| Author: | | Senior Member Registered: July, 2012 Location: Far North Qld, Australia Posts: 184
5 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 21, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $220.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp, creamy bokeh, solid construction, useful focal length, fast. | | Cons: | Noisy AF, focus ring is slim for manual focus. | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
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This is an excellent, versatile and hard to find lens. Its very sharp, fast, has smooth and creamy bokeh and is of solid construction.
Sharpness: Very sharp across the range but more so between F8-F11.
Aberrations: Tends to overexpose wide open. I have not noticed any chromatic aberrations.
Bokeh: Creamy bokeh, even at f8 when shooting subjects close up. Lovely at f2.8.
Handling: Solid construction, metal mount, narrow focus ring, cumbersome lens hood, light weight. No plasticy cheap feeling with this lens.
Value: Excellent value for money. Useful in a wide variety of situations.
Its a great focal length for landscapes as well as portraits and will also work on full frame models. This is useful should Pentax release a FF dslr. Its quite good for macro work too, and is often marketed for its macro ability but it will not replace a dedicated macro lens. I really like the color output; accurate and rich.
Ive noticed it sometimes over exposes by about 1 stop when shooting wide open, so be aware of this. I manually dial in a -1 exposure value when shooting at f2.8 which corrects the problem. Sharpest between f8 and f11. It seems to expose correctly when stopped down.
The focus ring is very narrow which can be a little tricky for manual focus. This is improved by using a filter so that you have extra room to grip. I haven't noticed any CA.
Autofocus is quite fast, but a little noisy.
All in all this is a fantastic lens and if you come across this little gem, id recommend snapping it up.
I use this with my K-30.
Image Examples:
My favorite shot with this lens so far: http://500px.com/photo/30266631
F2.8: http://www.flickr.com/photos/63892866@N03/8576106913/in/photostream/lightbox/
F2.8: http://www.flickr.com/photos/63892866@N03/8576116737/in/photostream/lightbox/
F6.3: http://www.flickr.com/photos/63892866@N03/8576121531/in/photostream/lightbox/
F8: http://www.flickr.com/photos/63892866@N03/8577216948/in/photostream/lightbox/
F8 100% crop. http://www.flickr.com/photos/63892866@N03/8575936053/in/photostream/lightbox/
F8 Bokeh: http://www.flickr.com/photos/63892866@N03/8576159105/in/photostream
F11: http://www.flickr.com/photos/63892866@N03/8576117597/in/photostream/lightbox/ | | | | | | | amateur dirt farmer Registered: December, 2014 Location: probably out in a field somewhere... Posts: 41,678
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 4, 2020 | Recommended | Price: $150.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | close-focusing, color rendition, bokeh | | Cons: | ergonomics, flare, hood vs lens cap | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 6
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 7
Value: 8
Camera Used: K-3
New Or Used: Used
Autofocus: 8
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for March SIC, I used a copy of the Sigma Super-Wide II 24mm f2.8 - an AF lens that uses the original Super-Wide's optical formula in a new body with an AF helical... I also have the Sigma OEM 'Perfect Hood' for the lens...
this is a film-era lens, so it's FF, has an aperture ring, and can be manually-focused if need be.... you won't want to, but you can...
let's get this out in the open: I don't like this lens; the ergonomics are awful, it over-exposes everything, and if you shoot anywhere near strong/bright lights, it will implode on itself with lack of contrast, veiling, flares, blown-out highlights, etc...
I also collected four flickr 'explores' in the month of March with this lens, so there's that, too...
anyway - what we have is a reasonably-fast, wide lens with a decent MFD (Sigma insists on the word 'macro', but it is just close-focusing) - it's not a large lens, but the OEM hood is a clip-on, and does not reverse for storage...
but - ignore all that, slap it on the camera, work within its limitations, and:
 peach blossoms by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
 bridal wreath spirea by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
 on the grill... by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
 sunrise by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
 backlit by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
there are better 24mm lenses out there, but if you want/need an autofocus lens at this focal length, you can't beat the price...
here's the rest of my flickr album for this lens:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pepperberryfarm/albums/72157711193248152/page1 | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: June, 2008 Location: NJ Posts: 1,824
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 22, 2022 | Recommended | Price: $200.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Light, affordable. | | Cons: | A little noisy but tolerable. | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 6
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 8
Value: 8
Camera Used: K-5, K20, K10
New Or Used: New
Autofocus: 9
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I use this lens a lot. I have several copies of this lens used and when I saw one New old stock, I jump and bought it. I like this lens so much that I keep at leas 2 copies, the new on and a used one if I am going to a place where I do not care if the lens will be expose to some unfriendly environment.
I had the manual version of this lens and it was as good as the AF one. I am no longer able to use manual lenses but when i did that one was a great lens also.
In a crop camera is about 35mm focal length. Ideal for taking pictures of my kids indoors. I will keep this lens if I ever get a Full Frame camera.
I highly recommend this lens. A used lens is very affordable.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: November, 2006 Location: Germany Posts: 127
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 23, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $150.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Small, close focusing capabilities, sharp center, good color rendition | | Cons: | Soft corners wide open, distortion, prone to flares, uncomfortable to handle hood | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 5
Value: 8
Camera Used: Pentax K-1
New Or Used: New
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A nice, small and quite capable lens that can be put to good use on FF / K-1, if one knows its limitations.
What I like:
+ good center sharpness
+ good color rendition
+ you can focus very close - it's not a macro lens by all means, but the close focus capabilities come in handy.
+ small filter diameter (52mm)
What I don't like:
- wide open it vignettes visibly and has soft corners
- distortion is clearly visible in architectural shots and has some "moustache" parts in it - harder to correct than the usual barrel distortion
- direct light can produce very intensive rainbow type of flares
- the original hood doesn't allow to clip on the original lens cap - you must remove it to clip on the cap, and then have to store the hood awkwardly and insecurely in reverse
To combat distortion and vignetting I created a lens profile for Adobe LR/PS which works IMO pretty well - so that can be taken care of. Anyone interested in the profile can download it here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mgkhdg94apzgow8/PENTAX_K-1_Sigma_24mm_AF_F2.8_Super_Wide_II.zip?dl=0
Here some samples:
Brickwall test shot at f2.8 (uncorrected):
The same corrected with the self made profile:
Close focus & bokeh example (wide open, f2.8):
Rainbow flare example (colors enhanced in PP, but you get the drift ...):
Long exposure example - because of the small 52mm filter thread I could use an 10-f-stop ND filter to create this 30s exposure in full daylight with it:
 | | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: March, 2007 Location: Nove Zamky, Slovakia Posts: 7,183
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 10, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | size, sharpness, cheap AF 24mm for Pentax | | Cons: | flare, colors, contrast | |
I have got the AF version of this lens. I was looking for FA*24 but coldn't find one, and even if, I wouldn't have money... so as a temporary measure I got Sigma 24/2.8 super wide II. And temporary it is!
This lens is good but.... Small (just tad bigger than my F50/1.7) solidly built (metal body, barrel and mount) with exception of the focusing ring, which feels flimsy.
Sharp from f2.8 (in center) and stays that way until 5.6, from there onwards the sharpness improves across the whole frame, but it's only by f8 & f11 that the corners are good, though they are never very good. From f5.6 onwards you can notice CAs too, and by f11 it's really bad in corners
It has very useful close up ability allowing 1:4 magnification which makes it good walk around lens.
There is a bit of barrel distortion but not too serious - though often visible, and again not too hard to correct.
Another downside (not uncommon with Sigma lenses or many non SMC lenses for that matter) is that it's prone to flare. Even with sun (or strong light source) outside of the frame this lens flares up and produces colorful hexagons all over the place. But that's nothing that good hood wouldn't take care of most of the time. My copy though, suffers from somewhat reduced contrast in many situations (strong light, reflective surfaces...) and I'm not too crazy about the color rendition it produces. Compared to my Sigma 10-20 and my SMC ltds it really lacks in contrast and colors alike.
All in all it's a decent lens, and if you can get one for good money, don't you'll probably by happy. If you are after lens to fill the gap between wide and normal (on APS-C) this one may be it, especially coming from cheap or semi-decent zooms. But once you have tried some really good lenses, I don't think this one will cut it.
PS: original post edited in 11/2009 after extended use.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: January, 2012 Posts: 1,972
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 12, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $180.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Top sharpness, rallly wide on film!, FAST AF, metal body and good built, feels solid | | Cons: | Flares, CD/AF front focusing with K-01, rare to come by | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 9
Camera Used: K10D, K-01, Z1p
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This lens is with me for nearly 2 years now. I originally bough it for my K-01 and was really enjoying it immensely, but I always prefered it in manual focusing than AF as it tend to be inaccurate. After using it on my Z1p on film and then on K10D on few occasions with AF on - I can tell you now that this lens is superb on Phase detection Autofcous lenses. My Z1p and K10D focuses in an instant and super accurate, where K-01 really struggles to nail the focus.
My copy came with original lens hood but I replaced it with cheap rubber one for 28mm lens - on APSC offers greater flare control. And you need it! This lens is quite prone to flare - my SMC-K 24mm f2.8 is superior in this single point .. and maybe colour saturation too is sometime more pronounced in SMC K24. But apart from those Sigma is much sharper wide open and in the corners and on edges, AF works great when needed and MF is very easy to use thanks to great sharpness of this lens. At f2.8 is as sharp as none of my other f2.8 lenses apart from SMC-A Macro 50mm f2.8 which obviously is sharper but other than that Sigma really rules. I will never ever part with this lens !
In certain very bright conditions with light in the frame it can flare and lose of contrast is evident , but both are fairly easy to avoid with good lens hood and proper positioning.
Superb lens, I would give it overall 10 if not problems with AF with contrast detection focusing on my K-01.
| | | | | Loyal Site Supporter Registered: March, 2009 Location: Cotati, California USA Posts: 4,460
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: May 1, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $200.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Versatile length, great color rendering, nice close focusing, and sharp. | | Cons: | funky snap on hood. | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 10
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This is a wonderful lens that I've finally given a full workout (for one month on my K20d) It's staying in the camera bag. I love the color rendering of it and it's a very nice AF FF lenses as well. I was surprised that it's quite good with a lens reversing ring for macro too (a little hard to use though). It's close focusing feature is a plus. I rated it down just a bit because the manual focus ring on the lens is rather small and just a bit hard to use. It's not really a problem but just not as good as say a Pentax quick shift system.
What else is there to say. This one is a keeper.
| | | | | Forum Member Registered: March, 2008 Location: Kyiv Posts: 69 | | Review Date: October 17, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $180.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Small, fast, sharp enough | | Cons: | Soft corners, flare, useless lens hood | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-70
New Or Used: Used
Autofocus: 9
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I was looking for a small fast wide angle prime with good IQ and I think I've found it.
Pros:
Focus length is very useful for landscapes and street photo and due to small size you don't get additional attention (size is similar to FA50/1.4). Auto focus is noisy as expected from screw drive (same level of noise as FA50/1.4).
Sharpness is very good in the center starting from 2.8, corner sharpness is not bad at 5.6 - 8, enough for landscapes. 2.8 aperture combining with good center sharpness gives additional options in low light conditions and bokeh is not so bad as you may expect from wide angle lens.
1:4 macro - not enough for real macro but more than enough for flowers, etc (again, bokeh is not bad).
Cons:
Corners are soft wide open but I think this is the price you pay for having 2.8 aperture.
Lens can flare in direct sun, lens hood is bad.
| | | | | New Member Registered: March, 2017 Posts: 1 | | Review Date: April 28, 2019 | Not Recommended | Price: $120.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | | | Cons: | | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 8
Camera Used: Canon 5d II
New Or Used: New
Autofocus: 8
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Bought this lens as it seems to have a good reputation. Paid 120USD for it, excellent condition, no dust or scratches. I have a Canon mount one and in original condition not all f-stops work. There is a mod out there which involves putting a micro processor in the lens to get all the F-stops. Mine had it when i bought it and it works as it should. That's only Canon mount specific, because at the time this lens came on the market, Sigma cheaped out and didnt licence from Canon.
Anyhow, about the lens:
Pros:
- compact and lightweight
- nice image rendition
- reasonably sharp (excellent in the center)
- f2.8 is nice to have
- macro mode, which works great
- pleasing bokeh, not busy or distracting
- chromatic aberrations relatively in control, although present
Cons:
- strong vignetting right untill f4.5. reasonable till f8, almost gone at f10-f11
- soft corners, reasonable at f8, ok at f10-f11
- interesting, but not very pleasant "moustache" distortion
Canon 24-105 non L profile in LR seems to fix all of the above issues. (Checked with grid sheet)
Autofocus is a bit loud, but never had issues with accuracy. Mine had the Zen body coating, which the previous owner cleaned. I cleaned the remaining coating and the lens looks like new now. Rubbing alcohol and good wet wipes did the trick.
Bottom line is - I like the lens! It will be quite some time that my personal capabilities outweigh these of the lens. I will keep it untill I can acquire a nice zoom glass at the 24-70 range.
If a person shoots landscapes or architectures, thought, this lens is not so good. Its more of a general purpose wide lens.
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: December, 2016 Location: London Posts: 1,079 | | Review Date: July 9, 2018 | Recommended | Price: $66.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Good depth of field, handles nicely | | Cons: | Seemed to have a couple of problems focusing on very distant objects | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 9
Camera Used: Nikon D90
New Or Used: Used
Autofocus: 8
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Tested the Nikon version on a Nikon D90 - seems to be a solid performer, had a couple of problems auto focusing on a really distant object (a tower block seen from 1/2 mile or so over water), not quite sure of cause, but manual focus was fine.
I got it with the "Sigma Perfect Hood" which is a total lie - it's a clip on hood, it doesn't fit any better than one that screws on, it won't fit onto filters that are unusually wide for the thread size (52mm in this case), and you can't leave it on and add a lens cap, you have to remove it. On the other hand, it's an OK lens hood, just definitely NOT perfect.
Macro definition is quite good, e.g. the clump of insect eggs on the brown leaf here
and the bee here
Had trouble focusing here:
but overall quite pleased:
I'm reasonably happy with its performance, just not sure that I really need it, so I'll probably keep it for a few months and see if I use it much, and sell it on if I don't
Album of test shots here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/150868539@N02/albums/72157698415537094 | | | | | New Member Registered: December, 2017 Posts: 15 | | Review Date: December 18, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $82.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | sharp, low distortion, flat field, close focus | | Cons: | flare, raspy manual focusing | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 7
Value: 10
Camera Used: Nikon D800
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Nikon version tested on full-frame.
This is a nice little lens that offers great value for not a lot of money. The thing I most appreciate is its performance wide open. At f/2.8, center sharpness is already excellent, edges are decent, and overall contrast is good. By f/5.6, the edges are good, and they are quite sharp at f/8, even if they never do catch up to the center. My copy is not as sharp on the right side as the left, but the difference is only noticeable below f/8.
Wide open, coma is noticeable as a flaring of specular highlights at the edges of the frame. This is pretty well controlled at f/4 and gone by f/5.6.
Focus shift, if present at all, is minimal and not problematic.
If the sun is in the corner of the frame or just outside it, the lens exhibits a lot of veiling flare and obvious ghosts. Use a hood for best results in these situations.
This is a pleasantly light and compact lens. It autofocuses accurately and with acceptable speed. The aperture ring has clicks at every half-stop, which I don't like, so I use a command dial to change aperture instead.
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: January, 2015 Location: mid nth coast,nsw Posts: 6,141 | | Review Date: May 31, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $20.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | bargain price | | Cons: | not weather sealed | |
I scored this and 2 other zooms for the equivalent of U$ 60, so I think I paid $20
I used it on the K50 mainly and really liked the images it produced.However, when I got the K1 it really excelled.first shoot was after sundown on my beach walk and the images were superb.Very happy to get this at a bargain price and its always in the K1 bag.I think that itll be great for pixel shifting( haven't tried this lens yet only the DA16-45).Looking forward to the next opportunity.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: March, 2007 Location: So Cal Posts: 2,080 | | Review Date: September 20, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $120.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | sharp, better coma control than pentax legacy 24mm lenses | | Cons: | complex moustache distortion, flimsy, poor quality control by sigma | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 5
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 7
Value: 8
Camera Used: K10d, Sony a7R 36mp full frame
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this Sigma 24mm F2.8 AF Super Wide II autofocus lens was the holy grail of 24mm lenses, back when i was shooting with the k10d.
i've owned three of these autofocus versions, and a manual focus version, most of which i tested on the sony a7r.
i dropped one of the three autofocus versions on a rock, from maybe two feet up, and it blew apart like a cheap watch... bye bye $124 :-(
here is a comparison of the three lenses that i have; you can see from the big photos how a couple of 'em have issues on the sides, even at ~f/10... the quality control that sigma did was not up to par to what we see from the old pentax glass:
24mm lens sample variation: Three Sigma 24mm lenses compared
here is one of the those lenses on the 36mp full frame sony a7r, compared to a couple of other legacy slr lenses:
Sigma 24mm F2.8 AF Super Wide II comparison, on the sony a7r | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: December, 2010 Location: Manila Posts: 2,185 | | Review Date: October 14, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $154.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | sharp, nice contrast, good bokeh, longfocus throw, sub-macro | | Cons: | the weird coating on the lens' shell | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 9
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I'll write a short review for now and will edit one of these days to show sample pics.
for the meantime here's one:
This lens is a great choice. Like somebody before me said, if you can get one, GET ONE. It's worth it.
Not as sharp as a Limited, true, but for an unknown Sigma, it's practically one of the best finds out there.
Pros:
the MFD makes it a pseudo-macro - and with its wide coverage (ok, not as wide as the DA21 or DA15..) you can make pretty interesting still life shots, particularly useful in weddings for both video and photos.
colors aren't as punchy as Pentax lenses, slightly cooler on the average, but not that far-off. skin tones are slightly paler, but still nice. not sure how it would fare on snow-scapes... but green leaves, flowers, they look great. contrast is nice too, as well as bokeh, while not that circular stopped down, it's not harsh-looking either.
focus throw is excellent for video and manual camera use.
build is nice, just like the FA50 but a bit heavier.
Cons:
MODERATE barrel distortion. Not good for close-up portraits, unless they're of long-faced, un-smiling people. no-no for brick walls and parallel lines, unless you're going for that bulgy look. looks worse when mounted on FF. (I put this score under "aberrations" since the distortion doesn't affect sharpness anyway)
AF is noisy, but then again all screwdrive lenses are.
the hood is a hassle putting on and taking off.
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: March, 2012 Posts: 31 | | Review Date: August 16, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $5.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Very very sharp and good AF | | Cons: | Nothing | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
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In fact, I was lucky. I've found it in a " garage sale " for " nothing "...5 $ in mint condition, like new, in its box.
For me it has becoming indispensabel and now it is always on my camera. It is very very sharp. The AF is fast and perfect. It's a lens very useful in all conditions.
You can see pictures taken with it on the other part of thsi forum
The only problem, I've observed, it is that I 've to underexpose always EV -1il or -1.5il for a good exposure on my K-x. ( with my others Pentax lens 50mm1.7 or 18-55 ALII it's not he case and I stay on EV 0...Perhaps it's a usual way with the Sigma lens, It's my only one, I don't know...
I've put a rubber lens hood to prevent flare ans protect the lens ( it's really near the front. )
For me it's a great lens and if you have the possibility to have one, take it without hesitation. You 'll be glad with it.
Sorry for my " primitive english " ...I'm french
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