[normhead]

I see the confusion then...

It was unclear when you said: "I'm thinking of possible 18-35 1.8 buyers here. If, I'd missed this lens, I would have been completely peeved. There's really nothing else like it."

Thanks for clarifying it now

One of the joys of the internet, you have a train of thought, and you say what you're thinking, but you didn't say all of what you were thinking. I'm constantly amazed when I go back and read over my posts how often I leave out a critical phrase that changes the whole gist of the comment. Oh well, what can you do?

So what I was trying to say was, when the 18-35 comes out, don't be thinking there will necessarily be a big window to buy it. The 8-16 didn't last very long.

[ScooterMaxi Jim]

Sorry to see it isn't available anymore. That Sigma might be offering a newer design and will include Pentax might be a tad wishful, as the 8-16 is a relatively new design - optically strong - and has no direct competition.

I strongly considered the Sigma lens. On the other hand, I would almost never shoot it in AF, so then I thought about the need for a bit faster lens for manual focusing. So, I ended up in the Samyang line with the 8mm a couple years ago, and look forward to the 14mm which is on the way. I don't mind the extra weight and have been extremely impressed with the 8mm and 85mm lenses. By all accounts, the 14mm is even stronger. I might be the only one who took this route rather than buy the Sigma zoom. I have always viewed primes as comparable to good zooms that have under 3-to-1 range. For many years as a manual film shooter, a 24-40 f/2.8 was easily my most-used lens. I thought it was a great lens range, and I'd love to see a similarly fast constant aperture 15-24 introduced for crop sensors. Far less attracted to the 18-35 range or the 20-40, though.

[i_trax]

well 8-16 is still sold in Australia
I was told that production is limited, I preordered one months ago and last DEC my lens arrived with a few more available in online shop, they all gone by now.
and more stock is coming , reply from CRKennedy ( Pentax Sigma AU Distributor):

Next production is scheduled for January.

With February delivery.
Kind regards,

Clem Kennedy
Director

well maybe Country Distributors need to specially order them from Sigma Japan in limited Pentax mount.

[Ben78]

Response:

Quote: All Sigma DC Global Vision lenses will be produced in Pentax mounts. With regard to our non-global vision lenses, we will continue to produce Pentax mounts for those where the demand has been high.

Can we assume from this that the 30/1.4, 24-105/4 and 120-300/2.8 will be produced in K mount? Those three are not listed for K mount on the Global Vision webpage. I for one would like a 30/1.4 someday!

[RobA_Oz]

well 8-16 is still sold in Australia
I was told that production is limited, I preordered one months ago and last DEC my lens arrived with a few more available in online shop, they all gone by now.
and more stock is coming , reply from CRKennedy ( Pentax Sigma AU Distributor):

Next production is scheduled for January.

With February delivery.
Kind regards,

Clem Kennedy
Director

well maybe Country Distributors need to specially order them from Sigma Japan in limited Pentax mount.

Yes, I think I may have got the last one from CRK's eBay store. No regrets on my part, although it's quite a bit bigger than I expected. It's good to hear that more are on the way. There seems to be an assumption that when someone in the US says something like this, that it's true for the rest of the world, but in this case it appears to be not so.

[Ben78]

That makes sense - distributors order what they think they can sell in their market.

Sigma Japan website shows it in K mount - https://www.sigma-photo.co.jp/lens/wide/8_16_45_56/#/specification

[sheld]

Does anyone know if Sigma is going to make more of these Pentax mount 8-16mm lenses, for availability in the North America?

[Digitalis]

Does anyone know if Sigma is going to make more of these Pentax mount 8-16mm lenses, for availability in the North America?

I wouldn't expect Sigma to bend over backwards for the pentax user base.

[sheld]

Anybody ever heard of AkibaExpress? They have the 8-16mm Pentax version in stock; ships from overseas.
http://www.amazon.com/Sigma-8-16mm-4-5-5-6-Pentax-Digital/dp/B003G2A71G/ref=...=pentax+8-16mm

Also, same question for JAPAN ONLINE US STORE/365 days worldwide Shipping, which also has the lens in stock on Amazon.
- Sheldon

[cali92rs]

Can we assume from this that the 30/1.4, 24-105/4 and 120-300/2.8 will be produced in K mount? Those three are not listed for K mount on the Global Vision webpage. I for one would like a 30/1.4 someday!

I don't think the 120-300 f2.8 has been made for Pentax in years. Once in a blue moon they pop up in the marketplace...expect to pay $$$ for one.

That's too bad, we can't even get a modern Pentax badged 300 f2.8

[lytrytyr]

Anybody ever heard of AkibaExpress? They have the 8-16mm Pentax version in stock; ships from overseas.
Amazon.com: Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM FLD AF Ultra Wide Zoom Lens for APS-C sized Pentax Digital DSLR Camera: Camera & Photo

Also, same question for JAPAN ONLINE US STORE/365 days worldwide Shipping, which also has the lens in stock on Amazon.

It's worth taking note of the comment from the Photozone review of this lens on Nikon:

"We went through no less than 4 copies of the Sigma lens to find one without significant decentering (not counting the also decentered Canon version we reviewed earlier). The decentered units were obviously of no use to shoot sample images with, the 4th and final unit, which is reviewed here, was well centered but unfortunately suffered from a quite strong backfocus issue."

So if you're buying from overseas, how easy would it be to exchange a bad copy?

[sheld]

It's worth taking note of the comment from the Photozone review of this lens on Nikon:

"We went through no less than 4 copies of the Sigma lens to find one without significant decentering (not counting the also decentered Canon version we reviewed earlier). The decentered units were obviously of no use to shoot sample images with, the 4th and final unit, which is reviewed here, was well centered but unfortunately suffered from a quite strong backfocus issue."

So if you're buying from overseas, how easy would it be to exchange a bad copy?

hmmm, maybe I'm maybe better off with the Sigma 10-20mm F/4-F/5.6? The Pentax 12-24mm is too expensive.

[Hornet]

The 8-16mm is still listed as available in Canada at http://adencamera.com although you will have to email for availability.

[vjacesslav]

So ot is on Pentax another turn... TO bring some very wide lens on the market... After 16-50mm and 50-135mm a lot of people was missing 11-18mm from cooperation with Tokina...

[Digitalis]

o if you're buying from overseas, how easy would it be to exchange a bad copy?

Good point...I went through 3 copies of this lens - I own an old optics testing bench and all the copies I obtained from the store I frequent were tested and shown to be de-centered to varying degrees (none of them were even close to ideal). To cut a long story short: Sigma ended up sending me a 8-16mm lens that has been tested and adjusted by their techs along with a letter certifying the lens was without optical or physical defects.


Pentax K5IIs - Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 ASPH EX DG HSM 13mm ~ 1/15s ISO 80 @f/11