Sigma 17-50mm F/2.8 EX DC OS HSM Zoom Lens for Nikon DSLR Camera

I have been using this lens extensively for the past 3 months, have taken it to our tour to Ladakh. I am happy to say that it came out in flying colors...and satisfied my every requirement. I used a D5300 body along with it. I will list few PRO/CON that I found along with some shotsPROs:1. Useful range for all round photography, 17mm is perfect for landscapes/wide group shots. While 50 mm with f/2.8 will behave quite like a 50mm prime and provides great bokeh for potraits.2. F/2.8 is fabulous for low light photography, I included a night sky photo taken at wide angle with fully open aperture. The F/2.8 aperture allowed for plenty light to enter (so that you can keep ISO and shutter speed at a optimum level).3. Fast autofocus on my D5300. I took plenaty of shots from inside of moving vehicles, the shots came out sharp.4. Focus meter is quite accurate, and is useful for manually focussing at infinity for those night sky photos.5. Metal mount, far far better than those plastic mount in kit lenses.6. Sharp.. but as all enthusiasts are well aware, it is a little soft wide open at f/2.8.. but when around f/4 to 5.6.. It is really sharp. A little softness and vignetting happens (not noticeable without 100% crop) at 17-30 mm, but after that its sharp everywhere.CONs:1. Heavier and chunkier than kit lens, but thats expected as it is a constant aperture lens.2. No continous Autofocus/manual focus button...so every time you have to switch to manual focus if you want to fine tune the focus manually a bit.3. There is some clunky noise which can be felt, when you shake the lens, even with the OS off.4. The zoom lens moves opposite to normal NIKON lens, which might feel weird for new users... and its not very fluid.Overall verdict: I own 18-55 Nikon kit lens, Tamron 70-300 VC and NIKON 35 mm prime and now this has become my goto lens for most cases. Its a good lens, and a perfect fit for travel lens (where you can not travel with many lenses). I wholeheartedly recommend this.NOTE 1: A close contender of this lens was Sigma 17-70 VC (with variable aperture) but I found that lens, although newer, lacked the sharpness of this lens. If you have the budget for 1 or 2K more, and can afford to lose few mm of zoom to gain overall better pictures - go for the 17-50.NOTE 2: It is for NIKON D5300 users, there is a problem of zooming in while in playback mode, even you have the so called "D5300 compatible" version of the lens. This a minor issue anyway.

This is the first lens I purchased after buying my Nikon D5300. I was looking for a lens that is decently wide and would provide a fixed aperture regardless of the focal length. The Sigma lens fit my budget perfectly, and after going through some Youtube videos and comparing it with Tamaron, I decided to buy it.The lens comes with a well built carry case and lens hood. Its a bit heavy and the metal mounting system makes it feel quiet premium. I really liked the build quality and comparing with the 18-55 kit lens, it made my camera feel a bit bulkier and professional. It has a thread of 77mm so ND and CPL filters for this one come a bit expensive.Initially, I found the lens a bit difficult to use. The biggest con being that the autofocus on it really messes up under low light conditions. While autofocusing the ring outside on the lens moves so you need to be careful of not blocking it while shooting. It is also a bit noisy so this definitely not recommended if you want to shoot videos cause the noise of the motor will creep in. The autofocus excels in bright conditions though and it is pretty fast.So after a year of using it, I have totally stopped relying on the autofocus unless the conditions are perfect. The picture quality is amazing and shooting landscapes on this is fun. The f2.8 comes handy while taking pics of stars or taking long exposures in low light. I am really happy with the lens and this one will be part of my kit till I decide to change my camera.Overall I will say that you should buy this only if you are really interested in photography and willing to spend time and effort in understanding how it woks under various conditions and are also comfortable shooting fully in manual mode. You will find this as a versatile lens for different types of photography.

I purchased this lens after a lot of online research and my initial impression is goodIn my view:Built Quality1. Overall feels good in hand and the zoom and focus rings are damped well. It also has a zoom lock button2. The OS and AF switches feel solid and has a reassuring click3. It has metal bottom which adds to its durability and weight4. The OS will make clicking nerve wrecking noise when you shake the lens. But this is not an issue. Mount the lens on your camera and switch it on. Switch on the OS and you will hear the OS engage. Now if you shake the camera you wont hear that nerve wrecking clicking from the lens. Switch off the camera and you will hear the OS disengage. But if this doesn't happen then you have a problemPicture Quality1. I am no expert so I cannot talk about chromatic aberration, vignetting etc. But with the first few shots I am happy with the image quality2. You may need to do a little focus correction. I have Nikon D7000 and with a small amount of focus correction the images are sharp3. I feel the auto focus is much better with this lens than the kit lens the camera came with (18-105)4. Bokeh is good at 17mm 2.8. Zoom it to 50mm and it becomes creamier. Ofcourse you need to keep in mind the distance between the subject, camera and the background5. In low light it does struggle at times to focus. But once focus is attained the images are sharp. But the focusing capability of the camera also plays a role. So dont blame the lens entirelyIf you are looking at replacing your kit lens with a budget friendly fast zoom lens... This is the one to go for