[farfisa]

One thing I didn't like about the Sigma was the fact that the bokeh goes into weird triangle shapes in the corners. It can be a little distracting with foliage, etc., but maybe that's just me!

But it focused reasonably fast and accurately on my K100D, sharpness was excellent and it was fun to have. The whole "corner resolution" thing is probably not going to be an issue for portrait work either.

[deadwolfbones]

sicam.com on eBay has them for $410 - 8% eBay/Bing cashback.

[ll_coffee_lP]

Appreciate the additional info farfisa. When it arrives I'll give it a check, however I suspect that the corner bokeh won't matter to me too much, as I almost exclusively shoot people.

Looking forward to trying it out.

c[_]

[pingflood]

I had this lens on APS-C and currently use its "big brother" (50/1.4) on full frame. Both are wonderful lenses.

[ll_coffee_lP]

She arrived this afternoon! I gotta say...it's one beautiful lens. The size is perfect and I love the Sigma finish (same as my Sigma 70). It feels nice and solid and has a nice weight to it (not feather light, but not heavy by any means)

This sucker is sharp right at 1.4 and at 4 is stunning. AF is quick on K-7 (I don't have any issues with BF/FF with my copy - checked that this afternoon) and shooting a bit around the house this evening in medium light was nothing short of astounding.

Granted I haven't pixel peeped any images (I don't tend to do this anyway), but from what I'm seeing thus far I'm very pleased.

Looks to be a fabulous lens

Thanks for everyone's help!

c[_]

[deadwolfbones]

Awesome. Enjoy it!

[dave9t5]

She arrived this afternoon! I gotta say...it's one beautiful lens. The size is perfect and I love the Sigma finish (same as my Sigma 70). It feels nice and solid and has a nice weight to it (not feather light, but not heavy by any means)

This sucker is sharp right at 1.4 and at 4 is stunning. AF is quick on K-7 (I don't have any issues with BF/FF with my copy - checked that this afternoon) and shooting a bit around the house this evening in medium light was nothing short of astounding.

Granted I haven't pixel peeped any images (I don't tend to do this anyway), but from what I'm seeing thus far I'm very pleased.

Looks to be a fabulous lens

Thanks for everyone's help!

c[_]

Thanks for the impression, I am also interested in this lens. Important question: does the focus ring turn in the same direction as Pentax lenses? Or opposite?

[ll_coffee_lP]

I just took a look at the markings on the barrel of the FA35 and the Sigma 30. It appears that the Sigma moves in the opposite direction to the FA35 (Sigma infinity on the far right, FA infinity on the far left). This isn't something I would have noticed in practical use as I almost always shoot with AF.

As a side note...I checked the level of detail of the FA35 and the Sigma 30 (my copies).
1.4 - Sigma is very sharp (certainly usable)
1.6/1.8 - Sigma sharpens up significantly (i.e. very noticable and very usable)
2.0 - Sigma is significantly sharper than FA35 (very noticable difference)
2.8 - Sigma is still sharper, but gap narrows a bit
4 - Again, Sigma appears to be a touch sharper, but narrowly
8 - Both lenses appear to be on par with sharpness
I didn't check past this aperture because I never use past f8.

Other notes:
- Sigma is definitely warmer than the FA. Pretty meaningless with RAW and digital, but noticable anyway and possibly worth mentioning
- Both focus on my K-7 at about the same speed. I didn't notice any difference really.
- FA's bokeh at large ap's is noticably octagonal, Sigma's is more rounded/oval. The corners of the Sigma though are more triangular. Not sure if this matters to people, but I like the look of it actually.
- Sigma definitely has more of a 3d effect than the FA.
- Sigma hood is a bit of a pain in the (_(_) to put on and to reverse on the lens for storage. It works OK, but it's a bit finicky and has to be lined up really well. Also, the lens cap has to be put on just right to stay also. The cap though has outer and inner pinchers - so you can put cap on/off with the hood still attached (a nice feature that I have on my Tamron 28-75 also).

Gonna play with it some more and take a closer look at the images I took this morning, but it looks like I've found what I'm looking for.

c[_]

[deadwolfbones]

You're making this very tempting!

[dave9t5]

Thanks for checking the point about the focus direction, a bit disappointing for someone who shoots MF mostly. On the other hand your test notes vs. the FA35 make it still tempting!

I just took a look at the markings on the barrel of the FA35 and the Sigma 30. It appears that the Sigma moves in the opposite direction to the FA35 (Sigma infinity on the far right, FA infinity on the far left). This isn't something I would have noticed in practical use as I almost always shoot with AF.

As a side note...I checked the level of detail of the FA35 and the Sigma 30 (my copies).
1.4 - Sigma is very sharp (certainly usable)
1.6/1.8 - Sigma sharpens up significantly (i.e. very noticable and very usable)
2.0 - Sigma is significantly sharper than FA35 (very noticable difference)
2.8 - Sigma is still sharper, but gap narrows a bit
4 - Again, Sigma appears to be a touch sharper, but narrowly
8 - Both lenses appear to be on par with sharpness
I didn't check past this aperture because I never use past f8.

Other notes:
- Sigma is definitely warmer than the FA. Pretty meaningless with RAW and digital, but noticable anyway and possibly worth mentioning
- Both focus on my K-7 at about the same speed. I didn't notice any difference really.
- FA's bokeh at large ap's is noticably octagonal, Sigma's is more rounded/oval. The corners of the Sigma though are more triangular. Not sure if this matters to people, but I like the look of it actually.
- Sigma definitely has more of a 3d effect than the FA.
- Sigma hood is a bit of a pain in the (_(_) to put on and to reverse on the lens for storage. It works OK, but it's a bit finicky and has to be lined up really well. Also, the lens cap has to be put on just right to stay also. The cap though has outer and inner pinchers - so you can put cap on/off with the hood still attached (a nice feature that I have on my Tamron 28-75 also).

Gonna play with it some more and take a closer look at the images I took this morning, but it looks like I've found what I'm looking for.

c[_]

[dugrant153]

I just picked one up yesterday and absolutely love this lens so far. It has a sort of "character" to it that I can't really explain. Great for my style of artsy and people shots.

I guess my copy must be really good because the AF is dead on and this lens is sharp. The corners do tend to fuzz out a bit, but in the pics I've taken I don't really notice until I pixel peep. This might be a problem shooting architecture and landscape and blowing up the shots to 11x15 and larger but otherwise, this lens is great for its intended use.

I use mostly MF and I dunno if it's just me but I don't notice any issue with the manual focus ring going the other way. Maybe I'm just strange.

[Utik]

This lens is THE people shooter.. at least in interior!!

Just some photos I took yesterday evening, this lens impress me!


1. sooooooo tridimensional!



2. me



3. the out-of-focus transition is really smooth even at medium distance


4. look how the girl plan is separated from the others'. EDIT: it reminds me of old baby board books, and consider that part of the effet got lost in the reduction for the web.

[ll_coffee_lP]

Here's a couple of shots that my wife took:





I'll be running this lens through it's paces next week in an e-session

c[_]

[dave9t5]

This lens is THE people shooter.. at least in interior!!

Just some photos I took yesterday evening, this lens impress me!

1. sooooooo tridimensional!

2. me

3. the out-of-focus transition is really smooth even at medium distance

4. look how the girl plan is separated from the others'.

What apertures are these images at?

[Utik]

What apertures are these images at?

All at 1.4, 400 ISO and shutter speed between 1/20 and 1/40