Sigma 886306 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 Contemporary DC Macro OS HSM Lens for Nikon, Black

Being it's still so difficult to find reviews of this lens, and it's now the holiday season, here's a limited pic first impression mounted on a Nikon D5100. When compared to the latest Sigma 18-250mm Macro lens this lens feels of better build quality, noticeably heavier up front, stiffer zooming (not a bad thing), noticeably sharper images...seemingly across the full zoom, feels about the same focusing speed across all lighting/zoom...possibly a tad faster, stabilization seems about the same...possibly a tad better, BUT...WOW THIS LENS BREATHS LIKE A DRANGON. You can actually feel the air being forced through the camera. Some have commented about the Nikon 55-300mm lens being a dust sucker, I don't find that lens too terrible, but I'm pretty sure this lens will have that one beat hands down...unfortunately. My particular lens does have a noticeable "click" when ending its focus hunt, possibly a parking mechanism for gears?, and its focus is dead on right out of the box. Barrel distortion isn't too bad, chromatic aberration doesn't appear to be either, but with the built-in flash I've gotten a few shots with a half moon on the bottom from the lens blocking the flash. At this point I'd have to call this lens a buy, bearing in mind it might not be the best choice for a dusty environment. If you're after a versatile family lens this lens can catch my 18 month old grandson indoors, in low lighting, clearly...and he never stops moving, not even in his sleep. Deer out in the field, snowscapes, birds at the feeder, Jack-frost paintings, snowflakes,...hopefully its longevity matches its versatility.

It's a very good lens, in my opinion better than some Pentax lenses that I own. Very good macro capabilities, sharp all the way, nice colors, very silent, not the fastest but very fast autofocus, annoying vignette but not the worst (might be the lens hood). Perfect for hiking and traveling due to it's pretty compact form and low weight (for a 300mm at least). Great versatility, you can shoot everything from macro to portrait to landscape and to wildlife. The very silent autofocus and sharp 300mm is just perfect for wildlife, way better than my other Sigma 135-400mm that is noisy and very very heavy.

Build quality is ok. Zoom might be stiff when lenses are new, zoom lock is also nice thing to prevent zoom creep when you walk with camera banging on your chest.AF is fast and quiet, though focus ring is tiny so is not handy if you like mastering focus on your own. AF in low light may result in premature shots though.Beside zoom range, acceptable distortion level is one of reason why those are good all around lenses. With such long zoom range, distortion is well controlled on most of focal length and noticeable only at the beginning 18-20mm.Sharpness of lenses is ok. 7-8mpx is the sharpest they can deliver according to DXO and I feel same. This is more than enough for enthusiast photography and also enough to store photos for memories. Though, doing +2 +3 sharpness in ViewNX or in in-camera setting you can achieve sharpness of more expensive lenses if you shoot jpeg only.OS does not seem to be revolutionary, though not many blurry photos so far.CA does not bother much, though my camera is constantly set to aperture priority with F8.It seems the cheapest option on market vs Nikkor 18-300mm, Tamron 16-300mm. So after studying all reviews of competitor lenses I did not notice features making me buy more expensive Tamron/Nikkor vs over Sigma, so Sigma was win for me.Internal flash should not be used on short focal length as there will be shadow at beneath, also my personal feeling those zoom lenses not good for flash photography at all, due to high tendency to flare/ghosting, so keep it in mind.Lenses cap is horrendous, it is made out of rough plastic and actually scratches filter ring from inside. So if you know good alternative please let me know.Overall, I would recommend them to anyone who bought DSLR camera and few lenses, but end up shooting on cell phone when traveling, as switching lenses is boring, time consuming, camera bag gets bigger and heavier and etc. You can safely sell anything you have and just have this lenses full time on camera.

The lens manufacturers have been making super zooms for a long time it shows in this lens. It looks like they have worked out the issues of have such a wide range. It’s sharp and I am not seeing distortion. The macro is sharp and their is good depth of field at the smaller f stops. The image stabilization works great even hand holding macro with flash. It as sharp on macro as my 40mm Nikon macro nikor. The difference is the nikor can go 1 to 1 and the sigma is 1 to 3 or 1 to 2 with the optional closeup lens made for it. The closeup lens works great. I love this lens.

I love it. I bought it because I didn't have a lens with this range and was wary of the quality vs price. No need for that. The quality is DEFINITELY there. The first days I tried it the weather was overcast so my images were a little 'noisy.' But after a few more days of practice shots it was easy to master this lens.The range is excellent; 18-300mm covers all of my needs and eliminates several other lenses (55-200, 18-140mm, et al.,) so that I can get away by carrying only this lens. I've used it indoors at a model railroad exhibit and outdoors as well.I'm getting nice sharp images in all ranges.I'd recommend this lens (perhaps as a gift for someone) and would buy it again if I had too.