A few weeks ago I bought an old manual focus Sigma 18-35 zoom on eBay (from
Henry's; they have a supply of new "old stock"). I wasn't expecting much
but I must say it's a really fun lens to use. Much better image quality
than I'd expected. The only downside is that it's very prone to flare. A
reasonable compromise, considering how cheap it is, I guess.
I now take this lens whenever I don't want to risk my Pentax 20/2.8 (and
the extra 2mm is sometimes useful in itself).
I took it with me for my Boston Marathon shoot and last weekend I used it
in the woods while covering a 20k trail race and I'm really pleased with
the results in both cases. At Boston I used it to get some shots at the
start, where I couldn't get through the crowds, by holding my MX up above
my head on my monopod, tripping the shutter with the self-timer. The ultra-wide
perspective also made for some dramatic shots of runners going up and down
steep hills at the trail race (I sometimes used fill flash with the flash
head zoomed out to the 105mm setting to brighten up just the main subject).
Trail photos are at http://www.robertstech.com/run/graphics/runpic34.htm
It doesn't feel very durable, but the light weight is an advantage in situations
like the ones in which I've used it.
It's a lot of fun for not much money and I'd recommend it as a starting
point for someone looking to try out ultra wide angles.
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