Choosing walkaround lens Sigma 24-70mm F/2.8 Macro

[Cicak]

I've been looking for an upgrade walk around lens to my current kit lens, which is a AF-S nikkor 18-70mm F/3.5-4.5G ED. I've been tossing between the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO and the Sigma 24-60mm F2.8 EX DG which i have read to have better optics and was a better lens.

Currently the Sigma 24-60mm is a bit cheaper than Sigma 24-70mm which has macro. But the 24-60mm has a shorter focusing distance than the 24-70mm, how does that work, is it actually a macro? I was hoping that i'd be able to kill 2 birds with one stone and get a walk around lens with macro. Or would it be better to just get a separate macro lens?

Has anyone had any experience with these lenses? I couldn't find a Nikkor lens for around the quality and price of the sigma. Would there be any other walk around lenses worth looking at?

Thanks!!

 

[Sw1tchFX]

unless you need f/2.8 or better handling qualities, i'd stick with the 18-70.

What does a 24-70 f/2.8 give you? about a stop more speed and a more restricting focal range?

I had the Nikkor 35-70 f/2.8 and 17-55 f/2.8 before selling both and buying my 18-70.

I wish I started with the 18-70 when I switched to digital because it's just as sharp as either one on a 6MP sensor and gives me more focal range. with the savings from it, i'll take the stop and a half trade off in speed.

Now I don't know exactly how you shoot. I don't know if you need speed for action or DOF for the client, or if your shooting consists of taking the occasional walk with your camera. It's your call, but my experience has taught me that 24-60 sucks for a range on a 1.5x sensor.

 

[Cicak]

I was looking for a lens that is clearer and had better colour control over the scene, i found the 18-70, not sharp, and the colour wasn't very good either. From reading the reviews, the 24-60 seems to be sharper than the nikkor. I will be using this lens as my main lens, which would involve many portraits, and landscapes.

 

[Steph]

A zoom starting at 24mm is probably not such a good choice for landscape on a crop factor sensor camera; it is simply not wide enough. A zoom starting at around 16-18mm would be a much better choice if you want to carry only one lens.

 

[Mike_E]

Either you have a bad or ~unclean~ copy of the 18-70mm or very high expectations. First I would double check the 18-70mm. (btw kit lenses have f/ -5.6 in the name)

If it is a normal copy and you are still unhappy then I would suggest a Nikon 28mm f/2.8 AF-D and a Nikon 85mm f/1.8. These should clean up your clarity issues and handle the DOF at the same time.

If the 18-70's focal length is OK with you then you might try an older 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5 .

 

[goodoneian]

i have the sigma 17-70 f2.8-4.5 dc macro hsm and i use that as a walk around lense. the macro on it is pretty convenient for if i see something cool i want to get a close up of, and the 17-70mm range works pretty good for everything else for me. and it's priced relatively cheap in my opinion for how much it can do.