Buy Sigma 28mm f/1.8 EX DG Aspherical Macro Large Aperture Wide Angle Lens for Pentax and Samsung SLR CamerasSigma 28mm f/1.8 EX DG Aspherical Macro Large Aperture Wide Angle Lens for Pentax and Samsung SLR Cameras Product Description:
Product Description
Features minimum focusing, down to 20cm/7.9inches (reproduction ratio 1:2.9). The iris diaphragm has 9 diaphragm blades to obtain beautiful out of focus image. It incorporates the floating focus system and the use of two aspherical lens elements to minimize distortion, spherical aberration and astigmatism. The lens incorporates minimum vignetting optical construction in order to obtain adequate peripheral brightness with open aperture. Internal focus system of the lens eliminates front lens rotation, thus allowing the use of a Perfect Hood and easy use of polarizing filters. The lens also incorporates a dual-focus mechanism. It is easy to hold the lens, since focusing ring does not rotate during auto-focus, and yet provides adequate torque of the focusing ring during manual focusing of the lens. The lens materials used in this lens are lead and arsenic free ecological glass.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
51 of 52 people found the following review helpful.
Superb, with some reservations
By R. Marotz
Let me start by saying I'm not a hardcore fan of any particular brand. I like to gauge lenses by their individual merits, rather than discussing them as a brand.The Sigma 28mm f/1.8 EX is an excellent lens from an optical standpoint. On digital and film SLRs from Nikon, I was always quite impressed with the optical quality. Even wide-open at f/1.8, it is roughly as good as the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, which is somewhat low in contrast, but still resolves quite a bit of detail on the focal plane. Stopping down a stop or two, like with most lenses, really brings out the contrast and sharpness, and this lens delivered quite wonderfully, matching the famous 28/2.8 AIS Nikkor for sharpness both up-close and at infinity. Further, this lens allows closer focusing than the Nikkor, and possesses less apparent geometric distortion. As much as I love the AIS28, the Sigma is quite brilliant too.While very good at infinity, the lens shines for moderate closeups of objects like flowers. Although it says "macro" in the name, it only approaches 1:2.9 magnification, and the distance from the front element is quite small, so live insect photography will likely not be its forte. At this range, the lens also has a much smoother out-of-focus rendering wide-open than much of its competition (such as the 28/2 AIS Nikkor). If you like smooth boke (not everyone does, but many do), this can be a good lens for that effect.The biggest downsides are the size and the autofocus. Although it is high quality, the lens was simply too big for my taste. Compared to my 28/2.8 AIS, the Sigma is simply massive. In fact, it is about the same size as a 28/1.4 Nikkor, and uses larger (77mm) filters! This is a concern for people who like using filters like polarizers, which get much more expensive at large sizes. The second major issue is that the autofocus mechanism has proven unreliable, particularly on Canon versions of the lens. My Nikon experienced some focus inconsistency at midrange distances (better consistency up close). As I tend to manually focus, this was not too much of a problem, but for those who do depend on it heavily...this lens might cause frustration. Bear in mind, this is not the case for EVERY lens of this make; it is likely an issue with sample variation which has been pointed out for some time. Some people have great luck, some are not so lucky.As I prefer to manually focus and personally prefer smaller lenses, I opted instead for my AIS Nikkor, which has roughly equal optical quality in a much smaller package with inexpensive 52mm filters. However, I do miss my 28/1.8 Sigma and, were it a smaller, manual focus lens, I would likely be using it today.If you can get over the gargantuan size and if you can circumnavigate the sample-variation-related AF quirks, this lens is quite beautiful. I must give the designers kudos, even if it's not the perfect lens for me personally.
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful.
Wonderful optics, but everything else falls short
By Herman Au
I am a working professional who uses my camera and lens on a daily basis and unlike most who only care about the optics, everything else matters to me, and I'm going to explain to you why I'm rating it only 2 out of 5 in details.The 28mm F/1.8 is a niche lens. Most people who shoot this wide never even need a large aperture to begin with. Event photographers don't shoot this wide very often, average photography enthusiasts would be better off with a ultra wide zoom lens instead of a prime, and landscape photographers who might treasure this the most often times prefers more in focus and thus rarely use large aperture like this on a wide. I shoot weddings, and every now and then I do rely on niche lens to create special images. And that's where this lens really shines. This lens is sharp, and actually much sharper than I expected even at F/1.8 where it's supposed to be soft, it performs really well. The only complain in terms of optics is that the color is a little cool and feels a little off comparing to every other Nikkor glass I own.Using this lens under well-lit scenarios is generally a pleasure. The very shallow depth of field at F/1.8 along with the macro capabilities of this lens will allow you to do a lot of things you wouldn't be able to do with a regular bag of lens. Even comparing to my Nikon 17-35mm f/2.8, this lens have a special place 'cause you can really still use the shallow depth of field to identify your subject shooting so wide, whereas the 17-35 at F/2.8 is probably at best good for low-light purposes. Distortion of this lens is very well controlled as well, which is a pleasant surprise to find on a 28mm wide angle lens.Unfortunately this is where the praises end. Below are my major complaints:1. Focusing mechanism is awful. I current own more than a dozen Nikon glass and this is the 2nd Sigma lens I own. Unfortunately they both behave similarly when they focus: it starts focusing from one end to the other, and if it cannot lock in the focus on the first try, it goes all the way back, and stop. I know it's hard to understand but in comparison, a Nikon lens would also start focusing from one end to the other, but somewhere along the line it has an idea where to lock in the focus and it tries hard to stop there; and if it misses the first time, it will go back and forth around that focus distance and try to lock in without having to go all the way from one end to another again.2. Focus accuracy is way low... it's simply unreliable. Unless you're focusing on something with a clear edge, or something contrasty and easily identifiable, the lens falls way short. This becomes more apparent when you're trying to shoot against the light and try to autofocus - typically I can get about 50-60% successful rate on a D700 with a 50 F/1.4G or a 17-35mm F/2.8, but on a Sigma it will probably lock in about 15% of the time, and half the time it's actually wrong even when it locks in.3. Focusing speed is way slow... but that probably has something to do with the macro capabilities.4. Construction - Generally speaking the lens construction is pretty good, but Just like the Sigma 105mm F/2.8 macro, the lens barrel rolls in and out when you focus. This isn't as serious as the 105mm but then the lens hood is attached to the inner barrel, which doesn't exactly protect the lens very well.That being said, will I still keep my lens?The short answer is YES, I will.There really isn't a much better option there at this price point unless Nikon makes a full frame fast and wide prime at F/1.8 below $1,000. I have a hard time justifying spending about $2k for a lens that I don't use more often, or won't find a permanent spot in my camera/lens case. Will it work for you? YMMV. It depends on what you do with it, and how you use it.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
One of the best lenses for Canon I have ever used
By A. Rabun
From precise macro to wide-angle shots, this lens performs very, very well. The images it produces are tack-sharp. I have all but abandoned my 50mm f/1.8 on my 50D...this lens is closer to "normal" on the crop sensor. The bokeh is marvelous: creamy, smooth, and dreamy. The colors are typically Sigma: that is to say a little warm and not overly saturated but not exactly subdued. The build quality is far better than most Canon lenses in this price range, which is also typical of Sigma. The auto-focus performs well, occasionally seeking at very close macro distances, but that is normal for the small DOF of macro lenses, plus I do not have a ring- or macro-light.As I said, I use this lens as "normal" on my crop bodies but on the 5D (I have the original not the Mark ii) it really shines as a wide angle lens. 28mm is the perfect indoor angle offering enough field of view to capture everyone in your scene but still allowing use of flash to fill the dark spots using my 580 EX II. I have essentially stopped using the 24-105 f/4L for wide angle work because this lens is so sharp.Now, the obvious strong point of this lens is the f/1.8 aperture which is sharp, sharp, sharp even wide open with virtually no falloff and almost no CA. I never hesitate to just leave it wide and shoot in TV mode to stop action or to create action trails. Using it indoors at 400 ISO I get perfect images every time without the harshness of flash.I have used this lens on these bodies with excellent results:50D5DRebel XTi (400D)Elan 7 (35mm film)Elan IIe (35mm film)EOS 3 (35mm film)So for crop or full frame, this is a great walk around, macro, and wide angle lens.
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