Sigma, Nikkor and Other Lenses - Short Reviews

Sigma manufactures some interesting lenses: some of these don't have equivalents in the Canon lineup, other ones are particularly interesting for their excellent performance and low price. Other than that, I've included the previews of some Nikkor lenses - even though I use Canon, Nikon and other brand manufacture some lenses that I'm curious to try. 

Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM

During my Costa Rica trip, I have tested the Sigma 50mm f/1.4. This is an interesting lens because, unlike the Canon 50 f/1.4, it has true ultrasonic motor; it has a new optical design that promises superior image quality. The first impressions about this lens had been very positive: the built quality is excellent; it has a solid, professional look, and it is supplied with a nice lens case and with lens hood. It is pretty big: it is clearly larger than the Canon equivalent, it is almost as big as the Canon 50 f/1.2 L.

The image quality is great! The sharpness is as good as the Canon 50 f/1.4 - it is usable at f/1.4, and it improves by stopping down a little. In the center it is quite good at every aperture, even wide open. Vignetting is truly minimal (the Canon 50 f/1.4 is phisically smaller, but it has much more vignetting), and chromatic aberration is reduced at minimum.

For nature photography, the 50 mm lenses have limited applications; if, instead, you are interested in portrait, reportage, and low light applications (without flash), I highly recommend the Sigma 50 f/1.4: it is one of the best 50mm lenses you can buy.

Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S VR

The 18-200 is a superzoom designed exclusively for Nikon cameras with APS-C sensors. Considering the extreme range of focal lenghts and the relatively low price, I didn't expected much from this lens: I have been (very) surprised. Physically, it is really small: it is not much bigger than the Nikkor 18-70 DX, and it is much, much smaller and lighter than the Canon 28-300 L IS USM. The built quality is quite good; the AF is very silent, thanks to the ultrasonic motor, even though it is not super fast. It has the latest generation of VR - Nikon's image stabilization - that proved to be extremly effective, I managed to get razor sharp photos handholding the lens at 200mm with shutter speed of even 1/25 and 1/15! 
The image quality is surprisingly good at every focal lenght. Wide open the sharpness is very good in the center, while it is a bit softer in the corners, but still good; at f/8 it is sharp from corner to corner. There is a little of chromatic aberration, but it is much less than what you can expect from a zoom with this range, and it can be easily corrected with software. Overall, my impression is very positive - this is very versatile lens, that offers a good image quality in spite of the extreme range and the affordable price. If you want to travel light with an all-in-one lens, the 18-200 VR is a great choise - it does not give the image quality of the best prime or zoom lenses, but it is still pretty good, even for large prints.

Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S VR at 18mm f/3.5	Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S VR at 200mm f/5.6

The crops above show the image quality of the lens at the two extremes, 18 and 200mm. Both the photos had been taken wide open (on Nikon D70s at ISO 400) and are completely unprocessed, so you see the lens at its weakest - if you stop down a little there is a noticeable sharpness improvement. Nevertheless, with a little of post processing you get very good detail even at f/3.5 and f/5.6 - an impressive performance for such extreme zoom.

Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6G AF-S VR

When I used Nikon, I had the 70-300 ED zoom lens. It has been one of the worst lenses that I've ever had - very soft, almost unusable at 300mm, average built quality and slow autofocus. The new 70-300 VR AFS is an huge improvement: in my opinion, it is the best 70-300 5.6 on the market, even better than the Canon equivalent. The built quality is far from professional, but still quite good, and noticeably better than the previous version. The autofocus is much faster: it has a real ring-type ultrasonic motor, that gives a fast, silent autofocus, plus full time manual focus. In comparison, the Canon has a much worse AF; it uses the crappy micro-USM motor, much slower and without FTM. The latest generation of VR is another big plus of the Nikkor lens, that makes it much easier to handhold; according to Nikon, it gives the equivalent of a shutter speed 4 stops faster. You can even choose between a "Normal" VR mode, for stationary subjects, and "Active", for panning.

70-300 VR at 300mm f/5.6, unprocessed photo	100% crop, unprocessed	100% crop, processed

The image quality is another aspect that has improved a lot. The 70-300 VR has a quite good sharpness - it is not as sharp as professional lenses, but still very good - even wide open at 300mm, it is sharp enough even for large prints, in particular with a little of post processing to improve contrast and detail. Last but not least, this lens has a minimum focussing distance of just 1.5 meters, and 1:4 macro capability, that is enough for flowers and large butterflies. If you want a good quality, versatile and not-too-expensive tele zoom lens for your Nikon camera, the 70-300 VR is a great choice.

Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 G AF-S VR

The Nikkor 105 VR is currently the only macro lens with image stabilization: accoding to Nikon, the VR II offers up to 4 stop of stabilization. Other than that, this lens has the ultrasonic motor - this is the same AF motor used in the professional superteles as the 300 2.8 AFS VR, even though it is not as fast. This is not a problem of the Nikkor lens, all macro lenses have a slow autofocus, due to the wide range of focussing distances (even the Canon 100 USM and 180 USM have slow AF).

The built quality is very good - it is well built as you expect from a professional lens, and it is weather sealed.  The image quality is pretty good, in particular if you stop down a little. The sharpness is fantastic even wide open at f/2.8 - this is truly a razor sharp lens, that captures an amazing level of detail. The VR works vert well and it helps a lot when you handhold the lens; it is possible to get perfectly sharp photos at relatively slow shutter speeds. My only complaint about image quality is chromatic aberration; at wide apertures there is some CA, in particular in the out of focus areas with high-contrast subjects. The main downside of this lens, in my opinion, is the focal lenght; with a 105mm you have to stray pretty close to your subject, and you don't have the background blur of a longer lens (a 200mm AFS VR would be pretty awesome). You can use this lens with  the Nikkor AF-S teleconverters TC-14E II, 17E II, 20E II to get a longer focal, but of course you can use TCs even with a 180 or a 200 to get a 360 or 400mm macro lens. (even tough the 105 VR is the only macro lens compatible with Nikkor TCs, other lenses can

100% crop from a photo taken with Nikkon 105 VR and D70s.

be used with Sigma or Kenko teleconverters). Overall, I'd prefer a Sigma 180 Macro to the Nikkor 105 VR, because I almost always use the tripod and I want the maximum working distance, but if you don't like the tripod and you want a relatively handholdable lens, the Nikkor 105 VR is by far the best choice currently available on the market.

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