Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC IF Aspherical Zoom Lens for Olympus and Panasonic Digital SLR Cameras Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)(1/27/2006) Rarely have I anticipated a purchase so much.A real general purpose lens that I could use in nearly all situations.You understand.Those times you don't want to lug your bag around and swap lenses.Just a quick shoot.Well, I can tell you that this will not be the lens.Why?Well, the design is flawed.I've now tried two (Thanks Amazon for a liberal return policy) on my Olympus E-500 (great camera) and while composing a shot is just as easy as it with the Zuikos, at full zoom nearly all the shots are dark.Very dark.Even Outside.Even with Flash.It is as if that with the lens fully extended (it nearly doubles in length at full zoom), not enough light can hit the sensor.Man, what a bummer.Now between 18-80 (36-160 for the non 4/3rds crowd), the shots are just fine.Perfect in fact.But I didn't buy an 18-80.I purchased an 18-125, and I want it work as advertised and the sad truth is that it does NOT.So, sad to say, I'm returning the second one.In fairness, I own another Sigma lens (55-200) that works just fine.And Sigma clearly attempts to make an affordable lens (unlike Zuiko) which I find attractive.So bear in mind my review applies to this lens and this lens only.Bad Design.Try again Sigma, try again.I'm still in the market for a good all purpose zoom lens.

NOTE: I've since learned that you can salvage these dark images if you shot in RAW, and use Photoshop Camera Raw to bring the detail back.Doesn't change the design flaw, but again, if you're budget crunched and can handle shooting a RAW, you may be to work around the design flaw using the just described technique.If you shoot to JPEG, the detail is lost and you'll never get the shot back.

2nd Note(3/1/2006): I've since acquired the Zuiko 18-180 lens.It works great.If you are looking for an all purpose zoom, zoom in on this one (pun intended).

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Product Description:
Sigma Photo 18-125mm F3.5-5.6 DC SLR Digital-Camera Lens - This zoom lens was exclusively designed for use with digital Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras and has 6.9 times high magnification zoom ratio. Image circle is designed to match the size of the image sensor of digital SLR cameras. A Special Low Dispersion (SLD) and two pieces of aspherical glass elements produce high level of optical performance through the entire zoom range and also this has resulted in a compact, lightweight lens. This lens has a minimum focusing distance of 50cm (19.6in.) at all focal lengths and equipped with inner focusing system. Since the front of the lens does not rotate, "Petal Shaped Hood" and a circular polarizing filter can be easily attached and used. This lens is also equipped with "Zoom Lock Switch" that eliminates "Zoom Creep."

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