I have (and have had) various third party lenses including some that have been mentioned here, however most are primes so I can't really speak to too many of the zooms. Here are a few quick reviews of some 3rd party lenses I have or have tried recently which may help out:
Sigma 150 f2.8 macro (non-OS) - simply a spectacular lens in every way, sharp, excellent colors and contrast, fantastic bokeh quality, I would easily recommend it any day of the week to someone who needs a longer than 100mm macro lens (or just a general use 150). If I were REALLY going around and specifically looking for something to complain about it, I could say the AF is a little slower than some, but I haven't found it to be a problem...besides macro shooting is usually done with MF anyways...
Sigma 35 f1.4 Art - one of the best lenses I've ever used. fast, sharp, well corrected, great AF, this lens beats out the few nikon 35 1.4Gs that I've tried, pretty much across the board, and does so at half the cost (notice I didn't say 'its good for the price' I said it beats nikon's performance and quality, AND only costs 1/2 the price, some folk seem to get in the mindset that more expensive = better, which in some instances is very true, but not in this one). Plus it is compatible with the sigma USB dock which is a fantastic innovation, it allows you to perform firmware updates for lenses (which normally would require sending to the manufacturer), you can also fine tune the AF functionality at multiple focus distances, which is impossible on any nikon lenses. (and on other zoom/OS lenses it allows you to fine tune across zoom ranges and focal distances all together, as well as adjust the OS functionality, again not possible on any nikon or canon lenses). the build quality on the siggy 35 art is fantastic too. if you were looking for a fast 35mm, I wouldn't even consider anything else including nikon.
Sigma 70-200 f2.8 (not sure which version, I think it was an older non-OS one) - I got to test out a friend's version of this lens, not sure what generation it was, it was decent, but not exceptional, the IQ was noticeably lower than my 70-200 VRII especially wide open and especially at the long end (which is the typical weak point), and AF speed was noticeably slower than the VRII, but not unusable or anything...it wasn't bad for what it was and the price, but perhaps I'm a bit spoiled by my VRII, I just wasn't as impressed with it as I am with my other siggys.
Zeiss 21 f2.8 ZF.2 - I dig my zeiss, it's built like a tank, literally just glass and metal, excellent optical quality, very sharp and tremendous color/contrast, slight distortion on it, but not really noticeable in daily use and easily corrected in post, and it's manual focus only, but the MF feel is buttery smooth and clean, its very easy to MF with this, MUCH easier than trying to MF an AF lens. I sold my 14-24 f2.8G and got the zeiss and I haven't missed the 14-24 at all so far, the zeiss out performs the nikon wide open, and although they nikon catches up quickly, its pretty much even throughout the rest of the aperture range, the zeiss is better built, the zeiss is smaller and lighter than the 14-24 behemoth, the zeiss takes normal filters without needing expensive adapters, etc...vs the 14-24 the zeiss is a trade off giving up AF and zoom, however at ultra wide angles, AF isn't THAT much of a benefit for me, and when I had the 14-24 I found most all the time I ended up around 20mm anyways...so while both were good, I preferred the smaller size/weight, build quality, filter usage, and IQ wide open, etc over the nikon, though they are both exceptional lenses.
Tamron 10-24 f3.5-4.5 - This is actually my wife's lens. and its a good one, she uses it a lot. from my limited use of it I have noticed a slight decline in IQ wide open especially in the corners on the short end (which is fairly typical) but stopped down a little it does really well. She just shoots casually and it does very well for her, but its in that range that if someone were interested in using it for something more serious I'd recommend they try it before purchasing.
Some people complain about quality control on third party lenses, and while every manufacturer will have bad copies that get out to the public including nikon and all third parties, I haven't really had any issues with anything like that from any lens/body manufacturer in recent years.
![[No title]](/data/xfmg/thumbnail/37/37603-739c5d9b541a083a12f2f30e45ca2b7b.jpg?1734170731)
