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Sigma Super Wide II 24mm F2.8 Review RSS Feed

Sigma Super Wide II 24mm F2.8

Sharpness 
 8.7
Aberrations 
 8.1
Bokeh 
 8.4
Handling 
 8.1
Value 
 8.5
Reviews Views Date of last review
26 233,385 Wed March 13, 2019
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Recommended By Average Price Average User Rating
96% of reviewers $96.24 8.54
Sigma Super Wide II 24mm F2.8

Sigma Super Wide II 24mm F2.8
supersize
Sigma Super Wide II 24mm F2.8
supersize

Description:
The updated version of the MF superwide was introduced in 1986, and with time more parts (aperture ring etc) were made of plastic (pic 2). Was produced for all the camera mounts of the era including M42, P-KM and P-KA mounts.

First version superwide listed here.
Autofocus version listed here.

Multi-Coated 24mm
1:4 Macro f2.8 - f22
Automatic Aperture
52mm filter ring
Normally comes with Sigma "Perfect Hood" Snap On lens hood (though for APSC sensors a larger hood would be more ideal).
Mount Type: Pentax KA
Price History:



Add Review of Sigma Super Wide II 24mm F2.8
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Veteran Member

Registered: December, 2018
Posts: 583

1 user found this helpful
Review Date: March 13, 2019 Recommended | Price: $56.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Small size, Sharp, Strong and perfect manufacturing, Smooth, Cheap, MC, Macro, Automatic aperture, rendering
Cons: No true negative aspect but sometimes a little flare (with no hood), and sometimes over exposition (it's not due to the lens itself)
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 9    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 10    Value: 10    Camera Used: K70 and K5    New Or Used: Used   

Efficient lens corrections available in "Darktable"



Very sharp lens, even at F2.8, the best for landscapes is F8-F9 (sharp from corner to corner). Needs a hood for aps-c format to avoid flare.
Excellent lens for proxy-macro with beautiful bokeh.

Cheap lens almost as good as DA lenses and a good choice to complete DA 35 F2.4 and DA 50 F1.8 as a prime lenses quiver.

Delightfully surprising little lens ...

Very few aberrations, not a problem after post processing.

A must have !

Maybe one of the best of the 80-90's, as far as a 24 mm german test Color Foto is concerned

   
New Member

Registered: April, 2018
Posts: 3
Review Date: February 5, 2019 Recommended | Price: $35.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: great value
Cons:
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 8    Bokeh: 9    Handling: 10    Value: 10    Camera Used: Sony 7R    New Or Used: Used   

I had already experienced a good quality with the autofocus version but sold it for some stupid reason. Now with the Sony 7R I needed a cheap wide angle solution and got this version without autofocus for just 35 bugs. Again I am pleased with the results - wide open it might be soft but still useable - with f8 to f11 this lens puts many modern lenses to shame - it is just really good! Because of this and the price I paid I gave it an overall rating of 10 - yes, there are better lenses but if you get it under 50 bugs - go for it!
   
New Member

Registered: August, 2018
Posts: 1
Review Date: January 24, 2019 Recommended | Price: $50.00 | Rating: 7 

 
Pros: Has unique character, macro ability, build quality
Cons: Field curvature, sharpness
Sharpness: 4    Aberrations: 5    Bokeh: 7    Handling: 8    Value: 8    Camera Used: Sony a7 III    New Or Used: Used   

I started using this lens in the beginning of June 2018. Bought it used from Japan via eBay.
My draw-ins were the wide FOV and acceptable cost-to-qiality ratio based on relatively sparse reviews available.
I have used this lens on Sony a7 III exclusively.
What I look for in lenses is some special weirdness that creates what you can call 'soul', and this one has a version if it -
the field curvature of this lens is absolutely massive. You can expect to focus on a subject centre-frame 1 m away and have things in focus on the edge of the frame 5 m away. For anyone planning to photograph anything for a glossy magazine will be put off, but for up-close human-oriented or site-specific adventures this is a way to go.
The flares are kaleidoscopic,textured, colourful, splattered all across, nothing fancy here. To my taste there is no quality to the flares that would make me put them in a shot very often unless I'm going for that Easy Rider vibe.
Sharpness in in accordance with field curvature, and so is vignetting. The centre of frame boasts satisfying results, but the fall-off is quite steep. It's an integrated way of getting your audience to focus on the subject in the centre. Not ideal for large group portraits.
There's no discerning colour shift.
Bokeh is more on the sharp-edged side, more so when the scene has high contrast. Close-focused and evenly lit scenes give pretty soft backgrounds.
   
Site Supporter

Registered: May, 2015
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 892
Review Date: September 20, 2018 Recommended | Price: $36.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Can be very likeable
Cons: can be disliked.
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 9    Bokeh: 8    Handling: 7    Value: 9    Camera Used: K-5    New Or Used: Used   

I have had this lens since yesterday and have given it some stick to find out whether or not previous reviews would apply to my copy.
My copy is in reasonable condition but the finish is poor regarding the painted numbers on the barrel. It clicks over to "A" and back with no trouble and has very little dust and no sign of any internal problems (to my eye anyway) and included the hood.
.
Good points. Near subjects;
Focusses nice and close and the bokeh is not terrible. Acceptably sharp from around F3.5 to F11, super sharp from F5.6 to F8-F10. I am not worried about any distortion and am happy with the exposures and contrast.

Bad points. Far subjects;
Mine does not seem very sharp at any aperture, certainly acceptable at around F5.6-F11 but not especially pleasing. I do not like the fact that the focussing ring goes from 5 feet to infinity in about 1/4 of an inch. Focussing by eye is problematic for me on wider MF lenses and focus confirmation seems a bit less trustworthy than I would like. My Sigma mini-wide 11 28mm F2.8 gives a lot less trouble.
Exposures are not always spot on, today being overcast and the ambient light being steady I found that I sometimes needed to under expose by anything from -1/3 to -1 at some apertures. I could not discern any linear compensation that could be applied. If I were adept at post processing in anything other than Picasa I imagine I would under expose a little all the time for far subjects.

Mid distance subjects and using flash;
Good and can be sharp or sharp enough at all but the widest apertures.
The AWB set to flash rather than auto gives a slightly warmer image. Seems quite good.

I have recommended this lens based purely on the close and mid distance subject performance as I feel to far distance IQ may not be as good as the results of my 18-55mm kit lens which has a lot more versatility. Hopefully it is my copy and others have better ones judging by other reviews
   
New Member

Registered: July, 2017
Location: Tbilisi
Posts: 18
Review Date: August 29, 2017 Not Recommended | Price: $75.00 | Rating: 1 

 
Pros: Very good close-up performance.
Cons: The rest
Sharpness: 4    Aberrations: 6    Bokeh: 5    Handling: 6    Value: 1    Camera Used: K-50    New Or Used: New   

I do not like this lens. I tried so much, yet it failed me always - except close-ups, which is the strength of this lens. But, well, who wants a 24mm to shoot (pseudo) macro?

Samples that I will talk on are here: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/130-lens-sample-photo-archive/153751-sig...ml#post4079353.

I wanted to go wide, and got this lens as a result. I wanted to have wider angle lens with me, as cropping is easier than walking behind in many occasions. I should say that whatever I will write will be based on the lens' non-close up performance, i.e. from infinity focus to 2 meters.

-

The lens is far from sharp. Whatever I did, it did not get any sharp. See the two photos - can you see any traces of sharpness? Even increasing clarity, then applying high-pass filter did not help it at all. The lens literally rages against sharpness.

Flare, lack of contrast, and all-grey colors when there is the name of the sun. If it hears that there is sun somewhere, it decided not to work at all. Do not think that it worked good insides, there it did not work too. But when it got out, especially when there was sun, it went simply mad in all aspects - regardless of the position and the strength of the sun.

Bokeh is pretty good if you shoot from 10cm - but who wants to shoot from 10cm with a 24mm lens?

Contrast. Another big problem. It is like the lens does not have any coating. When it is daylight, you cannot use it - regardless of having the sun in or around the frame. When it sees that there is sunlight, it becomes upset.

Distortion and CA - the same. Distortion is something fixable, yet whatever I did, I could not manage to fix distortions with this lens. I want to shoot landscapes and buildings with you man, why do not you give me any straight lines?

Colors - so blue. Sigma is famous with its bluer tones, yet this lens does so blue that there is no space for yellows. I missed perfect tones simply because of this lens' strange behavior.

Handling-wise I do not have much complaints. It is small and light, yet does not feel like metal (if it is) - but surely not stupid plastic too. I did not like the feeling of the aperture, as it is so strong, yet the focus ring was smooth.

-

Not worth a penny. Do not spend anything on this. Take it if it is free - so that you can sell it and invest on some other, even if not quality at least adequate lens.
   
Junior Member

Registered: September, 2013
Location: Brwinow, Mazovia, Poland
Posts: 46

2 users found this helpful
Review Date: July 4, 2017 Recommended | Price: $140.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Sharp from full aperture, lightweight, nice colour rendition
Cons: Came with no hood
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 9    Bokeh: 9    Handling: 10    Value: 10    Camera Used: Pentax K-5    New Or Used: 9   

Another little marvel. I bought the lens used from ebay.de to complement my choice of full-frame lenses ready for the coming Pentax K-1. I was somewhat afraid of "cold colours" as reportedly rendered by the Sigma 24/2.8. Not correct. As the photo below shows, the lens is perfect, although only tested on K-5 body. Similar IQ as given by a new Sigma A 35/1.4. With f/2.8 (and ISO 1600, mind you) I found almost no CA's to correct (little green fringing), no visible distortions, a sharp picture and nice colour. In addition, this lens is easy to manually focus. I just set 0.5 m distance, waited for sharpness confirmation sound from the camera and took this selfie. A little marvel.

   
New Member

Registered: March, 2016
Posts: 1
Review Date: September 16, 2016 Recommended | Price: $120.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Extremely sharp at 2.8, nice colours, good handleing, macro
Cons: none
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 10    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 10    Value: 10    Camera Used: Sony A7R   

Nice wide lens, good for landscapes, sharp, macro capablity is very good.
   
New Member

Registered: February, 2016
Posts: 3
Review Date: March 12, 2016 Recommended | Price: $60.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Sharp wide open, macro abilities
Cons: Aperture ring is plastic, and it is very rough to handle
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 8    Bokeh: 8    Handling: 7    Value: 9    Camera Used: Eos 450   

Nice saturated colors and quite sharp even wide open. Similar character to ensinor 24 2.8, but sharper at all apertures and especially wide open. My copy is simply outstanding. I can't praise it enough.
On the downside, the aperture ring is the worst manual ring I've tried, but I can live with it. Try a well kept copy and enjoy.
   
Inactive Account

Registered: August, 2007
Location: Helsinki
Posts: 2
Review Date: October 15, 2012 Recommended | Price: $130.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Lens Size, good sharpness, bokeh, close focus
Cons: Flare control isn't so good without hood
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 8    Bokeh: 9    Handling: 8    Value: 9   

I really like that these Sigmas are so small size lenses (I have also Sigma mini-wideII 28/2.8 MC) - almost like some Pentax made primes - but perform very well.

I use it with my Pentax K-5, but also with my NEX (with Pentax adapter).

Here are some my experiences with it (and lot of sample images!):

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/post/50061890

Overall this Sigma is great small prime, which can produce very nice close-ups with nice bokeh.





   
New Member

Registered: January, 2010
Posts: 23

2 users found this helpful
Review Date: September 27, 2012 Recommended | Price: $105.00 | Rating: 6 

 
Pros: Close-up
Cons: flare, corner softness
Sharpness: 6    Aberrations: 7    Bokeh: 8    Handling: 5    Value: 6   

I bought a copy having Nikon mount and used on micro 4/3 camera (Oly. E-pl2). The trouble starts with the mount. The design of the lens has deeper outer rim. When I mount it on the camera body using a adapter, the rim actually block the movement of the aperture ring. If I turn the aperture ring passing f5.6 from wide open, I could not turn it back to aperture wider than f5.6 because the rim stops it at the locking pin. To move it back to wide open, I need to press the locking pin down to let pass the aperture ring. So inconvenient.

Second, I had the original Sigma 28mm f2.8 (mini wide; Mk I) which people often forget about. I got it very cheap. (under $20) When I compare these two lenses, the sharpness at close-up end is on par. However, for the landscape shots, the mini-wide outperforms the supper wide II, mainly on the corners and borders. The corner softness from Super wide II just does not deserve all the good to excellent reviews that most people are raving about. Well, maybe I got a bad copy.

Third, it comes to the critical point that most of the people agree. The flare is just bad beyond you could image. Again, I compare the shots on the same scene (my dining room with chandeliers hanging on the upper-left side) from these two lenses. The Super wide II renders an unpleasant flare on the lower-right corner but the shot from mini-wide is clean. That surprises me, because people say that the Mk II has better coating than Mk I (coating is probably the only difference between two versions).

Based on these observations, I think Sigma Super Wide II is extremely over-priced. There are several other better choices for the 24 mm f2.8 vintage lenses available at similar price.
   
Senior Member

Registered: August, 2010
Posts: 210
Review Date: August 8, 2012 Recommended | Price: $30.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: all-metal (solid), sharp
Cons: flare, some CA
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 8    Bokeh: 8    Handling: 7    Value: 9   

This is for the M42 version.

Other than not having the A position (which I didn't list as a con because one obviously knows that when buying an M42 lens) the lens is a solid performer.

IQ is quite good: already sharp wide open, even better stopped down.
Some CA is present but there's much worse out there. Flare can also occur in tricky situations, though I don't have a hood to prevent it.
I thought the colours were a little cold and lacked some contrast (and that's true against Pentax lenses), but compared to the Cosina-made Vivitar of the same focal length that I own, I'd say it's plenty warm...

Not sure if it's a general thing or just my copy, but the focus ring feels as if it needs some tightening (i.e. it turns quite easily), it's not as dampened as Pentax M or A lenses.

I'm pointing out the flaws but in fact I'm really quite happy with this lens. It's much better than the Vivitar and sharper than the kit lens.
   
Pentaxian

Registered: July, 2011
Posts: 2,379
Review Date: May 28, 2012 Recommended | Price: $180.00 | Rating: 8 

 
Pros: Good quality images, decent mechanics
Cons: it's a Sigma, only used available
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 8    Bokeh: 7    Handling: 8    Value: 8   

Nice lens for a good price. This lens outperforms all newer versions. The AF version has the crappiest focus ring/engine I have ever worked with. Only availbale used.
   
New Member

Registered: December, 2011
Location: West Sumatra, Indonesia
Posts: 22

2 users found this helpful
Review Date: April 3, 2012 Recommended | Price: $96.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: build to quality, handling, result
Cons: none
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 8    Bokeh: 8    Handling: 9    Value: 8   

This is my first M42 lens, find it from my local online seller comes with leather case. I'm very impressed with the sharp and color, i might say it started being wild on F4. Perfect companion for my (ex) Olympus EP-L1, will find the flower hood for daylightshoot. This lens had value and very great bargain if you could be patience.

Yes, you couldnt go wrong with this razor sharp
   
Inactive Account

Registered: September, 2011
Posts: 6
Review Date: October 24, 2011 Recommended | Price: $195.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: sharpness, contrast, wide
Cons: none
Sharpness: 10    Aberrations: 10    Bokeh: 10    Handling: 10    Value: 10   

I was very astounished when I first shot with this lens. I knew it is to be a very sharp lens corner-to-corner, I was equally impressed by the contrast it delivers. This is know by some Pentax circles to be one of the sharpest lenses Sigma ever produced.

In my opinion this Sigma is visibly sharper than Pentax-A 24mm 2.8, which I also own. When I need a wide angle lens for street shots or landscape photography, I bring this lens with me. It is great for in-doors on my K-5 when I need shallow DoF to isolate subject from background.

For the most part, I use it on my K-5, until Pentax delivers FF digital.
   
Forum Member

Registered: August, 2010
Location: Edinburgh
Posts: 91
Review Date: August 31, 2011 Recommended | Price: $80.00 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Sharpness, affordability
Cons:
Sharpness: 9    Aberrations: 8    Bokeh: 8    Handling: 7    Value: 8   

Feels a little plasticy compared to its Pentax-brand rivals in the A and M series, and the aperture ring is a little tricky to click into position, occasionally I will go two stops accidentally.



Overall though this is a very sharp lens, excellent for the landscapes and crowd shots I use it for.
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