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Sigma 18-35f1.8 ART vs 17-55f2.8
#1
Canon 17-55f2.8 IS has been my favorite and most used lens for more than 10 years, I enjoyed it more than any photography gear, never let me down. And never disappointed.

Now I own it and own 15-85, 15-85 has a very convenient range and I see myself leaving 17-55f2.8 at home.

I was looking for fast primes then I saw Sigma 18-35f1.8, seems like a sweet lens to get, however I am afraid it should have the same fate as 17-55 and I find it hard for this lens to find its way to my bag and leave 17-55 at home.... Unless you have something else to say, and I am seriously taking measures to stop myself from hoarding lenses
#2
It's crazy sharp and renders very well - but I don't think, you would be happy with it. Speed is one thing, limited focal range and weight and seize are others. It's more for those who want a really fast 18 mm and are happy to get 20, 24, 28 and 35 along with it. Walking around through a city in the evening, only that lens, a decent body, no tripod. I liked it, but it's tricky to focus on Nikon DSLR and at the end of the day, it doesn't beat a fast FF lens like 20, 24, 35 f/1.4.

#3
What do you mean by tricky to focus?

What's the point of fast lenses if focus isn't accurate?

That alone is a no no for me.

Aside back focus on 750D now corrected, not a single problem with 17-55 if it has focus issues I will just forget about it
#4
You judge far too soon and far too wrong  :lol:

 

I always hesitate to answer a person with such quick conclusions and bad reading skills.

 

"I liked it, but it's tricky to focus on Nikon DSLR..." "tricky" ≠ "impossible" Who said it's not accurate? Only you, toni-a. There's an article about that lens focusing with a Canon whatever on DPReview. Thanks to your answer I'm now too lazy to look for it. Long story short, on Canon it was pretty good to focus, but not on each Canon. On Nikon, there are 51 focus fields, these rectangles are big compared to some subjects I wanted to focus on. If it's small objects - and at 18 mm a lot of things suddenly become smaller than the AF rectangles - I was better off to switch to LiveView and focus manually. Which is not practical in each moment.

 

But your too quick conclusion is also what I think about you and this lens - it's not for you, stick with your highly reliable 17-55 forever and don'ts start experimenting with lenses trickier to handle than that.

 

And no matter how sharp the lens is: meant for dark situations and at the same time in front of an APS-C body with all the noise issues appearing when heading towards ISO 3200: The noise eats a lot of sharpness. It is a special lens, for reportage it's great - for you shooting landscapes with tripod @ f/16 pointless.

#5
I have been using S18-35 with my 70D for almost two years. It is my walk around lens and I have been traveling with it a lot. It is a heavy lens for sure but the rendering is beautiful and I absolutely love it. I usually bring the EFS55-250 STM with me to cover the long range, and my M2 with EFM11-22 if I am planning to shoot some wide angle.

 

As JoJu said it is indeed tricky to focus sometimes, and yes there will be miss shots due to focus (at least on my 70D). But I can also imagine there will be more miss shot during my travel if I am with a lens having maximum aperture of f2.8 only between 18-35mm, IS or not.

#6
casperl, the 70D should do really well with that lens, I thought/read? https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canon-eos-70d/12

 

Did you go through the long process of AF-finetune with the USB-dock?

 

I also loved shooting with it and found the limited FL range quite inspiring, but even under best conditions the APS-C sensor gave a bit less quality than 24, 35, 50/1.4 primes on FF - which of course were always less convenient to handle.

#7
JoJu, I know that is what I read everywhere as well  :wacko:  I did tweak it with USB dock and 70D's inbody AFMA, but it still goes off a bit some times when focusing on subject closer to me. At f1.8 dof is quite thin but I have less issues with EF50ii at f1.8 so I assume it is not purely my skill's issue...Maybe I will play around with it a bit more next time I got home.

 

And everybody says it focus perfectly with DPAF, but on my 70D it lags crazily. I actually sent it back to Sigma once but issue remains. Luckily I always shoot through OVF anyways.

 

I found the limited range aid me to think more about perspective. I was on one lens only (S30 f1.4A) for one year before switching to this one. Not many people like that lens either but I still enjoyed my time with it. 

 

 

#8
I can understand not many people like that lens - it demands that the person using it knows a bit or two about AF and is able to help making AF some better decisions. I'm not familiar with Canon Dual Pixel AF, so I don't know what's going on - but I remember diffusely, DPReview only found Dual Pixel AF to improve things massively - they didn't claim 100% perfection.

 

After my post I opened the Nikon library and the about 650 pictures I made with that lens before selling all "APS-C only" stuff. In Apple Aperture I can display the focus "points" and they are more or less a copy of what I see in the finder. Which are comparatively huge in a D7100 and small in a D5100. I never knew, where exactly was the best focus happening. There were parts I remembered or guessed taht should have been the focus target, but these were filling the rectangle maybe 15-20% and the rest were sometimes also contrasty things closeby. Wires, structures, harsh shadows.

 

The DoF is thin, true, but in the OVF I could not always detect the missing AF. And the adjustments with the dock were time consuming, to use a friendly expression. I think, Sigma had to face a lot problems not with the lens but with the available AF systems which can nail the spot or fail the second time aiming at exactly the same point. It's really as if the AF is doing window shopping and says occassionally "oh, shiny! like that! stop the focusing motor!"

 

PZ (Klaus) gave it a "highly recommended", and not without a reason. But also not without a warning about the FL range. It saves a lot space in your bag when thinking which fast primes it replaces without any lack of IQ. But then, who carries around a group of 18, 20, 24, 28, 30, 35 mm lenses? Aynway, genuine Nikkors don't cover a fast 18 mm, 20/1.8 sometimes is not enough and the old saying of stepping back - well, I could do that on some paths, but just only once and hope I catch the right frsame while falling down in the canyon.  ^_^

#9
Yes I usually try to find something contrasty to focus with this lens. Much easier when shooting landscape but not so much when trying to photo people. I also always do multiple shots, again easy with landscape but not so much with "soft object" before they storm off  Tongue

 

Still, love this lens (maybe not so much from my shoulder.) 

  


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