Yet Another Lens Upgrade …
For those of you whom have followed this blog, you may remember another post or two about me upgrading my standard zoom lens. Well, I have done it again. I had been fairly satisfied with my purchase of the Tamron 17-50mm 2.8 lens that I picked up back in February until my wife and I got back from our honeymoon in Bali. When I was looking over the hundreds of shots that I took with the lens I came to realize that I wasn’t that happy with the sharpness and the overall Image Quality (IQ) that I was getting.
I knew that the only step up for me was to bite the bullet and spend the money on a proper Nikon lens. The only choice was if it was going to be the 17-55mm or the 24-70mm. While the reviews for the 24-70mm are a touch better than they are for the 17-55mm, I found that I really the 17-55mm focal length range on my D90.
While the price tag of a new Nikon 17-55mm can be a little shocking I was able to track down a fair amount of used lenses on sites like eBay, Adorama, and Craigslist
After scouring sites like these, I grabbed one off of eBay at an amazing price. The seller seemed highly creditable and provided extremely detalied photos of the lens and its cosmetic flaws. It was this disclosure that steered me away from buying from a site like Adorama who grades the used equipment on their site.
The lens came on Friday afternoon and I could not be more happy with it. I have learned my lesson and I will never by a third party lens like that again. In the case of lenses, I really believe that you get what you pay for and that putting cheap lenses on a nice body is a waste.
While there is no doubt your new Nikkor is an amazing lens, I think for the majority of shooters out there is nothing wrong with going off brand with Tamron or Sigma. The thing to keep in mind with these manufacturers is that they don’t have the best quality control and many people get defective lenses. Sounds like your particular lens may have had a front/back focusing issue which is very common with both brands.
I just recently got a Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 and and very pleased with it. It has great IQ and sharpness to my eyes (see http://seanmcg.com/flickrtools/onblack.php?url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcgraths/3395104228/ for an example). To me it is a great next step up from the kit lens, and a step many people who can’t afford the money for a pro level Nikkor shouldn’t be afraid to take.
Also, it is worth mentioning that there are many lenses out there by Sigma and others that have no equivalents in the Nikkor world, such as the highly regarded Sigma 30mm f/1.4. Just another reason you shouldn’t be afraid of non-Nikkor lenses.
So I guess what I’m saying is not to let this one lens scare you (or others) from potentially great lenses from any of the third part names out there, cause there are lots out there! Just make sure if you ever have a problem….try another lens to make sure it isn’t a QC issue!
Perhaps I came off a little harsh. Being my first experience with a 3rd party lens, it did leave me with wanting a bit more.
I know that there are a lot of highly touted 3rd party lenses but personally, in the future, I will try them out first by renting or borrowing them before making the purchase myself.