 - Flare is far from perfect, but not bad for a hyperzoom design. AKRO area. Add a 62mm macro achromatic filter (+2 or +3 diopters) and you can get 1:1 or more! It allows you to focus much closer than most classic Minolta macro lenses (typically f/4 or f/3). Don't bother with extension cords, as macro shots require a telephoto lens. You need 165mm extension tubes to get a 1:1 ratio, which is absolutely insane.

Pros
  • focal length 18-250mm only compatible with APS-C DSLRs
Cons
  • little things