[joshman (Josh)]

hey guys, i picked up this lens last week, and while work and the weather has stopped me from really getting out there with this lens, i've managed to get my head around a few of it's quirks.

but for starters, this is a great lens, with a fantastic walking around zoom range, and for it's price, definitely worth it in my opinion. the lens is equipped with a rather good Optical Stabilisation mechanism, but no quiet motor mechanism, like the USM found in newer canon lens.

this lens is by no means a fast lens, and the focus mechanism is slower than expected, but not unbearable, however, i believe some of this is due to the focus detection found in teh 400D, as the focus is faster on the 40D body. the focus system is also rather noisy, but again, not unbearable.

as for quality, i know that sigma can and does have some quality control issues at times, and some of that has crept into the incarnation of this lens. it is reasonably soft at the wide end, but makes up for it by being sharp at teh full zoom end. I've also noticed some CA towards the edges of the images at the wide end and with a wide aperture, but this is avoidable with careful composition and camera settings.

one other thing to note also is that i've found the colours to be alot more vibrant and better saturated than my other lens'

attached is two example photos out of this lens, they are 100% crops, with no PP, and some jpeg compression.

and here's the details:

Flower:
Canon 400D, 1/80s, ISO200, f8.0 @ 96mm

Fly:
Canon 400D, 1/100s, ISO200, f8.0 @ 200mm

and all this for only $370 delivered to my door!