1.8, well built and is clear- i mean sharp- no doubt it is clearly sharpp

82mm filters but i plan on getting the 24-70 next so i will share them - believe it or not it is heavy for such a small lens- distortion at the edges but it is a 20mm what else can you expect (it is at a minimum tho)

this is my first sigma and will not be my last if the other lenses are made like this one- it is my first wiiiide lens it is a different world in this range- thought about the canon but liked the 1.8 and the price

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rob w. was great at the store have not used sigmsa or cannon and hope not to

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50 1.8 canon- kit zoom

It is stunningly sharp above f/5.0. Price Fast

You will need to buy a 82mm filter to protect the front element. These are not cheap. It does not feel particularly solid, though I''ve had no trouble with it so far

This is a wonderful lens. It give good, sharp pictures and has stood up well to getting salt water all over it.

can solve your "not wide enough" problems a very fast lens nice finish lens hood and case provided nice price

vignetting at widest aperature(but hardly noticible in low light) care must be used to avoid vignetting with filters most flashes are not wide enough for this lens

At first I thought there was no point in having a fast wideangle. They are generally not used for sport and action photography. In my search for something wider than my 28-80 lens,it was either this or the Nikon 20mm 2.8. But as time went by, I started to like it more and more. I decided it was better to go with the faster Sigma because of frustrations with my first lenses for not being fast enough. I really like it,even though the 82mm filter size almost turned me away from it. I find it to be very sharp. There is a detectable vignetting wide open, but only in very bright conditions. that does not bother me because 99% of the time you don''t need it wide open in good lighting. I like that "funky" AF/MF switch(I focus manually most of the time anyway).You can put the camera in MF and the lens in AF and do not have to worry about it getting bumped from infinity. From experience, you should be able to stack 2 filters without vignetting. If you use the Cokin P series filter holder,cut the front slot off. Even then, be sure the holder is perfectly square. The speed of this lens is really cool.If you have a steady hand,shooting handheld under streetlighting with 400 film is possible.

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don''t know yet

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no fixed wide angles equivelant

Very sharp Quick AF Well built Cheap compared to OEM f/1.8 Good package (pouch and hood included)

Some vignetting at 1.8 Blocks built in flash

I read a lot of reviews on this site and decided to compare this lens to the Canon 20 mm 2.8. The canon lens is 240$ more expensive. For the 240$ you get a USM motor, but no hood or pouch. Furthermore the Canon is 2.8 instead of 1.8. In my opinion the Sigma is just as quick as the Canon, so I do not need the USM in this case. However, it is true that some vignetting occurs when shooting at 1.8 in bright conditions. In darker conditions, the vignetting is not a problem. From 2.5 the lens is really sharp, sometimes maybe even to sharp. The lens is built for more camera brands (Nikon), so there is this odd ring on the lens for focusing. I usually focus with AF so I have this ring switched off most of the time. The results are really amazing. In my opinion the lens is much better built than the Canon 20 mm, although I don''t like the gold band. The negative thing is the filter size which is 82 mm. Because of this huge size, you must be careful when using a body with built in flash. The lens blocks the built in flash, which gives a big shadow. However, usually you don''t need any flash because of the big aperture. When I buy a lens, I do not buy a lens for the pouch, but for the optics. However, with this lens you get a beautiful pouch, and a good hood. A good package for 560$.

- Sharp - 20 cm close focusing distance (in fact I have used it much closer) - F1.8 handy in low light situations - Comes with Lens hood and pouch. The Canon equivalent is sold without anything - Cheap compared to Canon or the Sigma 17-35 Zoom I also contemplated

- Not very good in the corners wide open - Large, rather heavy and Filter thread : 82mm - autofocus rather slow and noisy (I seem to be an exception for this) - AF/MF swith a bit awkward to use

Nice lens with good optical quality and some defaults you easily forget when you see the price. I am using it with an EOS 30 (Elan 7E) and the prints I have made from slides taken with it are good : sharp with lots of details. I am always surprised to see that it often got bad marks in magazine tests.

Sharper than Nikon, faster than Nikon, cheaper than Nikon.

Heavier than Nikon, bulkier than Nikon, pizza-sized filters.

I have a Nikon F80. I wanted a very good ultrawide to match the image quality of my Nikkor 85mm 1.8. I tried a Nikkor (AF18-35) - soft, then another Nikkor (AF20)- I hardly wanted to believe this - but it was just as bad, and then this. This was the cheapest, the fastest and the best. It is marvellously sharp, marvellously balanced and ... well, just marvellous. I am normally very pro-Nikon, but Sigma have emphatically got their act together since I last tried them a decade ago. This said, I am currently trying to talk my bank manager into loaning me the money to buy a filter big enough to fit it. Oh, and the two-step change to manual focus loses you time.

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None needed

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AF Nikkors 18-35 IFED, AF 20 2.8, old Sigma 24mm MF

Sharp, ruggid feeling. Finish isn''t THAT cheesy looking.

82mm filter thread YEOUCH!

I was quite pleased with this lens, the price was right, and it got me a fairly wide angle on the D30. I don''t mind the clutch, and manual focusing ring is very solid feeling. (makes my canon 50 f/1.8 look like piddly crap) Only complaint persay is the filter thread, a circular polarizer on it will set you back 1/3 the cost of the lens.

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NA

Awesome Crispness of Image and Color Renditon and NO DISTORTION! Focus on a D30 is IMMEDIATE! Manual Focus Ring is sweetly damped

NONE

I compared this side by side with some Canon L primes and it is RIGHT THERE with them. This lens is scary sharp and NO distortions. Built like a brick and sweet to handle. Now if Sigma only made ALL their other lenses this well Canon would be in REAL trouble. As it is I feel this is an exceptional piece of optics. Sigma did everything right here AFAIAC.

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Canon 20 and 24mm Primes

Image quality is superb from f2.8 down. I use a D1x so the edge definition is unknown because of the 1.5x factor. At about half the price of the Nikon 20mm f2.8, the Sigma is a winner, especially as it has Aspherical elements and the Nikon does not.

Silly AF/M switch, cheap looking finish, the gold stripe around the end of the lens looks like a piece of stick-on tape and will probably peel off the moment I look crooked at it.

Good lens, really good colour rendition, contrast and sharpness. No flare problems in sunlight. Blows my Nikon 28mm f2.8 out of the water. This is the sharpest wideeangle prime lens I have ever used.

Customer Service

Not yet.

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Nikon 28mm f2.8, Nikon 28-105 f3.5-4.5, Nikon 28-200 f3.5-5.6. Various Olympus & Tamrons in the deep dark past.

Very sharp, excellent colour fidelity, no viginetting at wide apertures and an f1.8 to boot. Also, unlike other reviewers, I like the AF/MF switch by sliding the focusing collor forward or back. Disingaging the collor allows me to hold the lens with out restricting the focus motor.

A bit large, but to be expected for an f1.8

Excellent superwide. Very cost effective and both optical and build quality are of very high quality. I am particularly impressed with the optical performance.

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This is the widest lens I have owned (used). Previously have used up to 24mm wide. The difference is significant.