Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I wanted a solid walkabout lens for my D5100 without breaking the bank. I had the option of buying the Nikon 18-300 for about $1000 or a 3rd party lens. I really did't want to invest too much in glass for a D series mount as I can see myself moving up to an F series in a couple of years. I was sick of changing lenses and lugging a lot of weight around and really wanted a zoom in this range. After doing research online I decided to go with the Sigma (over the more expensive Nikon and competing Tamron). Their reviews were solid, and I have previously owned and been satisfied with Sigma lenses. Here is the scoop: Pros: 1. Fast, accurate, quiet autofocus (faster that the stock Nikon lenses which came with the camera (18-55 and 55-300). 2. Light weight, well built, well balanced, and ergonomically superb in every aspect. 3. Image quality is awesome (for a super zoom). 4. Image stabilizer does the job with at least 3 f stops improvement. 5. I love the internal manual focus mechanism, it is definitely an upgrade over basic Nikon lenses. Easy and fast to use. Cons: The only thing I can say so far is there is lens creep. Actually more than creep. The front portions of the lens will extend halfway out while the camera is hanging from my neck. The good part is there is a very convenient lock that prevents this from happening when you are walking around. For me personally, lens creep is not an issue. I haven't bought this lens for tripod mounted macro photography. Be pretty sure that any such lens will have creep; If not right out of the box, sometime within a few months of usage. You can always send the lens back and they will tighten it, but the creep will again come back in time and warmer weather. It's just the nature of the superzoom beast.... Other tidbits: ***You will get a shadow using on camera flash even without a hood if you are shooting closeup with this (or any other wide/telephoto superzoom). Buy a SB400 Nikon flash and problem solved.... ***I use a 72mm filter on this lense (even though the mount is 62mm). I like to do this because I don't get vigneting with a polarizer attached. ***The standard hood that comes with the camera is cute, but useless (as is the case with all hoods that come with superzooms). It covers you on the wideangle range but does nothing on the telephoto range. If you use the 72mm step up ring and filter trick, you can acually use a nice collapsible rubber hood that offers you more coverage (get Hoya's they make a nice one)...