Sigma 24-135mm f2.8-4.5 D on Nikon D810

Yesterday my "new" Sigma walk-around lens arrived. It set me back $130, and you'd think I'm insane to buy a non-VR lens as a walk-around lens, but I like the zoom range and aperture range of this lens, and I use a tripod a lot of the time, so I figured I'd give this lens a try. So far I'm pretty impressed with the center performance at f5.6. I see stair-stepping (aliasing) in some parts near the center of the photos, and that's an indication that the lens is out-resolving the 36 MP AA-less sensor in the D810. Who would have thought such a thing could be possible in an old lens with such a long zoom range? Here's the best 135mm shot at f5.6 (an OOC jpeg) so far (shooting from a tripod on a still day, employing the 10 sec. self-timer, so I wouldn't be touching it when the shutter actuates):

Sigma 24-135mm f2.8-4.5 D on Nikon D810 at 135mm f5.6 ISO 100 (OOC jpg)

Here is one I shot at 70mm f5.6:

Sigma 24-135mm f2.8-4.5 D on Nikon D810 at 70mm f5.6 ISO 100 (OOC jpg)

I'm mostly concerned with what this lens does at portrait focal lengths, which is why I'm showing 135mm and 70mm results here. I will probably shoot with it at 50mm and 35mm sometimes too. Unfortunately, my initial results show me that I'll probably have to step up to at least f8 if I'm shooting wider than 35mm, because at 28mm it looks to perform a lot like my $50 Nikon 28-80mm f3.5-4.5 D, which is pretty terrible at 28mm. I'm planning to get a wide zoom, like the 14-24 G lens so the performance at 24mm is really not that important to me, though it would be nice if the lens would perform really well at all focal lengths, of course. Ultimately I'm hoping this lens will work as a one-lens solution, like the 18-200 does on an APS-C body. I do realize I can't expect that for under $200 though.

I'll head out and get some more shots with the Sigma 24-135mm f2.8-4.5 D lens today, and I'll be posting a few more sample shots here, including a link to a series of photos I'll shoot at 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 70mm, 100mm, and 135mm (wide open and at f5.8, f8, and f11).

I have to say I'm pretty happy with this lens so far. Unfortunately it doesn't have weather seals or VR though. Hopefully Sigma will update it with a new Sport OS lens, and sell that for just a little more than their old 24-105mm f4 OS Art lens (maybe $300 more?).