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.
R. Marotz @ 8:47 am
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.
N. Savoiu @ 9:36 am
Since I’ve purchased this lens it has hardly left my K110D body. A bit soft wide open but if low light cannot be worked around it’s better than the alternatives (flash, motion blurr). Beautiful colors and especially good transition from in-focus to out-of-focus areas. I bit bulky but I knew this a priori and I quite like it now compared to lighter lenses. Seems well built and focusing is very smooth.
S. Perez @ 10:22 am
This lens is awesome.
I wanted a wideangle for shooting indoor low light. This filled that void and then some. I wasnt satisfied with the idea of getting a f/2.8 wideangle lens for shooting indoors. I wanted something faster, then I stumbled up on this lens. I could not find many reviews, but I figured Sigma was a good brand, and anyways the lens turned out to be fantastic.
I use it primary for indoor shooting and for situations where I need a wider angle of view.
I would highly recommend this lens to anyone who just needs something wider than a 50mm on a DX sensor.
I am using this on a Nikon D90 and have been overwhelmingly satisfied with this product.
Wendy L. Swalls @ 11:51 am
I used this lens on a Sony Alpha 350, it does exactly what I want it to do, and it’s lightweight. Great Lens!
Kenneth Young @ 2:41 pm
It’s a wonderful lens! Great value for the money!
At f/1.8, it’s a fast lens that’s capable of shooting in low-light condition, or making artistic photos with dramatic bokeh. With 9-blade aperture diaphragm, the bokeh (or the out-of-focus blur) is so buttery and dreamy.
However, you do need to know how to control the shallow depth-of-field (DOF) with the wide aperture opening or big distortion from a wide-angle lens. If you aren’t careful with the composition and have the subject too close to your lens, then the 28mm will cause the subject to have a big & round face. As for DOF, I calculated that a 28mm at f/1.8 with the subject distance of 4′, is only 6″. If you are not careful with the focus, then you’ll get a blurry photo.
Many folks are concern about the automatic focus accuracy of this Sigma lens. When the subject is only 1.5′ away (1″ DOF), I did notice that I was getting a front focus of about 1″. That is probably within the tolerance of the lens still, since the error was a combination of the deviation of my camera body and the lens. An easy adjustment of the calibration setting in my camera took care of the problem and everything is hitting bulls-eye after that.
The 77mm lens diameter is the same common Canon diameter of many EF lenses. Thus, all my existing filters fit just perfectly. The exterior finish is the typical wrinkle EX finish and looks nice. Although the front lens do not rotate with focusing, the lens itself does extend or contract when focusing. In addition of the automatic/manual focus switch, there is the quirky pull/push clutch system for fine focus adjustments. The communication with my Canon 1D Mk III is great. It would be nice if this lens had the Sigma’s Hypersonic Motor (HSM) instead of the conventional, robot-cop sounding, motors. However, the focus was quick enough and not much hunting for focus even in darkness.