Sigma Copycats Tamron and Releases 18-200mm Lens for Nikon D40/D40x

If you ask most photographers to name two of the biggest third party lens manufacturers they'll probably say Tamron and Sigma. Both companies offer a wide range of lenses, some of them having pretty much the same specs as their Canon, Nikon and Pentax counterparts and some boasting unique focal lengths and features. As you can imagine, they compete against each other and struggle to grab as much of the market share as they can. Unfortunately for Sigma, this time Tamron was quicker on the draw.

Earlier this month we reported on Tamron releasing their Nikon D40/D40x friendly version of the 18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 Lens and now, Sigma is doing the same.

The company has just announced the launch of the new 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC for Nikon. What this means is that this version has an AF motor that allows it to be used with Nikon D40 and D40x DSLRs and still achieve autofocus. As a quick reminder, the aforementioned digital single lens reflex cameras don't have such a motor and so, they are unable to drive a lens' elements if that lens is not fitted with a motor. Anyway, enough about the AF mechanism, let's see some specs.

Being a DC lens, the Sigma 18-200mm can only be used on APS-C sensor cameras, like the EOS 40D or Nikon D300. However, the equivalent picture angle is that of a 27-300mm (1.5x crop factor) lens mounted on a 35mm full-frame camera.

In terms of construction, the lens comprises 13 groups with 15 elements, including two aspherical pieces to control spherical aberrations and distortions and two SLDs (special low dispersion) to minimize chromatic aberrations.

The lens design incorporates an inner focusing system, which prevents the front of the lens from rotating, making it particularly suitable for using 62mm circular polarizing filters and petal shaped lens hoods. A zoom lock switch is also provided to eliminates 'zoom creep' during transportation.

And there you have it. Now, if you favor Sigma over Tamron you can buy yourself a super-zoom lens that will probably cover most of your needs. Just don't expect anything miraculous in terms of image quality. No price or availability information for now.

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