Nikon Lenses For Sale

Sigma 24mm f/1.8 EX DG Aspherical Macro Large Aperture Wide Angle Lens for Nikon SLR Cameras Price

Let me put the light gathering abilities of the Sigma 24mm F/1.8 lens in perspective.

The Olympus 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 kit lens, at wide open aperture and set to a 24mm focal length, is an f/4.7 lens. Ouch. With the kit lens wide open and set to 24mm focal length, I need 1600 ISO to get a tripod shot of my kitchen at around 1/50th of a second. With the Sigma, I get the same shutter speed with the camera set to 200 ISO. At 1600 ISO, the Sigma shoots the same image at 1/400th of a second.

A tripod mounted test on an illuminated indoor target shoots 1/320th of a second at f/5 with the kit lens, while the Sigma shoots the same scene at 1/400th of a second. Another test of another target, this time at F16, has the kit lens at 1/60th of a second, the Sigma at 1/80th. I believe the Sigma has superior lens coatings and more light reaches the image sensor.

The 4/3rds mount version of this lens does not have an aperture ring. I was a little disappointed, having hopes I would be able to turn the ring in aperture priority instead of the knob on the camera. Having owned a series of film SLR’s going back to the 70’s, I still catch myself trying to twist a ring that isn’t there!

There are a few things to consider…

1. Because the sigma is a full frame lens with a four thirds mount, its much heavier than a purpose-built 4/3rds lens. But I must say, it looks good on the front of my E-510, like what one would expect an expensive lens on a high end DSLR to look like. The lens hood is flat black, adding to the appearance.

2. It focuses fast IF you remember to disengage the manual focus ring. The user guide says you MAY damage the motor in the *camera* if you leave the manual focus ring engaged in auto focus. However, since our motor is in the lens, I’m not sure if this applies. The instructions don’t even reference a 4/3rds mount.

3. This lens comes with a one year international warranty, automatically upgraded to FOUR by Sigma for USA purchasers of the lens from an authorized USA Sigma dealer. The extended warranty is not transferable, which is something to keep in mind if you buy the lens used.

4. On a full frame camera, this would be a wide angle lens and therefore takes a 77mm filter.

Overall, I’m very happy with this lens. Photographs, even at f/1.8, are sharp and clear. Having such a fast lens has opened up whole new areas of photography for me to explore, and the fact I no longer have to use anything over 400 ISO for existing light photographs has made a quantum leap in the quality of my photographs.

The biggest negative to the Sigma 24mm f/1.8 is I now despise the aperture of my kit lenses!

Feature

• Filter Size: 77mm f/Stop Range: 1.8-22 Minimum Focus Distance: 7.1 Magnification: 1:2.7 Zoom/Focus C

Overview

Sigma 24mm f1.8 EX DG Aspherical Macro is one of the EX Series lenses. This lens has a fast F1.8 maximum aperture with macro focusing capability of minimum focusing down to 18cm/7.1inches (reproduction ratio 1:2.7). The iris diaphragm has 9 diaphragm blades to obtain beautiful out of focus image. It incorporates the floating focus system and uses two aspherical lens elements for minimizing distortion and spherical aberration and astigmatism. Internal focus system eliminates front lens rotation, thus allowing the use of a Perfect Hood and the easy use of polarizing filters. The lens incorporates non-vignetting optical construction, in order to obtain adequate peripheral brightness even at open aperture. This is desirable for digital cameras. The lens also incorporates dual-focus mechanism. It is easy to hold the lens, since focusing ring does not rotate during auto-focus, and yet it provides adequate focusing torque of the focusing ring during manual focusing of the lens. The lens materials used in this new lens are lead and arsenic free ecological glass.

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Customer Reviews

Great wide angle prime from Sigma! – Luving it – Seaside, CA USA
Use it on Canon 5D.

Pro:

1. Build quality. Much better than the regular Canon primes. Similar to Sigma 20 1.8
2. Smooth and accurate MF ring.
3. Very quick AF speed. Not as assuring as USM but good enough in most situation including inside low light coffee shops.
4. Very sharp, 2.8 and up, sharper than my Sigma 20/1.8. Nice color and contrast too.
5. Great close focus distance and macro potential.
6. Fantastic price – got an excellent 2nd hand copy from KEH for 0+.

Neutral:

No HSM on this EX lens, same as the other two of Sigma’s wide angle prime trio: 20/1.8 and 28/1.8.

Con:

Like the 20/1.8, wide oepn it’s dark and blurry, much worse than the Canon 50/1.4 at f1.4. Use only in emergency situation. But it’s great after 2.8.

Bottom line:

A fantastic wide prime from Sigma with great macro capacity at a extremely attractive price! 24mm is perfect for indoor close range shots and outdoor wide landscape shots. Based on my personal experience, primes are so much better than zooms, Canon L included. The primes are far more consistent, ligith weight, and better IQ (color, sharpness, contrast, much less distortion and light fall off). Most of the primes I have don’t even have those fancy special glasses in them, unlike my L zooms. And a lot cheaper too. Only if Sigma could produce cheap 300mm primes like they do in the wide end…

Favorite Lens thus over, even over L – Michael Catacutan –
This is by far one of my most favorite lenses. I use it over my L lenses when 24mm is what I need. Because it’s macro, I feel I’m not limited with the prime lens, thus I don’t miss the ability to zoom.

The copy I have is VERY sharp and at f1.8, it’s not the sharpest, but it’s darn good. The lens is almost as sharp as my Canon 100mm f2.8

Yes, the AF isn’t as quiet and fast as most, but really… on my 5dmkII, it doesn’t matter at all. I don’t even notice it. People who think that’s a deal breaker in a lens are less concerned with the art of photography.

I’m 27 years old and grew up with digital photography, but have also taking courses in film. Processing your own film really puts things into perspective, so if a lens is gonna focus .5 seconds slower than another and sound slightly more noisy… and you think that’s awful, you need a reality check.

This lens is top notch.

quickly became a favorite – Trevor W. Martin – Norman, Oklahoma
I purchased this lens, then barely used for the first few months. One day I was in a creative rut, so I decided to spend a day taking photos with only the lens I used the least. That day resulted in this becoming a favorite lens. On my 40d it’s equivalent to around a 38mm focal length, which I find to be quite versatile.

This is one of my sharpest lens, and the wide aperture is really a pleasure to work with creating a nice bright viewfinder and great bokeh. I find the lens to be quite usable opened up all the way to 1.8, but stopping down to 2.0 or 2.8 does make a noticeable difference in sharpness. It can close focus much closer than the specs suggest,within 2-3 inches from the front element. The autofocus of course is much slower than USM/HSM but really isn’t that bad in practice so I have no complaints. Switching between auto-focus and manual is a little weird. First you have to hit the typical MF/AF switch, then push/pull the focus ring to the AF or MF position. I find this two step process to be quite annoying. However the focus ring is nice, large and well damped making manual focusing pleasant. On a crop body like my 40d, I see no noticeable vignetting or corner softness, but I haven’t tried it full-frame. It is large an heavy, but that’s what you get with such a wide aperture combined with the sharp optics. I am glad it has a normal 77mm filter size. My biggest complaint other than the AF/MF switch is that Sigma makes some of the worst lens caps, it’s really a pain to put the cap on or off with the lens hood attached. One of these days I’m going to replace it with a good center-pinch cap to make life easier.

Good Value – D. Jones – Orlando, Fl
I use my camera for one of two things: (1) Photographing the details of old, decaying abandoned houses and (2) Capturing images of unknown punk bands in small clubs. I decided to pick up the Sigma 24MM 1.8 (4/3 Mount) for increased flexibility in low light conditions.

So far, it has performed well. I am able to get some nice, shallow DOF macro shots inside abandoned houses with little light. And while shooting live bands, I get an extra stop or two which helps lessen the noise in the photo and/or freeze the action with a higher shutter speed.

My only complaints are (1) the “clunky”, two-step method of switching from auto to manual focus (but you get used to it) and (2) its’ occasional tendency to search a long time for proper focus in auto mode.

But overall, I am more than satisfied with the results I am getting with this lens.
Product Information and Prices Stored: Dec 24, 2009 22:15:11

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