| Author: | | New Member Registered: January, 2014 Posts: 1
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 2, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $300.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | TACK SHARP, no CA | | Cons: | Nothing...really | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
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This is an excellent lens without any visible optical flaws. AF on K200d was slow but on K-5 is pretty fast and precise. It has aperture ring so it's working very well on old bodies.
| | | | | | | Senior Member Registered: December, 2012 Location: Kristiansand S Posts: 250
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 18, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $500.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp, Bokeh | | Cons: | Noisy | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 10
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Just one thing to say: Fantastic Sharp!
 | | | | | New Member Registered: November, 2012 Posts: 6
1 user found this helpful
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: December, 2011 Posts: 53
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 14, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $300.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Super Sharp, Great Colors, Great Bokeh, Built Very Well | | Cons: | Some PF When Not Used As Macro, Focus Is Useless For Macro(not big deal) | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
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I purchased this lens a few months back from a member here on the forum. At the time of purchase i was actively looking for a good Macro lens and i had done plenty of research here on the forum as well as other places. I had my choices narrowed down to this lens and the FA 100mm Macro. The deciding factor was going to be which lens came available at a price that i couldnt pass up. To be honest i really wanted the FA 100 but all the ones i saw for sale were priced more than i wanted to go. This lens popped up at $300 so i jumped on it and i have not been disappointed in the least.
I am still learning how to use this lens properly but i find myself playing with it all the time. My photos are improving everytime i go out with it. When used for Macro this lens is super sharp! Like i say, i'm still learning to use this lens but the sharpness i'm getting is just amazing. It gives great all around image quality. Colors are pretty much right on and the bokeh is beautiful.
Only negatives i can say about this lens is #1 - when shooting macro the focus is pretty much useless. It has a lot of travel even when limited. This isnt a big deal for me because i knew up front that i would be using it as a manual. I tend to have it on an extension tube quite often so focus is eliminated regardless. #2 - I do notice some Purple Fringe when using the lens for other than macro. You can see what i mean in the last photo if you look at the cats right ear. This can be corrected in photoshop very easily and otherwise the lens is still spot on.
All and all i am very happy with my purchase and would definitly recommend this lens to anybody thinking about buying it.
 | | | | | | | Forum Member Registered: May, 2012 Location: Antigonish, Co. NS, Canada Posts: 62
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 9, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $300.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | sharp from F2.8 build quality | | Cons: | Lens hood needs rethinking | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
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I hadn't planned on buying this lens; when I heard the price of 300.00$ for it new, it was hard to turn down. Someone had ordered it and never picked it up; that is their loss.  | | | | | Junior Member Registered: January, 2013 Location: Texas Posts: 32
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 5, 2013 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Unbelievable sharpness, manual focus | | Cons: | Inconvenient hood and aperture ring | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 9
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Sharp, sharp, sharp! No distortion, low flare, sharp at all distance, sharp at all apertures, and sharp!
The aperture ring is too recessed, near the camera body: difficult to use, even with my thin fingers.
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: February, 2011 Posts: 84
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 13, 2012 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp, good size, overall 'feel' | | Cons: | Noisy AF, AF/MF shift | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 8
Value: 10
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This review is for the Sigma AF 105mm f/2.8 EX Macro (non-DG) model. The difference between the DG and this is the rear lens coating, and this one has 10 elements in 9 groups instead of 11/10 for the DG. Differences in results are negligible according to the interweb.
This lens is insane. Just crazy. No other way to put it.
Shooting people is tons of fun. The images it produces on a K20D at f/3.5 are sharp enough to take 100 % crops, and in the reflection of the eye you can see the what subject is looking at. For your all-around usage, don't think of this as a mere 105mm prime. Because of it's superb sharpness even in large apertures, you can crop the image at will. Basically, if you've only used cheap primes, this lens enables a whole dimension in post processing the image, cropping heavily without compromising the sharpness.
For macro purposes, staying in f/5 or smaller works the best, and just wow - the lens yields amazing results. The images just blow you away.
Not everything is perfect though.
The AF/MF shift on the focus ring is quite awkward at first. It kind of limits your ability to hold it securely when shooting macro without tripod if you like pulling the neck strap tight to help steady the camera. The AF position on the lens tends to accidentally kick in. Luckily you already disabled that on the body so it doesn't start autofocusing away, but you still need to disengage the AF again and lose the stance you were in. A minor annoyance, one which I'm sure you can be overcome through practice.
More complaints about the bit slow and noisy AF, which tends to seek back and forth a bit. Once you get a lock, holding the shutter halfway makes it adjust tiny bits all the time, and shooting a burst of differently focused images is a quick thing. It works really well if the subject is on the move and you decide not to chase it manually. However, once the AF starts seeking, the subject is probably gone from the frame, or scared off by the noise before the lens is done seeking, and you'll have to hunt the subject down again. So it's a bit of hassle doing macro with AF, but again, that's a very small complaint because the lens probably already nailed it in the first couple of shots you got.
More to complain about the lens hood, which is a screw-on.
But then again, every complaint about this lens is a very small one. In the end it produces things like I've never seen, not to mention shot myself before. Furthermore, considering the pricing of this slightly older non-DG lens, I'd give this a solid 11 if that were an option, but 10 will have to do this time.
The other people here have already provided samples of macro shots, so here's the eye I mentioned.
f/3.5, 100 % crop, sharpened.
 | | | | | Forum Member Registered: April, 2011 Posts: 88
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 29, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $500.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | sharp, quite fast AF, metal construction, limiter AF | | Cons: | AF/M switch | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 8
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After two months of usage this lens has become my main portrait lens. There is a joy to use it at 2.8.
With k5 Af is a bit faster than with gx20.
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: February, 2010 Location: Blunsdon,Wiltshire, UK Posts: 1,505
8 users found this helpful
| | | | | New Member Registered: June, 2011 Posts: 10
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 11, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $633.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Image quality, manual focus | | Cons: | Bokeh of bright small spots | |
The image quality is excellent: so sharp, and absolutely no aberration (note: I haven't tested other lenses). Bokeh is generally good, except you'll get hexagons when shooting small brighter spots (this actually occured to me only a very few times, but it gets immediately noticed as all the rest is so good).
Don't expect to do any AF: it takes ages to focus, whatever you want to shoot will be gone before the focus is locked, and the range limiter will be in the wrong position half of the time! But the lens has an excellent MF, with a range long enough to focus precisely (180 degrees), a large ring that turns smoothly (not too hard nor too soft). It is really a pleasure to shoot in MF with this lens.
If you shoot with AF you can push the focusing ring, so turning it won't do anything. This is better than the AF/MF ring on most other Sigma lenses, because if it is in MF position, and the body is on AF, you'll still get AF so there is really just 1 button to switch.
There is a hood that must be screwed as you'd screw a filter… I don't see any use to it because the front lens is already deep inside the lens.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: November, 2009 Location: Calgary, Alberta Posts: 507
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 8, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $320.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | sharp as a tack IQ, easy to handle, great build quality | | Cons: | a little slow on the AF side, screw on hood | |
This is one of my favorite lens in my bag. IQ is sharp sharp sharp no matter what f stop you use. I absolutely love Sigma's flat black finish and the build quality on this lens is top notch. I wish they would have put a better hood mount instead of the screw on type. The auto focus is a bit slow but the IQ makes up for any downfalls there may be with this lens. This is a perfect lens in my book.
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: November, 2008 Location: Palo Alto, CA Posts: 2,497
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 8, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $370.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Razorsharp, amazing IQ | | Cons: | If I have to pinpoint, I can't use cap when hood is on. Reversible hood would have made this lens perfect. | |
Amazingly sharp lens and great build. I chose this one over Tamron 90mm since I already have 77mm/85mm and buying 90 would be like duplicating the focal length. Amazingly sharp and beautiful bokeh. Focus limiting switch works pretty well and switching between AF/MF is not as clumsy as It was reported by a few. I never touched M100/4 after buying this lens even though M100/4 is an equally good lens, AF being the key reason.
 | | | | | Junior Member Registered: December, 2010 Posts: 38
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 18, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $370.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | IQ comparing to zooms, super-low chromatic aberration, nice colours, accurate af, good for 12mpix or less | | Cons: | too soft for 16mpix, slow and noisy af, poor mechanics, ugly design | |
don't believe the hype. sigma 105mm is not realy as sharp as competition. picture quality is good, but resolution is not as high as for example:
russian volna-9 50mm F/2.8,
SMC Pentax 50mm F/4 macro
Vivitar/Kiron 105mm F/2.5 macro
Tamron AF SP 90mm F/2.8 Di Macro 1:1,
Canon EF 100mm F/2.8 macro USM, or
Minolta 100mm F/2.8 macro.
I've been using more than 7 different macro lenses and I think - sigma is the SOFTEST. not only my sigma. other owners' samples are also soft comparing to pictures produced by same class lenses from other producers.
Sigma 105 mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro performs the best @ aperture 5,6 - 8, but resolution never reaches 40lpmm.
af is noisy and slow, but accurate.
good news: sigma 105mm produces very, very small chromatic aberration. for it's good, but far from superb resolution I recommend it for 12 mpix or less cameras. 16mpix (Pentax K-5) is too much for sigma 105mm.
design is cheap, machanics doesn't work smooth/silky, rather 'diesel' feeling.
I would exchange it for Vivitar/Kiron 105mm 2,5 or Tamron AF SP 90mm F/2.8 Di Macro if I only had a chance.
 | | | | | Loyal Site Supporter Registered: January, 2011 Location: missoula, mt Posts: 3
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 5, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $375.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | bright, sharp, easy to handle | | Cons: | none for me | |
This is my favorite lens on my k20D, always on the camera. I used to shoot film with a 135mm most of the time, and switch to a 50mm or 105mm with ext tubes for macro, and started that way with digital. Then I found this wonderful tool for half the price of Takumar. Best sharpness is with a tripod but, holdable at 125th with the antishake on. The sweet spot on this lens is f8 or f9.5 for my taste- balance of DoF and bokeh. (I never use the auto-focus)
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: August, 2007 Location: Denver Posts: 92
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 1, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $325.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | handling, build, IQ | | Cons: | hood, AF/MF clutch | |
I picked this up from a PentaxForums member - I'm really happy I did. This is a great performing lens, very sharp and contrasty until diffraction hits.
As widely discussed, the lens hood is a PITA. But the front element is set so far back (1 inch? Maybe 2?) that I never use the hood anyway. I'm not even sure where it is.
I compared this lens to a Pentax DFA100 Macro (not the WR version) in the store. Both extend quite a bit (common for macro lenses), but the Pentax barrel felt flimsy and wobbly, whereas the Sigma is a rock. I have no concerns at all about the build quality of this lens.
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