[Bobobsdo]

anyone able to give a quick approval on the first one? looking to buy this lens over the weekend

after reading some reviews this seems fairly decent for the money, what i'm disliking about these reviews so far is they mark the lens poorly without taking into account what end of the market it's aimed at...

Those are both good starter lenses to learn on and such. Sigma really gives great value for the money.

As for your remark about reviews, opposite ends of the price market are not apples to oranges as you might think. For a reviewer to say a lens is good for the money means very little. There is nothing to compare the quality of the lens to except a dollar sign. It must be compared to a control - a lens that produces quality images consistently. Unfortunately, the lenses that do that very thing the best are the higher-end, more expensive lenses. There are reviews out there that do things like budget lens roundups.

My philosophy after going through many cheap lenses trying to find one that suited me - you need to walk before you can run. Buy the best affordable lens you can find and get out there and take some photos!

Here are some OLD shots from my Canon 28-135 IS, I had a decent copy:




And some from the Canon 75-300 Mk. III non-USM