| Author: | | Site Supporter Registered: April, 2007 Location: North Palm Beach, Florida Posts: 728
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 15, 2008 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | All metal, nice build, very sharp at all stops, nice color and contrast | | Cons: | slightly heavy, lens shade won't mount backwards on lens | |
This lens is an excellent alternative to the much more expensive Pentax 24mm A lens. The images are excellent, very sharp wide open with no purple fringe that I could find. This lens captures images that are a bit colder (blue) than my Pentax A and M lenses ... not a blue cast, but simply not as warm as I've grown used to from my older Pentax glass. This slight blue trend makes for lovely skies and whites that really are white. I prefer this in my landscapes.
Downsides: it's heavier than a SMC A lens, the original shade won't fit on backwards for storage. Perhaps a bit rare, I've only seen one of these lenses, which I immediately bought.
In a nutshell: If you want an automatic 24mm that is very sharp at all stops and yields excellent images .... but you don't want to pay the surcharge the Pentax label requires, give this old Sigma a try.
| | | | | | | Site Supporter Registered: July, 2008 Location: Baltimore, Maryland Posts: 11,590 | | Review Date: January 11, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $90.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | sharp, fast, inexpensive and close-focus (!!) | | Cons: | can I get back to you on that? | |
I'm not particularly discriminating technically but I'm totally in love with this lens! It's plenty sharp, the color & bokeh is nice and it's giving me wonderful shots--the close-focusing capability makes it really unique. My copy doesn't have a hood so I can't comment on that.
I tend to shoot at longer FLs so it's not always on the camera but I rarely leave home without it.
| | | | | Inactive Account Registered: December, 2008 Location: Ames, Iowa, USA Posts: 2,965 | | Review Date: March 19, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $126.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | well built, feels good | | Cons: | | |
The edge performance of this lens is pretty good, even wide open. I give it a 9 for this reason.
Here's a corner sharpness comparison test on a 1.5 crop DSLR:
The brightness decrease is a lighting effect, not vignetting.
Dave
| | | | | New Member Registered: August, 2009 Location: Bristol Posts: 8
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 7, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $85.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | sharp, nice focal length, nice build | | Cons: | | |
Only had this lens a few days, but really enjoying it so far.
Finding the close up focusing ability very useful and unique.
Longer review and some example shots here | | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: July, 2009 Location: Berlin, Germany Posts: 344
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 11, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $87.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Solid build quality, close focus, center sharpness (even at f/2.8), pretty cheap | | Cons: | Resistance to flares, edge sharpness, colours are off, Sigma-finish | |
I bought this lens because I wanted a fast normal-wide lens - and that's exactly what it is. It seels for roughly the same as a Pentax M 2.8/28 while being an A-lens and giving a max. magnification of 1:4.
I was affirmatively surprised when I saw how good it is even wide open. However the edges are slightly behind but that's true for most lenses. Bokeh/out of focus blur is nothig special but it never becomes distracting.
Build quality is awesome for a lens that cheap - all metal (except aperture ring) with very smooth focusing and an enourmous 180° focus throw. It's weight of 252g (convert this by yourself) adds to the quality feel.
But of course it isn't free of flaws: typical for Sigma lenses it it very prone to flares which can give pictures a purple tint or simply reduce contrast. Contrast isn't that great to begin with so you either are very careful with light coming from the side or are very good in post processing. Fortunately contrast is absolutely ok when increased a little bit. I strongly suggest to use a normal (for 50mm) lens hood.
But there's one thing it can't do: give the colour rendition of Pentax lenses. Is cooler than Pentax' lenses and somewhat dull. I compared it to the 18-55 and the Pentax' image is more pleasing because of stronger colours.
While the build quality is very good its finish is not that great - the white distance painting and the matte black "coating" wears off and the copy I have seems to have lost its rubber a long time ago.
Now some images
Pentax 18-55II @f/4
Sigma @f/4
sharpness @ f/2.8
sharpness @ f/4
flare @ f/2.8
 | | | | | New Member Registered: June, 2008 Location: Romania Posts: 22 | | Review Date: November 13, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | sharp, not heavy, macro, cheap | | Cons: | cold colors (besides pentax own lens), funny lens hood | |
I would give it a 10, but that grade is reserved for DA*s.
Great sharpness, on par with other gem primes.
The colors are beautiful, but are a bit cold besides the specific warm Pentax colors. That could be correct easy in post-processing or by filter.
I would replace this lens only with another DA prime, for sure.
A bonus: a pseudo-macro, giving the opportunity to take interesting shots.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: July, 2009 Location: West Midlands Posts: 2,066 | | Review Date: March 21, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $50.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp as a razor | | Cons: | Build quality a mixed bag | |
This lens has a growing reputation for tremendous sharpness, and it delivers. Wide open, images are amazingly sharp, and close ups have a lovely 3d look. At the minimum focusing distance, the dof is really minimal, which allows creative photography. But the in-focus parts are still sharp. Tack-sharp doesn't really describe it - this lens is a razor. I haven't noticed softer corners, but there is a very minimal amount of red ca on high contrast edges, but its truly negligible. I haven't seen any purple ca. I haven't had any significant glare problems, perhaps i've been lucky.
My copy has worn lettering on the lens barrel, and there is some play in the barrel. And occasionally there are communication issues with the camera, where the camera in av mode lets me open the lens up (apparently) to f1.0! If only it was possible....
An excellent lens with a deservedly growing popularity.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: September, 2006 Location: Grand Junction Colorado Posts: 209 | | Review Date: September 13, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $150.00
| Rating: 6 |
| Pros: | Ok for APS-C digital | | Cons: | Huge CA problems as far edges and corners on film | |
I bought one of these as a K mount option for 24mm. I was very disappointed with its results on film. Later, when I bought a K10d, I tested it again and the results were much better. So, a rating:
Full frame = 2
APS-C = 8
It is manual focus only and I seldom use it
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: February, 2009 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 3,757 | | Review Date: March 19, 2011 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Super-sharp, cheap, well built, A setting | | Cons: | not very contrasty, softish extreme corners at all apertures | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 8
Value: 10
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A fantastic lens... Extremely sharp. At f5.6 and beyond sharpness is pretty uniform across the frame, although not ideal for landscapes. Very sharp wide open, too, with the corners being quite a bit softer than the rest.
As other reviewers pointed out, it can flare quite a bit depending on the angle relative to the Sun (like its sister, the Sigma Mini-Wide 28mm). Contrast tends to be low without a hood, but since I shoot raw, this isn't a problem.
Also, my copy seriously overexposes in Av (except wide open)--something to do with the aperture lever of this lens... I use -1.5 EV compensation, which solves the problem.
For the price, a 9/10 lens. I doubt there can be a better deal for a 24mm, which, btw, is a very useful focal length on APS-C cameras.
Best uses: events, streets. Goes very well with the DA 40mm.
Note: I had the MF version of this lens; now I own an AF copy--which is visibly better than the MF version.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: February, 2011 Posts: 118 | | Review Date: May 28, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $150.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | sharpness, wide-open IQ, relative cheap price | | Cons: | build | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
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After hearing praises from a friend who also shoot Pentax, I paid about $150 USD for a copy in excellent condition at a local shop. Since then, it has been one of my favorite lenses on both film and digital. I've sold off all my other 24mm lenses to keep this one because it's been my go-to 24mm lens.
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: June, 2011 Location: Budapest Posts: 42 | | Review Date: July 29, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $80.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Good quality pix, nice size & weight, cute hood, macro | | Cons: | Extremely prone to flare | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 6
Value: 8
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This really is a very cute lens. I mainly use it indoors, where the light is not enough; here the 2.8 aperture is a must, for keeping the ISO low. For portraiture wide open it is very good, while outdoors when the light enables it, closed down to a few stops it gives excellent pictures.
What I don’t like is the extreme sensitivity to stark light. It shouldn’t be the sun, if there is strong light the contrast drops significantly. With the passing hood the lens look svery cute, but it was engineered for FF, so it is a little short when you use it on a cropped sensor camera. The hood has a smaller diameter inside, so you cannot use the original cap when the hood is on the lens, a 49 mm cap is needed:
What is also a nice plus is the macro capability of the lens. You can go extreme close to a subject, which is demonstrated on the wasp picture. This was taken at 2.8, 100% crop, no post processing other than adding a small black level:
You can see the shallow DOF, the short focal length with 2.8 and the macro produces this beautifully OOF picture. The bokeh on this photo is very nice, though at longer distances it is not that creamy.
All in all, this is a very good lens, I recommend for everybody.
| | | | | 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
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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.
| | | | | 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
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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.
| | | | | 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
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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
| | | | | Pentaxian Registered: July, 2011 Posts: 2,389 | | 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
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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.
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