Sigma C 18-200 mm f/3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM review - Introduction

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Sigma C 18-200 mm f/3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM

27 June 2014

Arkadiusz Olech

1. Introduction

The 18–200 mm Sigma lenses follow an old tradition. It all started with a simple 18-200 mm f/3.5-6.3 DC model, without any stabilization or ultrasonic motor. In 2007 the new Sigma 18–200 mm f/3.5–6.3 DC OS was launched. Compared to its predecessor its weight and physical dimensions increased; it was also equipped with a stabilization system and it featured three additional optical elements. Four years later they showed the Sigma 18–200 mm f/3.5–6.3 II DC OS HSM – a model noticeably slimmer than the previous version even though it had an HSM motor and its element number remained unchanged.

Sigma continued the miniaturization trend; at the beginning of 2014 they presented another lens of that series, the C 18–200 mm f/3.5–6.3 DC Macro OS HSM. In its case the number of elements decreased from 18 to 16 but the number of low-dispersion and aspherical elements actually increased. What’s more the Macro word appeared in its name as its minimum focusing distance decreased from 0.45 of a meter to 0.39 of a meter so by 200 mm focal length you can enjoy the 1:3 reproduction ratio.

The following chart presents a comparison between all 18-200 mm models produced so far by the Sigma company.

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If you try to combine streamlining the dimensions of a lens with the improvement of its parameters the results are usually nothing recommendable; that’s why we were curious how such an operation might influence the image quality of the new Sigma. Our conclusions we present in the next chapters – happy reading!

We would like to use this opportunity to thank both, the Sigma Corporation headquarters and its Polish section, the Sigma ProCentrum, for sending us the final specimen we were able to use in our lens test.

You are also invited to get acquainted with our test procedure, described in the article "How do we test lenses?" If you feel it’s still not enough, please go to our FAQ section where you can find some further explanation.