Originally posted by the scout Hello Racer !
well done,
what's your opinion about the mini wide 28 ?, it was on my wish list for its ration price/performance but I read everything in comparison with Pentax 28 mm _a or _m ...
bye
Originally posted by Racer X 69 Thank you Scout.
I like it a lot, but it would be better if is was an A type lens. Since I don't have any other 28mm lenses, I can't compare it to others.
I am looking for a Pentax A28mm though, so when I get one I will be better prepared to draw comparisons.
I have both the mini-wide (Pentax and Minolta SR mounts) and the Pentax A. They're both good lenses and overall I'd say that the Pentax is probably a little better. It has the rendering of a very modern lens: sharp, great colour and contrast - but is soft wide open, though nice and sharp from f/4, and mine over-exposes a bit when on the A setting (not sure if this is a general characteristic or just my copy). Bokeh can be very nasty. It is well built - mine took a tumble on the K-3 when I was in Japan as I fell over and the hand holding the K-3 and A 28/2.8 hit the ground, lens first, with a considerable portion of my weight behind it. The filter ring was dented and that was it. I'm quite sure a newer lens would not have survived, not to mention saved my camera from damage.
The Sigma has a well-known and very real problem with flare, which limits how well it can be used if the sun is in (or just outside) the frame. However, it's sharper than the Pentax A, especially wide open where it's already very sharp indeed, and the bokeh is much nicer. When used for close-ups (in which it would be very rare for the sun to be in the frame) it can produce very nice images indeed, and I feel that's where it really excels.
There's a A version of the Sigma for Ricoh's non-standard auto-aperture control (the one that uses the infamous RICOH pin) but I'm not sure if one was manufactured with the Pentax implementation of auto-aperture. If so then I suspect they're extremely rare as I've never seen one.
So the A is overall a better choice for general use, but it's also harder to find and usually around twice the price of the Sigma. The Sigma's also worth having and can be had for €40 or less, so for a small outlay of cash it's easy to try it out.
I have Flickr albums of both (made the A one just now as I realised I didn't have one):
Pentax:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathandmacdonald/albums/72157709379228802/with/27997904683/
Sigma:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathandmacdonald/albums/72157669470999666