When I read the manufacturer’s marketing BS, like we’ve reproduced above, I get a little nauseous. For example “AF motor can be instantly deactivated” sounds a lot better than “doesn’t have full-time manual focus”, doesn’t it? Anyway, what we have here is a nice, consumer-grade kit lens alternative. It’s f/2.8 aperture at the wide end is a bit better than most kit lenses, as is it’s range. The OS is very effective.

It’s very soft in the edges and has pretty severe barrel distortion at 17mm, along with plenty of vignetting. Center sharpness is good throughout the zoom range. If you’re very concerned with image quality, don’t confuse this with a Canon 17-55 f/2.8 IS or even a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 VC, which remain f/2.8 throughout their zoom range and sharpen up a lot when stopped down to f/4, which this lens is throughout it’s range. But then again, the Sigma is a lot less expensive, gives you a bit more range, and is just fine for making images for online jpgs, etc.

Only Works With: Crop sensor Canon cameras (T6i, 80D, 7D II, etc…)