Man, I’ve been shooting videos for my channel with the same old kit lens forever. Felt like I hit a wall, you know? Everyone kept raving about the Sigma 18-35mm, so I finally grabbed one off Amazon. Big box showed up last Tuesday – felt like Christmas morning tearing that thing open.
First Impressions Got Me Nervous
Pulled it outta the case and damn this thing’s heavy. Like holding a brick compared to my plasticky old lens. Mounted it on my trusty Canon 80D and immediately noticed the zoom ring turns backwards from what I’m used to. Weird. Took some test shots in my living room – autofocus sounded like a swarm of angry bees hunting for focus.
Real World Testing Drama
Took it downtown Saturday morning for proper testing:
- 18mm test: Wide shots looked crisp until I panned – saw this weird wobbling effect in the corners
- 35mm test: Butter-smooth background blur on portraits but hunting focus during street shots
- Indoor cafe: Shot some latte art videos at f/1.8 and holy smokes the bokeh was creamy
- Low-light fail: Tried filming street musicians at sunset and autofocus just gave up completely
Dealbreaker Discoveries
Editing footage Monday revealed two nasty surprises:
- That weird wobble? Barrel distortion at 18mm so bad that straight lamp posts looked curved
- Color rendering looked sickly green compared to my other lenses – took me 30 mins fixing each clip
Ended up returning it yesterday. Heavy? Fine. Weird zoom direction? Okay I could learn. But that combo of focus issues plus distortion was too much. Shame cause at 35mm f/1.8 it made stunning portraits. But for run-and-gun shooting? Total disappointment. My advice – only buy this if you shoot on tripods and edit distortion in post.
