On 5 December 2010 05:46, Igor Roshchin <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi All, > > I wonder if anybody had experience with either of these two lenses: > Sigma 20/1.8 and 24/1.8? > > I see mixed reviews elsewhere.. > > I am especially interested in their performance when wide open. > > Igor
Igor, I have the 24mm version, which I wrote about here: http://photo.net/pentax-camera-forum/00V4Sv Here's a copy/paste for those not wanting to follow the link: As for Sigma, I own the 24mm f/1.8. Your comparison with a can of soup is most appropriate, and its size is something I find annoying (one of the perks of primes should be small size!). Although I use the lens wide open when I have to, its performance is somewhat poor. Luckily, IQ improves quickly as you stop down, with f/2 being noticeably better, and f/2.4 an even better improvement; by f/2.8 it's about as good as it gets (and better than my zooms at that focal length and aperture). Another warning: The lens love to flare, so use a hood and be aware of any light sources on the periphery of your frame. It's a shame it doesn't perform better wide open, as I would use it much more often if that were the case. As it is now, I only bring it out when I need to shoot wideangle and light is really low, like at concerts. If I only need moderate wideangle, then I shoot with the FA 31mm F/1.8 Ltd, which can be shot wide open with no qualms. Here are a couple of galleries with concert photos I've taken, a lot of which were with this lens. On the right of each photo is a link that says "more info"; click that to see focal length and aperture. Which reminds me, on Pentax bodies these lenses register as f/1.7 wide open, instead of f/1.8 (as far as I know this happens with all 3 of them). http://picasaweb.google.com/Miserere/VivianDarkbloomGreatScott13July2009 http://picasaweb.google.com/Miserere/TheFranklinKiteMiddleEastDownstairs6July2009 If you're thinking of buying the 24mm version, I'm thinking of selling mine, so let me know if you'd be interested. In case you're wondering, my reason for selling is not because of there being anything wrong with the lens, but because I want to make a big lens purge and sell most of my collection. Despite my negative remarks above, I still like it and consider it a worthy lens. Cheers, —M. \/\/o/\/\ --> http://WorldOfMiserere.com http://EnticingTheLight.com A Quest for Photographic Enlightenment -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
