Sigma 18-125mm, Digital DC

The Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC is an all-in-one zoom made for APS-C digital SLR cameras, designed to cover a useful range without constantly changing lenses.

Starting at 18mm and reaching all the way to 125mm, it moves from wide everyday shooting through to portraits and short telephoto work. Sigma designed it as a 6.9x zoom, giving photographers one relatively compact lens for travel, holidays and general day-to-day photography.

Inside, Sigma used one SLD, Special Low Dispersion, element and two aspherical elements to help control optical aberrations across the large zoom range. It also has internal focusing, so the front element doesn't rotate while focusing, which is handy when using a circular polariser.

It's an older DSLR lens, but that's also part of its appeal. If you've got a compatible APS-C DSLR and want one affordable lens covering a lot of ground, the 18-125mm remains a very practical option.

Best for

• Everyday photography
• Travel
• Holidays
• Walkaround shooting
• Landscapes
• Street photography
• Portraits
• Family photography
• Events
• Anyone wanting one lens instead of carrying several

What to expect

This lens is about range and convenience rather than having a particularly bright aperture.

At 18mm you've got a useful wide-angle starting point for landscapes, travel and general photography. At 125mm, you've got enough reach for portraits, details and more distant subjects.

On most 1.5x APS-C systems, that works out around a 27-187.5mm equivalent field of view. On Canon APS-C bodies with their 1.6x crop, it's roughly 29-200mm equivalent.

The aperture changes from f/3.5 to f/5.6 as you zoom, so it's at its best outdoors or in reasonable available light rather than particularly dark situations.

It can focus as close as 50cm throughout the zoom range, with a maximum reproduction ratio of 1:5.3.

There is no optical image stabilisation in this lens. It should not be confused with the later 18-125mm f/3.8-5.6 DC OS HSM, which is a different lens.