Sigma or Tamron?

[a_drummer]

It was recently my 18th, so I have some money to spend.

I was looking at some lenses and there were two which caught my eye:
A Sigma 17-70mm f2.8-4
and
A Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3

The reviews on both are good, however some say the Sigma isn't sharp enough and the zoom creeps on the Tamron.


I also want to get a bag and a light meter if anyone can recommend any cheap options.

[OsmosisStudios]

Okay, those are VERY different lenses. What purpose do you have for the lens?

[a_drummer]

I was mostly looking for a walkabout lens as I already have a 10-20mm Sigma, 28-55mm Canaon kit lens and a 55-250mm Canon EF-S lens.

The 55-250mm leaves quite a bit to be desired as it is about the same build quality as the kit lens.


I do like the Sigma I have at the minute, but it's too wide for using just walking about; it needs more time for proper composition and unless I want weird photos it distorts too much for general purpose photography. But I do trust the build quality, whereas Tamron is an unknown quantity for me.

[Trankonia]

I have the 18-270 and it is quite nice. Of course it is a compromise over primes and shorter zoom ranges but I like it for walk-about because you do not miss as many shots while switching between wide and zoom. Mine does not have any real lens creep per se. However, to help prevent that, they made it harder to zoom between about 70-100 range. It kind of sticks so it is Not a smooth zoom so you have to account for that a bit.

Overall, though I would recommend the lens if you want a general purpose lens. I have a dedicated Macro for close up and will acquire a fast wide angle to round out what I need for most situations.

I find the build quality to be perfectly fine. You might want to see if you can get the newer version with the piezo motor as it is more silent and the lens is lighter. However, I got a really good deal on the previous version that I am sure you can still obtain.

[a_drummer]

I was looking at a second hand Sigma EX 24-70mm which is significantly cheaper than a new 18-70 non EX lens.

Could someone also point me in the direction of a decent spot meter, not too expensive?

[crisinmardel]

Hi I received my new sigma 17-70 f2.8-4 just a few days ago and have just recently began tinkering with it, up to now very happy with the results, I took photos some of neice..

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