 Great quality but a little heavy and big. |
| Review Date: March 7, 2007 |
| Reviewer: MattNis, USA |
| I wanted a wide angle prime lens that I could take to parties where the shooting distance is always about the same and I could get higher quality pictures than with zoom lenses. Since this lens is fast, f/1.8, it focuses very quickly even in low light. It doesn't have an ultrasonic focusing mechanism, but focus speed is very fast and it has a clutch focusing ring so I can hold the lens and not interfere with the rotation of the focusing ring. The body feels very tight and well put together. The texture and feel are perfect. Picture quality is extremely good. The colors are natural and it's very sharp at 1.8 and is even better at 2.0 and above. Macro is excellent and since it has 9 curved aperature blades, the bokeh looks very pleasing. There is almost no distortion or abberation and focus is accurate. So even though this lens is a bit bigger and heavier than I would like in a prime lens like this, the benefits of brighter viewfinder (due to f/1.8), extemely sharp pictures and very good build quality makes it worthwhile purchase (especially for the price). |
WAY better than I expected!
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| Review Date: October 3, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Technology Guru, Beaverton, Oregon |
Let me put the light gathering abilities of the Sigma 24mm F/1.8 lens in perspective.
The Olympus 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 kit lens, at wide open aperture and set to a 24mm focal length, is an f/4.7 lens. Ouch. With the kit lens wide open and set to 24mm focal length, I need 1600 ISO to get a tripod shot of my kitchen at around 1/50th of a second. With the Sigma, I get the same shutter speed with the camera set to 200 ISO. At 1600 ISO, the Sigma shoots the same image at 1/400th of a second.
A tripod mounted test on an illuminated indoor target shoots 1/320th of a second at f/5 with the kit lens, while the Sigma shoots the same scene at 1/400th of a second. Another test of another target, this time at F16, has the kit lens at 1/60th of a second, the Sigma at 1/80th. I believe the Sigma has superior lens coatings and more light reaches the image sensor.
The 4/3rds mount version of this lens does not have an aperture ring. I was a little disappointed, having hopes I would be able to turn the ring in aperture priority instead of the knob on the camera. Having owned a series of film SLR's going back to the 70's, I still catch myself trying to twist a ring that isn't there!
There are a few things to consider...
1. Because the sigma is a full frame lens with a four thirds mount, its much heavier than a purpose-built 4/3rds lens. But I must say, it looks good on the front of my E-510, like what one would expect an expensive lens on a high end DSLR to look like. The lens hood is flat black, adding to the appearance.
2. It focuses fast IF you remember to disengage the manual focus ring. The user guide says you MAY damage the motor in the *camera* if you leave the manual focus ring engaged in auto focus. However, since our motor is in the lens, I'm not sure if this applies. The instructions don't even reference a 4/3rds mount.
3. This lens comes with a one year international warranty, automatically upgraded to FOUR by Sigma for USA purchasers of the lens from an authorized USA Sigma dealer. The extended warranty is not transferable, which is something to keep in mind if you buy the lens used.
4. On a full frame camera, this would be a wide angle lens and therefore takes a 77mm filter.
Overall, I'm very happy with this lens. Photographs, even at f/1.8, are sharp and clear. Having such a fast lens has opened up whole new areas of photography for me to explore, and the fact I no longer have to use anything over 400 ISO for existing light photographs has made a quantum leap in the quality of my photographs.
The biggest negative to the Sigma 24mm f/1.8 is I now despise the aperture of my kit lenses! |
Great combination 24mm AND a macro
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| Review Date: May 3, 2008 |
| Reviewer: eric, |
| The idea if having a wide angle macro was incredibly appealing to me. Getting a couple inches away from a subject with that exaggerated wide angle can produce incredibly engaging results. I love the creative possibilities of this lens. Great! Plus that it's a 1.8 allows you to shoot hand held at night with ambient street light. The price is great. The build is very good, not a tank like my Nikon 105mm but very good. It doesn't feel cheap at all. Getting from automatic to manual focus, you need to switch the camera but also disengage the focus ring on the lens by pushing it towards the front of the lens or toward the camera body. This is not a big deal like some other reviews have brought up. At 1.8 the lens is a little soft, but only a little. If you're used to the Nikon 14mm lens for 1500 bucks you might be a little let down. But the lens sharpens fine at 2.5 or so. No concern at all the more you close it down. The creative possibilities, the price, the quality build and the speed of the lens FAR out weigh the small softness issue for me. If you want a wide angle macro, for the price this is HIGHLY recommended. I love it and I've using it exclusively on my f100. |
Amazing!
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| Review Date: August 16, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Surfseventy8, Nantucket, MA United States |
| I love this lens. The only time it comes off my D80 is when I need a zoom lens. Otherwise, this is a great almost all in one lens. It is a bit slow in the focusing department compared with my Nikon 18-135 but it is much sharper than all my othe lenses. Produces great bokeh at 1.8 |
quickly became a favorite
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| Review Date: May 17, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Trevor W. Martin, Norman, Oklahoma |
I purchased this lens, then barely used for the first few months. One day I was in a creative rut, so I decided to spend a day taking photos with only the lens I used the least. That day resulted in this becoming a favorite lens. On my 40d it's equivalent to around a 38mm focal length, which I find to be quite versatile.
This is one of my sharpest lens, and the wide aperture is really a pleasure to work with creating a nice bright viewfinder and great bokeh. I find the lens to be quite usable opened up all the way to 1.8, but stopping down to 2.0 or 2.8 does make a noticeable difference in sharpness. It can close focus much closer than the specs suggest,within 2-3 inches from the front element. The autofocus of course is much slower than USM/HSM but really isn't that bad in practice so I have no complaints. Switching between auto-focus and manual is a little weird. First you have to hit the typical MF/AF switch, then push/pull the focus ring to the AF or MF position. I find this two step process to be quite annoying. However the focus ring is nice, large and well damped making manual focusing pleasant. On a crop body like my 40d, I see no noticeable vignetting or corner softness, but I haven't tried it full-frame. It is large an heavy, but that's what you get with such a wide aperture combined with the sharp optics. I am glad it has a normal 77mm filter size. My biggest complaint other than the AF/MF switch is that Sigma makes some of the worst lens caps, it's really a pain to put the cap on or off with the lens hood attached. One of these days I'm going to replace it with a good center-pinch cap to make life easier. |
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