[Itai]

hello everybody.
these days i`d like to get a new Nikon D80 body
and im gonna need a lens as well. as a first lens i`d like to have an all-purpose lens
that would suit me best for all occasions. later on i might get a wide angle and a prime... but thats not soon at all.

so the quiestion is this
at the begining i was sure the Nikon kit lens 18-135 is not at all nice,
until i tried it.
now i know it is not at all as bad as i thought. sharpness surprised me as well as colours.
of course you have some barrel effect mostly in corners but i wouldnt expect much better from an all-purpose zoom lens - and i haven`t got too much money here to spend.

another option being the Sigma 17-70 f2.8 Macro lens,
at approximately the same price and im not sure what i get.
the aperture is much better, but how is the picture quality? sharpness? abberations?

has anyone had both? or just played around with both of them?
any specific problems that you might know of in any of the two?

thanks alot, appreciate your help and concern.

Itai

[Dabhand16]

I have not had any experience of either of these two lenses, but there was a recent thread, that I can't find at the moment, that was critical about the Nikkor 18-135, specifically about vignetting.

I know many people favour the 18-200 as a general purpose lens, and the Sigma will be cheaper than the Nikkor equivalent. However, these lenses are slower than the 17-70 f2.8, but the Nikkor has VR, and this will offset the smaller minimum aparture, albeit at a higher cost.

My D70s had an 18-70 kit lens that I found to be a good all-round lens in terms of focal length, but I have now added a 10-20 and a 70-200 to my kit.

If the sigma 17-70 has a decent optical performance, I'm sure you will find it OK, but you will sooner or later be looking for both wider and longer lenses.

[Sonsey]

Originally Posted by Dabhand16

I have not had any experience of either of these two lenses, but there was a recent thread, that I can't find at the moment, that was critical about the Nikkor 18-135, specifically about vignetting.

It was mentioned in these threads -

Nikon D80 - which lens
Nikon D80 Problem! Please help! (Dark corners)

[VinnyP]

I've also never used either but have heard very good things about the Sigma. The MTF for the Nikon are a strange shape which may indicate some issues. The Sigma does not look too bad at all for a non EX lens.