really good DX lens in the 18-55mm range ???

[dannylightning]

i am wondering if any one makes a lens similar to the kit lens but has excellent image quality, i guess the VRII kit lens is said to be pretty good but i am sure there is better out there.

I really like my nikon 35MM prime lens as far as the image quality goes but being a prime you cant really dial in the viewing area you want your stuck at 35mm and thats all you get, i find my self wishing it could go wider often.. the nikon 35mm 1.8 prime seems to take better photos that my kit lens does i was hoping to find something with that kind of IQ or better that is a 18-55mm, 18-70mm or something similar it needs to be around 18mm in the low end so i can get a nice wide angle.. it does not have to be a nikon brand lens, sigma or tamron would work just fine as long as its got killer image quality

something around 200-400 bucks would be ideal wider than 18mm would be ok too.

 

[pixmedic]

Tamron or Sigma 17-50 f/2.8
the older non VR versions are ~300

 

[dannylightning]

This one??

, not sure how to tell which version of sigma lenses are equivalent to DX, did a search on flickr and man this thing looks like it takes some good photos..

http://www.amazon.com/Sigma-17-50mm-2-8-Aperture-Nikon/dp/B003A6NU3U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443800390&sr=8-1&keywords=sigma+17-50mm+f/2.8+nikon

 

[KmH]

Sigma DC is for APS-C.
DG is full frame
DN is for mirrorless.
Hyper Sonic AF Motor - HSM
Optical Stabilizer - OS

 

[astroNikon]

and remember that a FullFrame lens will work just fine on your DX camera (but your camera needs the in-lens focus motor AF-"S" lenses and not AF-D/AF/I etc lenses.)

They both have the same focal length as listed on the lens, just due to the smaller sensor size the Depth Of Field changes as it only captures a smaller portion of a Full Frame lens image.

 

[Mr.Photo]

I have heard good things about the Sigma 17-50 2.8. The only real downside as far as Sigma goes is that if you look at a lot of reviews it gets about a 50/50 mix of good and bad reviews. This is because Sigma's Quality control is not very good at times. If you're lucky enough to get a good copy then they're an awesome lens. They are starting to get better, but right now Tamron seems to have really stepped up their game in the past few years to a level rivaling that of Nikon and Canon.

That being said there are a few different versions of the Tamron 17-50 2.8 (which if you're going to buy used) you'll want to be aware of.

The original version of this lens uses the older screw driven auto focus requiring a focus motor in the camera body. It will not auto focus on Nikon D3x00 or 5x00 camera bodies. This lens is arguably the sharpest version of all the Tamron 17-50 2.8 lenses.

The second generation of this lens is optically identical to the original version, but has a built in focusing motor so will work on the entry level Nikon's. One thing to note with this version as well as the original version above is that Tamron gave them the exact same name. There is nothing in the naming of the lens that denotes whether or not it has a built in motor or not. The two easiest ways to determine if the lens has the focusing motor built in is to look on the barrel of the lens for the AF/MF switch as the original version does not have this switch. Secondly is to look at the lens mount (specifically the electronic contacts), the original version will only have 5 contacts (1 contact followed by a space then a group of 4 contacts together), whereas the version with the built in motor will have 8 contacts.

The newest generation of this lens is a new VC version which has mixed reviews. Early versions of this lens seemed to have an issue with the VC that caused blurry images. It is also slightly larger and heavier overall. The original versions used 67mm filters, and the new VC version is 72mm. That being said I think Tamron has corrected this small issue and you don't hear about it much any longer. A quick Google search found a couple more recent great reviews of this lens.

I own the second generation (built in motor) of this lens and while people claim that the older original version is the best one I've taken shots with all three versions of this lens and there really isn't a discernible difference between any of them (especially the first two versions as they have the same optical build). Just a couple small things to note and be aware of, is that on the second generation lens early copies don't seem to auto focus correctly on modern Nikon bodies when used in Live view mode. My own lens has this issue. Tamron offers a fix replacing the internal circuit board of the lens so that it will function properly in live view. I opted to not spend the money as I never use live view when taking photo's.

The second thing to note is on the newest VC version. There were reports all over the web about the VC causing excessively blurry photo's. I've tested a copy of this lens in my local camera shop with no hint of this issue. I did a quick Google search while typing this up and most of the reviews that come up now don't even mention this problem and give the lens an overall good review.

Edit: Also wanted to ad that all versions of the Tamron 17-50 are "DX" lenses. This is denoted as "Di II" in the name of the lens.

 

[cgw]

Check out the DX lenses Thom Hogan likes.

 

[Solarflare]

His most recent list [2015-06-19]: Thom’s Recommended Lenses for DX Users | byThom | Thom Hogan

Short version: in the end he recomments getting these:

- Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 (or the new 11-20mm f/2.8, which seems to be as good)
- Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 OS
- Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 (no longer made) or Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/4 VR (FX lens, extremely good but sadly quite expensive)
- Nikkor AF-S 35mm f/1.8 DX
- Nikkor AF-S 85mm f/3.5 DX VR micro

 

[dannylightning]

thanks guys, i was reading some reviews on amazon where people had auto focus problems with the sigma. i have good luck with my sigma 150-500 from what i have seen the tamron 150-600 is probably the one i should have got. so i dont know, i appreciate the advice. ill look into these lenses and do my research some more on them...

 

[Rob5589]

When I used Nikon, I really enjoyed my Sigma 17-50 2.8. Quick to focus, quiet, sharp, easy to use. I sold mine to KEH so you could look there for a used one.