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Good general purpose lens for a Canon Rebel XTI

T

timswim78

Diamond Member
I have a Rebel XTI, and I am tired of changing between my 18-55 and 70-300 lenses. Also, I find that I often want to shoot something in that 55-70 range that I am missing.

So, I am looking for a lens that:
- Has good (not necessarily great) optics
- Includes at least 18-70mm
- Is image stabilized
- Has a high-speed motor
- Is less than $500

Right now, I am looking at two lenses in particular
- The Sigma 18-125mm F3.8-5.6 DC OS HSM http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lens...sp?id=3342&navigator=6"]http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/lenses_all_details.asp?id=3342&navigator=6[/URL]
- The Canon EF-S 17-85MM f4-5.6 IS USM http://www.usa.canon.com/consu...10511#ModelFeaturesAct"]http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=149&modelid=10511#ModelFeaturesAct[/URL]

Any thoughts?
 
You know I am looking at the Sigma 18-125 DC OS HSM.. Its about 400 at B & H Photo Video.

I have no reviews, but for a general purpose lens it sounds really appetising..
 
Photozone.de gave it a pretty good review for a 7x lens. It will still suffer from the common problems (CA, distortion) but has some serious AF issues on the wide angle half.

Their synopsis:
The Sigma AF 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC is naturally a compromise but the package is a bit more sound compared to its more ambitious sister lens - the AF 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC. Sigma seems to have followed a quite interesting design approach - ignoring distortions and focus on the rest and this works out pretty well. The lens is very sharp specifically around the wide end of the zoom range but the tele settings aren´t bad either. CAs are about average and vignetting could be a little better at wide-open aperture. Nonetheless these are viable compromises for an extremely compact 7x zoom. Unfortunately the AF performance of the lens isn't quite as promising. On the EOS 350D AF accuracy is totally unacceptable when using a focal length below 50mm - I haven't really experienced another lens (besides the 18-200mm) which performs as bad in this respect. Trusting the camera is no good idea here. I used the lens extensively during a recent vacation and after a couple of days I gave up and disabled AF for wide angle shots (Note: normally I'm using the central AF point only for better accuracy ...). The lens may work out better on an EOS 30D or EOS 400D.
Click to expand...
 
Originally posted by: Jawo
Photozone.de gave it a pretty good review for a 7x lens. It will still suffer from the common problems (CA, distortion) but has some serious AF issues on the wide angle half.

Their synopsis:
The Sigma AF 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC is naturally a compromise but the package is a bit more sound compared to its more ambitious sister lens - the AF 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC. Sigma seems to have followed a quite interesting design approach - ignoring distortions and focus on the rest and this works out pretty well. The lens is very sharp specifically around the wide end of the zoom range but the tele settings aren´t bad either. CAs are about average and vignetting could be a little better at wide-open aperture. Nonetheless these are viable compromises for an extremely compact 7x zoom. Unfortunately the AF performance of the lens isn't quite as promising. On the EOS 350D AF accuracy is totally unacceptable when using a focal length below 50mm - I haven't really experienced another lens (besides the 18-200mm) which performs as bad in this respect. Trusting the camera is no good idea here. I used the lens extensively during a recent vacation and after a couple of days I gave up and disabled AF for wide angle shots (Note: normally I'm using the central AF point only for better accuracy ...). The lens may work out better on an EOS 30D or EOS 400D.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...


Thats not the same lens.. they reviewed the older DC.. not the Optical stablized and HSM lens..

they updated the lens.
 
Originally posted by: TheGoodGuy

Thats not the same lens.. they reviewed the older DC.. not the Optical stablized and HSM lens..

they updated the lens.
Click to expand...

Sorry....didn't catch the difference. With HSM the AF problem should be fixed...and with everything else constant, should be a great AIW lens.
 
Are you sure you won`t conisder one of the excelent 24-75mm f2.8 from Tamron? No IS but fast, cheap and well regarded.
Canon 28-135 IS might be an option also?
 
Thanks for all of the input. I ended up buying a Canon 17-85mm, for $300 new. I felt like the Sigma was too much of a gamble, seeing as it has not really been reviewed. Also, I do not like the fact that the Sigma does not allow manual refocusing in AF mode.
 
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