I have used this lens in my arsenal for over a year. I have shot thousands of shots with it from fashion to still life to personal landscape details. I love it. I have no complaints or serious critiques. This is a budget lens, but it performs like a pro level if you work within its strengths -- speed, clarity, weight, quiet and the metal mount is an asset. I've shot in multiple conditions from bright sunlight to deeply shadowed interiors. I have pushed the ISO to compensate for any aperture limitations and gotten great images. Well, let's just say that my clients have been very happy. I tend to do dramatic product shots and portraits. When my stuff appears along side the guys that shoot with the Blads and Mamiyas, the images compete in the gallery (30x40 prints), online (global site launches), print collateral (national print). I encourage any new shooter to go for it. Get this lens, learn it and work the possibilities. You'll be pleased with the creativity you can get from it. I am 4 year newbie and work with a Canon 350D (seriously). I get crazy looks from more experienced shooters all the time, but when they see my images in Hay House coffee table books and online with global brands, the looks turn into professional dialogue. I learned from Dean Semler that, "our eyes are still the best tools we have to shoot with." He said, "use what you have to the best of your ability to get YOUR shot ... by any means necessary." Sure, I aspire to use the heavy hitter labels, but not instead of, only including them to my current equipment mix. Last note: Don't let anyone compel you to spend beyond your means to achieve a look. If the 'labels' went away, we would all be looking to use whatever equipment that provided us the best image that fit our vision.

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- Cost
- Size and weight
- Image quality
- Speed (and silence) of autofocus
- Maximum aperture
- Efficient lens hood

Difficult to attach and detach the lens hood without turning the focus barrel which makes a grating sound

The zoom barrel is at the back of the lens instead of being at the front as on the Nikon lenses. It takes a little while to get used to it

No possibility of retouching the focus manually as you can on the (much more expensive) Nikon lenses

This is a review of the 2009 version of this lens in Nikon mount version with the HSM auto-focusing. This means it’s compatible with low-end Nikons like the D40/D40x/D60/D5000

I bought the 55-200 to stand in temporarily when my Nikon 18-200 VR developed a fault while on holiday. I’m rather impressed with it and I’ve decided to keep on using it.

The lens is very small and light, with a big circular lens hood that is almost as long as the lens which makes it very efficient. For this price I was expecting a plastic lens mount but it’s made of metal. The zoom barrel is stiffer than on the 18-200 but it’s regular and stays put when set on a focal length (unlike the Nikon). Overall the Sigma doesn’t give the impression of being a cheap lens.

The Sigma has good performance. Generally it’s slightly better than the Nikon 18-200 but and slightly worse than my huge Nikon 28-70 and 80-200 f2.8 AF-S lenses. The photos are sharp and clear and I have found no cases of light falloff at the edges, loss of definition in the corners, etc. Same story with the autofocus – it’s faster than the 18-200 but slower than the big lenses.

The Sigma has about ½ stop greater maximum aperture than the Nikon 18-200 at most focal lengths i.e. at 105mm the 18-200 has a maximum aperture of f5.6 while the 55-200 is at about f4.5. If you need to freeze action this could be important

My impression is that the 55-200 is a good basic lens that gets the job done with no surprises for a very reasonable price. It feels like a natural partner for the D60. I’m not wild about it, perhaps because it’s not very exciting (unlike the 18-200).

Customer Service

Not needed

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 18-200 DX VR
Nikon 80-200 AFS

Sharp, light, fast focusing, inexpensive. Made in Japan.

Lens hood is a little fiddly. Rear lens cap does not seem to fit Nikon brand lenses.

I bought this lens for my Nikon D70. In the past I would only consider Nikkor lenses but did not believe the equivalent Nikon offering would be any better given a similar cheap contruction at double the price. From the reports I have read so far, the Nikon 55-200mm is unimpressive. I like this Sigma and recommend it as excellent value.

Customer Service

None needed

Similar Products Used:

Tokina 12-24mm, Nikon 18-70mm

Good color rendition except as noted.
Metal mount.

Chromatic aberration! (purple/colored fringing).
Zoom binds.
Plastic lens hood and awkward in design.
Corner Falloff that is erratic in intensity across the zoom range.

This was part of the two lens kit that Sigma offered that combined the 18-50mm 3.5-5.6DC and 55-200mm 4-5.6DC lenses.

Perhaps expectations were unrealistic with this lens, after using the companion from the kit, the 18-50mm. The lens feels cheap, is not smooth and in fact, it binds at places in the zoom. This might be a convenient length, for the cost if nothing more, but recent experience with wide to telephoto zoom combos leave this lens as an odd man out.

The copy I received displays significant Chromatic Aberration under a variety, but not all, lighting conditions and for significant aperture ranges. It is prominent enough to eliminate this lens from most any use other than casual snapshots.

It has adequate AF performance. Outdoors under bright light with good contrasted subject, it still is not 'speedy'.

The lens produce reasonably sharp images with little corner fall off at the short end but more so towards the long end of the tele/zoom.

As part of a kit to get a longer lens for a Digital camera, it is only O.K. You might get a better copy than I did.

The hood is cheap plastic and started to warp a bit in sunlight after just a few minutes.

I can't really recommend this lens other than as starter for a short time. It will produce probably an equal photo to most point and shoot lens that are in the same zoom range. There is too great a possibility for disappointment in the resulting photographs produced with this lens. Save your money or purchase the 18-200DC lens that Sigma is producing.

Customer Service

Not needed for this product, but past experiences with SIGMA have been very positive and they respond well via email.

Similar Products Used:

Recently used extensively Sigma's wide to telephoto zooms in these lengths
28-200
18-200 DC

Sharp, good color and fairly contrasty images.

Not a high end build.

For such an inexpensive lens, it gives wonderful images. Not overly impressive build quality (what can you expect for under $200!), mine even rattles.

Similar Products Used:

All pre-auto focus Canon lenses, except a nice cheap EF50mm 1.8 and a not so nice and overpriced 17-40 "L".

Price, weight, sharp, comes with a lens hood, focusses in poor light even with a 1.4x converter

None at the price

I got one of the first 55-200's before it was even mentioned in the press. Checking it against a friend's Canon 75-300, it was significantly poorer, so I contacted Sigma UK who gave me a new lens 8 months after purchase ! This second lens was hugely better and matches my good copy of the 18-55 kit lens (which is better than my 50/1.8 prime) in quality. The lesson, having tried also a very demo copy of the Sigma 10-20, which was also dreadful although a more recent copy was good, is that Sigma don't seem to get early production sorted out, but wait a few months and they are good value, but only 4 stars for the bad first copy.

Customer Service

Excellent, no quibble and quick in changing my first lens

Similar Products Used:

Canon EOS 300d Canon 18-55 Canon 75-300 Sigma 10-20

Low Price, Good Auto Focus Speed, Sharp Imange, Light Weight and Compact Size

Manual Focus Ring is too tight.

Great Value, Light Weight, Good Auto Focus, Average Quality but Sharp Image.

Customer Service

Do not know

Similar Products Used:

No, this is my first 55-200mm len.

Small, lightweight, almost pocketable. Sharpness and consistency of image quality much better than I expected at this price. Nicely balanced handling on a Pentax *ist DS.

Doesn't feel like it will take a lot of abuse. A little soft wide open, especially at the long end but that's to be expected. Only f/5.6 at the long end, but that's to be expected at this price. Autofocus not as fast as some, but still very usable. A little too free feeling when using manual focusing. Very slight play in the zoom ring, but I'm being picky here.

Remarkably good for the price.

Customer Service

No idea.

Similar Products Used:

Numerous Nikon, Pentax and 3rd-party tele zooms.

low price, lightweight, sharp

sometimes autofocus miss

For the price one´s best I´ve ever seen. Sharp pictures, lightweight. Sigma has done good job!!!

Customer Service

no needed

Similar Products Used:

canon 70-200 2.8L canon 17-40 4.0L sigma 18-50 f.3.5-5.6

Sharp images at both ends Light Easy to operate Has an MF/AF switch on the side

None really, except for maybe the undampened MF ring.

Bought this lens based on very positive comments read on various lens forum sites. Have had it for only a couple of days. I've found it to be quite sharp; comparable(and even better) than my other essentially consumer-grade lenses. It handles well on my Canon Digital Rebel. The focus ring is not the smoothest, but very doable. I had no problems with hand-holding at 200mm. Was able to operate the lens in MF mode(there's switch on the side of the barrel)with rather thick gloves on. Most of my earlier shots were taken at full out-200mm at f8. Images are tack sharp. They almost jump out at you. I was very impressed. This lens has earned a place in my bag. Small, light, easy to handle, and best of all, it delivers at the long end where it'll likely spend most of it's time. Not sure of the minimum shooting distance, but was able to get clear, sharp pics when shooting directly down at the ground. So it's probably less than 4'. I bought it for nature subjects. And as long as they are not too far off, this lens will get the job.

Customer Service

No need for it.

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 70-300mm Tamron 70-300mm