Wow, what a neat concept. Renting camera lenses. I was glad that I found out about this neat service. It really came in handy for me on this last trip. The trip came out of nowhere and it was going to be my son (4 in January) and I only. So, I was looking for something that would give me the wide angle ability that I have from my 18-55mm, and the zoom capability that I have on my 70-300mm. I didn't want to bring the camera bag and have to change lenses, because it was just something else to have to carry with me. I had read on here the posts about renting lenses from the various outlets online, and found that Lensrentals.com had what I was looking for instock. I rented the Sigma 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 Optically Stabilized, for 2 weeks with insurance, and it was $86 with shipping. Pretty reasonable, I thought. The lens came really fast via USPS. It arrived well packed in a Tamron lens case and wrapped in bubble wrap and plenty of foam padding. The return shipping label was enclosed. The lens also had the hood with it. The lens was noticeably heavier then what I currently have. The end of the lens was also bigger then what I have, so none of my filters fit this lens. Once attached to the camera, it functioned well. The only thing I noticed about it, was that it was a bit louder while focusing then the Canon lenses that I have. This wasn't a problem for me as I was taking photos in noisy environments, however if you are in a quiet area, this is noticeable. The range is good, as you can see from the pictures that I took, posted in trip planning section, I was able to get some nice wide angle as well as zoomed in shots. I would like to try Tamron's 18-250mm but only if it has some type of image stabilizer, since I am doing all hand held shooting at this point. I also noticed that Canon has a 28-300 I believe it was, that I would like to try also, but I don't like that it isn't as wide as the lens I tried and the Tamron that I would like to try. All in all, for a novice this did exactly what I wanted it to. I had great range from one lens. The pictures tell the rest of the story.
Yeah, aren't they great? They carry the new Tamron OS 28-300 as well; it's about 1/3 of the weight of the Canon jack of all trades L.
polynesianmedic: 2 things i've read on the net about that canon 28-300 1. not very many positive reviews, in fact it may get the lowest sat ratings of the canon L line 2. it's a big honking heavy lens, a day carrying this beast may make you rethink lens changing, i can verify the size as it was one of the first L lenses i ever saw being carried around animal kingdom, the large man carrying it said he did not mind, but this was 1100 hrs and it was not hot that day
I have heard that about any zoom lens with that much reach from widest to longest. But to keep things in perspective: it only weighs 3.7 lbs, the 100-400 weighs 3 lbs, and Bigma weighs 4.1. Heck the 400 DO weighs 4.3! I wonder how much the 800/5.6 will weigh!
This lens wasn't bad to carry, actually it made the camera stay on my shoulder, whereas with the lenses that I have, I find that they have a tendency to slide off my shoulder. All-in-all it was a good lens, I am sure that there are better out there, and that is what I am looking for, for now.
Greetings all! This is my first post and I am happy to be here. My wife and I have been using the Canon 28-300 for about six months and we love it. It has made one trip to Disneyland and two to Disneyworld so far and while it took some getting used to, we've been able to figure out how to carry it and use it fairly well so far. It can get a little heavy after a full day in the parks, but you learn to manage the weight during the day by carrying it a couple of different ways so you don't get as tired.
Welcome to the boards, bmitch. I was going to ask what camera was the streetsweeper attached to, but I saw it in your profile. Have you compared it's performance to any other L telephoto? Just wondering. I will be trying the DO lens in 6 weeks - I would prefer the space, but in a perfect world the street sweeper would rule. Is it a push/pull? (I think it's predecessor was, the 35-350)
Thanks! We haven't tried any other L series. My wife really likes the 28-300 (we've tried several brands over the years) because she doesn't want to have to switch lenses. It is a push/pull which did take some getting used to, but once you figure out how to manage the tension ring it gets pretty easy.
After using the ol' 28-105 on my D30, starting out at 45mm equiv - I got used to it, but now that I've seen what the 17-40 can offer at my crop factor, I'm almost back to the film days. I know how it is to change lenses!
