Hi, I tried to search the forum before posting, but it seems not many people have compared the new
Sigma 18-35mm Art to the best seller
17-50mm f2.8 EX yet.
I am using K5 with manual 28mm, 50mm and 135mm primes. So I need ahigh quality zoom with a wider end (less than 28mm), with auto focus to go with general (and some event) shooting in the near future.
When searching online, these two lenses have similar prices ($700-800). The 18-35 Art is a bit faster while the 17-50 EX has wider zoom range, so my questions are as follows:
- Does 17mm differ a lot from 18mm at the wide end?
- 35mm seems like an okay tele end to me (as I'm used to 50-55 normal primes on film bodies), any people strongly encouraging the 35-50 extra focal length? (I know this is down to personal preference, so please just share your own experience )
- Is the technology (focusing, coating etc.) in 18-35 Art really advanced compared to the 17-50 EX, which was born 2-3 years ago? I asked this because I want the lens to have long-term usability.
Personally, I don't care much about weight, auto focus speed and HSM (though full time manual on 18-35 is a good feature for part-time manual shooter like me) But these features can be discussed too!
p/s: please share sample picture if you will!
p/p/s: I'm not considering the Pentax DA* 16-50 due to over-budget.