Hello again. The title says it all. And it's a money matter. In Canada, the Nikkon is now 769$ CDN, the Sigma is 569$. So it's much tempting. And I didn't resist. But still, with all the explanations of the specialist at the camera store, I wonder what justify the big 200$ gap between the twho lenses. I'd love to know the facts. I was told the Nikon's VR is a bit more efficient than Sigma's OS and Nikon's optics are a bit better too. It's always "a bit". If only I could compare two photos side by side and test both stabilization system. I have 14 days to change my mind in any case. Anyone has plain facts, numbers or examples. Here's an example of the Sigma 18-200. Help and hints are very welcome. Thanks in advance. Germain.

Karmin, just received my Sigma 18-200 OS HSM for my d80 yeaterday. Never own any OS or VR lens before. The Sigma seems to work properly as expected but something really concerned me. There is this short and fairly loud (not quite but almost as loud as the shutter sound of the d80) chatter sound when the OS kick in as I pressed down half way on the shutter. Then it switched to a very low (almost inaudible) continous sound ( I think this part is normal). The chatter sound showed up occasionally when I moved the camera around with the OS on. However, the OS is definitely working the way it should.

Does you Sigma lens exhibit similar chatter sound/noise? By the way where did you found it so cheap in Canada if you don't mind telling me?

bright eyes, thanks for your reply. I had noticed the noises you mention. But from one person to another, the sounds may "appear" different. I just did the test on my lens. There's kinda of a snap sound or pop when it kicks in then a "grinding" sound as long as the OS is in function. Is it louder on your lens? Dunno? I will take back the lens to the camera store soon anyway to make my choice definitive and will ask to try another one before deciding as I said in my previous post. What do you mean by "the way it should"? Today was a rainy day in Montréal and I tried the OS. At 200mm, 2 photos taken at 1/30 f9 weren't stabilized (see attachment), on the other hand, at 1/15 f9 one photo was stabilized. I'm lost in stabilizing technology. I bought the camera at L.L. Lozeau in Montréal, biggest NIkon retailer and professionnals here. Visit their site. Cheers. Germain.

Karmin wrote:What I meant is when OS is activated I can actually see the image in the viewfinder is much steadier than when OS is turned off. I did some test shot earlier today of a little bird on a tree branch at 200mm. Without OS turn on I could see the slight shaking of the image of the bird in the viewfinder but as soon as I turned on the OS, the shaking was gone. The feeling is much like the other superzoom point and shoot digicam (with optical stablization) that I am very used to. The picture came out quite sharp. The OS of the lens definitely working.

The chattering noise that I mention earlier is quite noticeable to me. It is definitely audiable even in semi noisy room. Imagine if I am using it in a church (wedding ceremony), it can be quite annoying. Other than that, I like the lens so far. It focus reasonably fast and quiet (thanks to the new HSM model). I will do more test tomorrow.

the pictured you showed was without os right? Would it be possible to see the result with OS?

regards

monx and bright eyes, thanks for your comments and observations. monx, the previous photo was taken with OS on. Yes yes. Here's another poto taken with the OS on taken today. In the following post, the same photo taken just after. OS has done its job. Same settings for tboth photos. I don,t remeEither the OS is not very effective or I have a defect unit. But...the salesman also told me the Sigma OS could be less effective than the Nikon's VR. I guess I won't go further with this lens. I'm afraid the OS kicks in whenever it wants. It seems to have a mnd of its own. Well...Germain.

Here's the other photo. OS works fine on this one.

monx, This is my contribution here, this one the Sigma OS was OFF
1/40sec, f8 at 200mm, matrix metering

This one the Sigma OS was ON
1/40sec, f8, 200mm

This one is more dramatic, by the way all photo were unaltered in any way except resizing.
OS was OFF, 1/50sec, f8