Sharpness, price, solid barrelwith iron mount

flare (like all wide zooms)

Actually the best wide zoom I ever used can be compared to primes for sharpness quality and low distortion. Affordable price. Vivid colors expecially with quality slides like Ektachrome E100 VS and Fujichrome Velvia.

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 17-35, Pentax 20-35

Low distorsions good contrast and sharpnes quite well controlled flare really nice feel sturdy build

lack of HSM (for Canon & Nikon & Sigma)

I was amazed by little level of distortions this extremely wide zoom has. At 15mm there is minimal barrel (definiately smaller than in my EF 28-135 USM IS at 28mm), at 17-18mm the lens gives allmost no distorsions (unnoticeable at most), at 30mm there is some pinoclusion, even sytronger than barrel at 15mm. Contrast is very good for such wide angle zoom and flare is rather well controlled, but present (it''s better than in Sigma 28-70 f/2.8 EX I''ve seen, and it''s ways better than Russian wide agle prime -- Mir 20 f/3.5). Sharpness is also good, definiately above amateur class lenses (as it should be since it''s an EX thing). Nice thing is internal focusing and internal zooming thus lens is rather well protected against dust. Zoom and focusing ring (2nd one thanks to DF design) have this really nice feel like in manual focus lenses -- move very smoothly with apropriate resistance. All of this combined with well build quality make it really nice in use. The only bad thing (which is related only to Canon EOS version) is very noisy focusing engine (but reasonably yet not extremely fast) -- if it had HSM it would be a dream. The lens performs as it sould for it''s price, it''s simply a very good buy.

Customer Service

Not used

Similar Products Used:

Russian 20mm prime (Mir 20 f/3.5)

Solid construction. Sharp and contrasty images. Great feel. Does not have a comma in its price.

F stop changes throughout the zoom range. Could be a major annoyance when shooting wide open in manual mode. Also be careful of flare in strong backlit situations.

I purchased the lens about three weeks ago. I tested the lens and found out that it had major flare problems. Through one of the forums I got the idea that I may have a bad lens from the assembly line. I took the lens back to my dealer and got a replacement. The replacement does not exhibit the blatent flare problem I had with the first one. This is a very wide lens and is bound to have some flare problems. I have also rented and shot with the Nikon 15mm f3.5 ($1500) lens. The Nikon too had flare problems. I am not a big Sigma fan from bad past experience. However, I love this lens and my Sigma 24-70 f2.8 lens. For the money and the wide range of coverage on both lenses I do not know of an alternative. The images I shot with the "bad" first lens are in a annual report I am doing for a client. My printer commented on the "unbeliveable" quality of the images. I have nothing but praise for the Sigma EX line of lenses. Will they hold up to my Nikon lenses in the long run? Time will tell. Someone on another lens review said he does not like prices that have commas in them. I must concur.

Customer Service

Have no experience with them.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 15mm f3.5 manual fixed focal. Nikon 16mm f2.8 manual fisheye (a gem).

good wide angle with good distortion control for those ''''in yer face pictures''''

flare is bound to be a problem with a lens this wide, I have taken some pics with the sun behind trees today will see how they come out. Also as described previously filters are a problem -forget cokin p or even Xpro (maybe hand held) as when the filter cap goes on I estimate you are up to 24/23mm before you get rid of the vingnetting - but I dont have a 100% viewfinder.

I have bought this to use on my dynax 7, At jessops I compared it directly with the sigma 14mm which I had originally considered. There was much less distortion on the 15-30 for the loss of 1mm, also being a zoom it is much more flexible, so I went for it. I have compared it to my Minolta 24-105 D and there is LESS barreling on the sigma at 15mm than the Minolta at 24mm !! The pincushioning is also minimal at max zoom so it seems to be a good purchase.

Customer Service

not neede

Similar Products Used:

sigma 14mm, vivitar 19-35, minolta 24-105 D

Well-built, eg: built-in lens hood is made of metal. Tip: Sigma provides a push-on lens cap adapter. This is threaded and you can used 82mm screw-on filters. However if you used a regular polariser, it will vignette from 15-20mm, using a slim profile polariser should help.

Pity there is no HSM. Also it is not FTM like some Canon lens. Switching between AF/MF is also a slight drag as you need to do 2 steps: 1) switch AF/MF mode, 2) toggle focus ring between AF/MF. However the latter helps prevent focus ring rotation during AF operation.

Good value for money. Must-have if you want decent wide-angle with digital SLRs, eg: 24-48mm with a Canon D30.

Customer Service

Nothing major. Email enquiry to Sigma Japan was answered within 2 days.

Similar Products Used:

Canon & Sigma 17-35s