Register · Search · Software · Join Upload & Sell · Hosting

	Moderated by: Fred Miranda
	Username   Password FM Forum Rules Canon SLRs, primes, and zooms lenses reviews FM Forums | Canon-mount SLRs | Join Upload & Sell    Search Used end    Archive 2005 · Sigma 20mm f/1.8 mini review (images)

hauxon Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #1 · Sigma 20mm f/1.8 mini review (images) Well I finally got my self anther prime :-) I´ve been a patient owner of a kit lens and a 50mm f/1.4. I was not totally unhappy with the kit lens but wanted a faster wideangle lens mostly because the 50mm is a bit close for indoor shots (on my 300D) and I figured I hardly put the kit lens on unless taking landscapes and stepped down too. I bought a used but mint Sigma 20mm f/1.8 from a guy here at the Buy/Sell forum for not much less than a new one. i felt more secure about getting a good copy that way since I'm not shure I can get warranted repair here in Iceland. My first impression was quality. The lens it self is big and heavy at least compared th the 50mm f/1.4. The exterior finsh feels rugged and the focus ring is smooth. Sigma gives you a padded green bag for it and a lens hood. The only thing I don't like about the exterior of the lens is the fact it is a bit gray-ish compared to my black 300D (but that's me just being a bit gay-ish). The only real downsides I can see with ergonomics is the big (and expensive) 82mm filter size and noisy zoom. I did not do any ruler or bookshelf test because I don't care for them. Instead I just took the camera with me to the beach (yes, we actually have a beach in Iceland) after work and did some car shooting for my work this morning. Here´s one of my wife, daughter and niece at Langisandur beach. The lens has a minimal focus distance of 20cm so you can do macro.. sort of Playing in the hottub is a nice way go wash the sand and salt off. You need to watch for flare even when the hood is on. Something to dream of when washing your station wagon :-) Another "macro" And here's some stuff for the pixel peepers (no rulers.. sorry) A shot at f/1.8 A 100% crop at f/1.8 A 100% crop at f/11 The lens get's thums up from me. Those who report this lens being unusably soft at f/1.8 must have a broken lens. From what I see f/1.8 is quite useful. Maybe I would see something if I got a Mark II or something?? Anyways, first impression is.. I love it! :-) -- http://www.pbase.com/hauxon Jul 27, 2005 at 11:23 PM

Thouse Offline Upload & Sell: On p.1 #2 · Sigma 20mm f/1.8 mini review (images) Nice shots and thanks for the info!! Sounds like you got a good copy of this lens....... Jul 28, 2005 at 12:28 AM

AGeoJO Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #3 · Sigma 20mm f/1.8 mini review (images) Why did you take pictures of my car ? Just kidding. Nice shots! Are you using a 1.6X camera for those images though? The corners on a FF camera are typically soft wide open.... Joshua Jul 28, 2005 at 12:36 AM

hauxon Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #4 · Sigma 20mm f/1.8 mini review (images) The car is only about 200 times more. Some guys seem to have that many lenses. :-) Jul 28, 2005 at 12:40 AM

BrianP Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #5 · Sigma 20mm f/1.8 mini review (images) Thanks for the review, and I like your first picture! Jul 28, 2005 at 01:05 AM

Qwerty64 Offline Upload & Sell: On p.1 #6 · Sigma 20mm f/1.8 mini review (images) Thanks for the review. How do you find it's sharpness to be at the edges? Jul 28, 2005 at 02:01 AM

daffy Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #7 · Sigma 20mm f/1.8 mini review (images) Some image from my f1.8 copy crop f1.8 crop f2.8 f1.8 1/20 iso800 f1.8 1/30 iso400 f2.8 1/800 f2.8 1/40 f2.8 1/80 f2.8 1/100 iso 400 f4 1/40 iso400 f16 1/200 No good exemple flare f11 30s Jul 28, 2005 at 09:02 AM

daffy Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #8 · Sigma 20mm f/1.8 mini review (images) Qwerty64 wrote: Thanks for the review. How do you find it's sharpness to be at the edges? On my 300D the Sigma is sharp on corner from f3,5/f4. The best is from f5.6 to f11. Jul 28, 2005 at 09:10 AM

CorruptedSanit Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #9 · Sigma 20mm f/1.8 mini review (images) thanks for the mini review! Luck you, you live in Iceland sharp shots everyone! Jul 28, 2005 at 09:57 AM

hauxon Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #10 · Sigma 20mm f/1.8 mini review (images) Took some tree-in-the-corner shots on my way to work for typical corner sharpness and CA testing. Might not be able to post'em until tonight. Jul 28, 2005 at 10:20 AM

charlesk Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #11 · Sigma 20mm f/1.8 mini review (images) Actually i had one sharp Sigma 20 1.8 at one time , nice and cheap Yes, I'm looking forward to playing with it. Some really nice shots in this thread! --c Jul 28, 2005 at 11:52 AM

Sam Bennett Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #12 · Sigma 20mm f/1.8 mini review (images) It really is a nice lens for the price. One thing to watch out for is that focus accuracy is not as good as the USM Canon's. The lens is sharp if you focus correctly, but you'll wind up with more OOF shots with this lens than others. The solution is to pay attention to what you're taking photos of - when the camera says the subject is in focus, check with your eye to confirm it's in focus. If not, focus again until it's in focus. You can get around this a bit by using AI Servo which will generally give you more accurate focusing with all lenses, assuming your subject can be framed correctly using it. Jul 28, 2005 at 12:30 PM

CorruptedSanit Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #13 · Sigma 20mm f/1.8 mini review (images) How AI Servo to get more accurate focusing? Its for moving objects/subjects Jul 28, 2005 at 01:17 PM

Sam Bennett Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #14 · Sigma 20mm f/1.8 mini review (images) The best I can gather is that sometimes One Shot (on the non-1 Series bodies, at least) mode will stop focusing when it's "good enough", while AI Servo will continously re-focus to get the most accurate focus distance. You can try this easily with a focus chart. Take 5 photos of the focus chart in One Shot (forcing the lens OOF between shots) - they'll all have differing amounts of front/back focus. Then take 5 photos in AI Servo and the variation will be much smaller, if present at all. Jul 28, 2005 at 01:34 PM

spartan123 Offline Dedicated FM Account Locked p.1 #15 · Sigma 20mm f/1.8 mini review (images) Hrannar, Now I want my 20 back! Glad your happy with it. If you ever get the chance you should try the Sigma 24 f/1.8, it is actually a little bit sharper! (very close focusing lens also) Still can not believe how fast the lens got to you... spartan Jul 28, 2005 at 01:55 PM

joesmith Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #16 · Sigma 20mm f/1.8 mini review (images) One thing I don't like about the sigma is the focus motor noise. I had a friend question me if I had a robot back there when I was taking pictures. Jul 28, 2005 at 02:23 PM

CorruptedSanit Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #17 · Sigma 20mm f/1.8 mini review (images) tell them you did, its called non-USM/HSM focusing Jul 28, 2005 at 02:58 PM

	end FM Forums | Canon-mount SLRs | Join Upload & Sell end

You are not logged in. Login or Register

Username   Password   Lost your password?