Review of the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 EX DC Macro

www.sigma.co.uk If you’re looking for something a little more than just a standard zoom, Sigma offers a few lenses with Macro capabilities built in. This lens offers 1:3 macro magnification as well as standard zoom shooting equating to 27-75mm in 35mm terms. The new design of this lens is claimed to increase peripheral brightness, while the inclusion of Special Low Dispersion and Extraordinary Low Dispersion glass and aspheric elements correct distortion and chromatic aberrations. Sigma is a member of the Four Thirds groups, so the lens is available for Olympus/Panasonic cameras as well as Nikon, Canon, Sony, Sigma and Pentax. Build and Handling The velvety, slightly rubberised coating on the plastic barrel is tactile and attractive, while the grooved rubber zoom and focus rings are comfortable. The focus ring only turns when the camera is in manual focus mode; attempting to operate it in AF meets resistance, and forcing will break the gears. The zoom ring is dampened and smooth and the inner, secondary barrel extends as the zoom is moved to the tele end. Unlike some other Sigma lenses this model lacks the Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM), which makes this optic’s AF slightly noisier and slower than the Nikon, Olympus or Canon lenses in this category. Image Quality The Sigma impresses with its high central resolution but at wide apertures that resolution falls off towards the corners. However it maintains an excellent average resolution, particularly at 18mm. The optic’s best performance, or sweet spot is at f/8 at 18mm and f/11 at 50mm. The 50mm end is excellent with very little fringing, in most cases below a 1 pixel rise, though this does increase slightly to around 1.5 pixels at 18mm, showing the difficulty of wideangle lenses. Though in this case, the fringing is barely evident in most pictorial scenes. Verdict If you’re looking for something completely different, Sigma provides a very viable option. For less than the price of the camera brands lenses, the 18-50mm features macro capability, making it unique in this round-up. Not only that, but the fast aperture and excellent performance offer good value for money. What Digital Camera Score 88%