| Author: | | Senior Member Registered: August, 2013 Posts: 112
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: March 3, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $30.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Great little lens | | Cons: | None | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: D50/N90
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I'd say this is fast worming its way into my favorite lineup despite its short range. My version is a Nikon mount of course, It did work well on my N90 but at less than 35mm it crops the corners on a full frame. DSLR, beautiful. I happen to really like the bokeh and the colors are very nice. To me its as sharp as any and I really appreciate its light weight/compactness. It didn't (at least mine doesn't) have the expected plasticky/ feel and even on manual focus the ring is smooth and precise. I really like this lens!
| | | | | | | Site Supporter Registered: November, 2010 Location: California Posts: 2,223 | | Review Date: February 24, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $60.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | My carry around lens - small, fits well and has incredible IQ | | Cons: | None so far | |
This lens has become my only kit lens that I take anywhere. I bought it after looking at the reviews in this forum and after seeing the photograph of the airplane landing above this comment. The macro is just formidable. I use it more often that any. It is a portrait lens too. All the good things said above. I do not understand the comments about the cheap built. This lens looks and feels sturdy. It is the II version. All automatic. The macro botton is just fine, you have to read the manual to understand how to use it the first time after that is just fine.
The first picture is out of focus, it is my fault. I have a focussed image in Flicker. I will post it here later on.
 | | | | | Senior Member Registered: January, 2012 Posts: 103 | | Review Date: January 28, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $55.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Macro, price, build quality | | Cons: | Sharpness, contrast | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 9
Value: 10
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I bought this lens as a cheap way to get into macro photography and I quite like it. It is a sturdy feeling lens with good build quality. Sharpness is comparable to the 18-55mm kit lens, though the kit edges it out in terms of contrast. AF performance on my copy is quite good - probably as fast as the kit with very little hunting. Macro-wise, it performs well. The 1:2 magnification is great for flowers and bugs and you can boost the magnification with a cheap set of macro tubes or filters. A great lens to take outdoors on a hike. Versatile enough to grab some decent landscape shots and then get down low for some macro work. Bottom line, it's a fun lens!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/92741108@N08/8424993578/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/92741108@N08/8424999924/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/92741108@N08/8423910001/ | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: February, 2011 Location: St Louis, MO Posts: 11,606
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 1, 2012 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | lightweight, fast and quiet focus, a real bargain | | Cons: | none for the price | | Sharpness: 8
Bokeh: 6
Handling: 8
Value: 8
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I have the II version, bought it new for my SF1 film camera.
Don't remember the price, and didn't use it much before going P&S digital.
Kind of forgot about it until recently.
I stuck it on my K-01,and was well pleased with the results.
I'm not a Pro, just a jpeg shooter wanting to take nice snapshots.
I really like the range of 28-80mm, and since I usually shoot longer more often than wider.
| | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: June, 2009 Location: Las Vegas NV Posts: 784 | | Review Date: April 30, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $25.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | decent macro, fast focusing | | Cons: | kit lens quality, macro switch a bit tricky | |
I bought this lens on a Pentax Zx-7 body along with a Tamron 28~200 zoom that was attached to a Zx-30 body.
I originally went in to the pawn shop to just buy the
Tamron and body for $59 they also wanted $49 for the sigma and body, I couldnt talk the guy down on the Tamron set up but he offered me the whole set of cameras and lenses for $90 for everything, so I bought it all.
I originally figured I would just put the Sigma set up for sale and even the other body, but once I tried the sigma out I was pleasantly surprised especially with the macro feature. I am now planning on keeping it just for the macro, I imagine I will use it a lot once I start taking other shots with it.
I would have given it a 10 if the build quality was better, but I do like the metal bayonet mount on it better than the plastic mount on my kit lenses.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: February, 2010 Location: California Posts: 1,602 | | Review Date: May 19, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $30.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | $, good IQ (sharp), macro | | Cons: | cheaply built | |
As I do with all of my reviews, I take into account how much I paid for the lens. This lens will not compete with the Pentax 17-70 or and similar lens but it is a very good lens. Pictures are very sharp when stopped down to 8. Stopping down to 8 also corrects the CA. Pretty much this lens is very good at 8 and above.
Good lens to bring on a hike or vacation. If it breaks, who cares, it was $30.
Well worth $30.
| | | | | Inactive Account Registered: February, 2010 Location: cali Posts: 22 | | Review Date: February 18, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $35.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Cheap Macro - Fast Focus | | Cons: | | |
Here are my first 2 shots out of the box ... sure I'll get better when I get the feel of it more.
 | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: August, 2009 Location: Łódź, Poland and Riverside, California, U.S.A Posts: 488 | | Review Date: November 29, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $28.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Good zoom range, light weight, cheap! | | Cons: | average build quiality, rotating front lens (not a neg. for me but can be for those that use filters other than UV) | |
I bought this lens to fill the mid range zoom in my kit. I run a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8, a Pentax SMC-M 50 f/1.4, and the kit lens Pentax SMC DA 18-55 f/3.5-5.6. With nothing above 50mm, I decided to give this lens a whirl. I was pleasantly surprised at the image quality. It's very sharp, focuses fairly quickly, and has a Macro function which is an added bonus. I have found that the camera needs to be on to switch out of macro focusing, or else the button is stuck. The lens focuses by rotating the front part of the lens, which can be a problem for those that use circular polarizers or other filters. In comparison of build quality, it is on par with the kit lens. It does have a tighter focus ring than the kit lens. If you need a decent midrange zoom that doesn't break the bank, this is the obvious choice. It's light, with a good reach, and it's cheap! For the price, it's the biggest bang for the buck.
| | | | | New Member Registered: May, 2022 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1 | | Review Date: May 9, 2022 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Cheap, light weight, sharper than a newer "kit" lens, excellent for cosplay photography | | Cons: | Really weird with light sources, overall not the "best" lens | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 4
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 8
Value: 9
Camera Used: K-70
Autofocus: 9
New Or Used: Used
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Where to begin with this lens...
For starters, my "price" is sort of tricky. I got my copy from the Moler's Camera Lens Lottery, so while I did technically pay $10 for it, it isn't really that simple to calculate or anything. I will say, however, that it came with a $50 price sticker still attached to it, so that's really what they wanted. (I bought several lotto lenses coincidentally during a run by a Facebook group, so they were just grabbing any K-mount lens they had that weren't nailed down and throwing them in boxes to ship out)
I have found this lens to be a very "interesting" lens to use, and it's by far one of my favorites. (Granted, full disclosure, I don't really have that many yet, and no "super star" lenses to compare it to) That said, the lens has some weird properties that can give good results if you know what to do with it, and how to use it. Well, and if you shoot the particular niche it's good for. Otherwise they will probably tank your view of the lens.
Like others will say, the sharpness is really quite decent, as it's a bit sharper than the 18-135mm WR kit lens, and that lens is known for being a really good kit lens. The colors have very nice tones to them, and give a nice "not quite vintage, not quite modern" look to photos. It's also feather weight, which makes it ideal for all day use, especially in harsher conditions on your neck and shoulders. I've found that the autofocus outside of macro mode does not hunt, and is instead the fastest af lens I own. However, in macro mode it does do the hunting that other people have talked about. So I believe that is what they mean when discussing the AF.
I have used it mostly for flowers, night time city shots, and cosplay shots at conventions. I really think that this lens will be my go-to for cons in the future because of a few of its quirks, and it's pretty easy to screw with them to turn negatives about the lens into positives in that situation.
Now, the part where I'm going to go into more detail about something that I've found than anyone else:
I won't sugar coat it, this lens does REALLY weird things with light sources. And imo that's a lot of what's holding this lens back from being more highly regarded, yet simultaneously exactly why I love it and why it works so well for what I do.
At worst, it will lens flare so bad that it washes out the entire photograph if low angle sun hits it wrong. However, that's not very common at all. It will, however, get some nasty purple streaky flares sometimes. But I do a fair bit of cosplay photography with it, and having that sort of thing is actually a benefit to some artistic styles of cosplay shots. You just need to know how to control it and happen to be in "that one weird genre that uses it."
Also it dramatically stars out light sources too.
On top of all that, light sources will not only get really bad CA, but will often appear to "glow" in odd ways. If you're wanting "perfect" shots, then you will absolutely hate this lens for that. I repeat, this is NOT a lens for "perfect" photos that lack CA around lights and such.
However!
Conversely, if you're like me and shoot genres of photography that can take advantage of this, or if you like getting somewhat of an "old style vibe" to photos, you can absolutely screw around with this and get some very cool shots from it. I haven't had mine long enough yet, but I can't wait to take dark/night photos of people with lit up props to see what it does with them. Even in hall light, it gives an awesome "glowing" effect to some lit up props. Again this is a crazy niche thing to own a particular lens for, but at this cheap of a price it's worth it. After all, cosplay is known for breaking everything and breaking basically all of the rules to make things look "just plain cool."
I also like it for night photography because it has pretty high transmission, and the glowing light thing gives photos a more old school, "nearly" 35mm feel to them.
Here's a few demo shots. Not the "best" ones, as they were from when I was learning the lens, however they're the "best to show what I'm talking about." The Static Shock one has the most of the purple flaring, and oc the lights behind him are CA'd pretty bad. The Halo one shows a "bit" of the glowing effect on the prop, and is how I figured it out. Hopefully I can use what I learned from that shot and improve on it elsewhere.
The other two night shots just show what it looks like at night with lights. Other shots of that theater that are darker show more of the individual light bulbs, however they look even more CA'ed individually and really gross.
Hope this helps someone out!
 
 | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: June, 2007 Location: SE Idaho - Rocky Mtns Posts: 580
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 20, 2017 | Recommended | Price: $30.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Very inexpensive - Nice zoom range for my application | | Cons: | Poly-carbonate mount | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 8
Value: 9
Camera Used: Pentax K-1
Autofocus: 8
New Or Used: 8
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I'm a Google Maps Guide and needed a 'daily driver' lens to image stores and shops from my car for publication on Google Maps. I'm very impressed with the overall performance of this lens. Here are some Google Maps images I took yesterday & today...
This lens will probably never be used at anything other than F/8.0  | | | | | New Member Registered: May, 2012 Posts: 14
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 6, 2014 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Very cheap, nice range, lightweight | | Cons: | Macro mode switch | | Sharpness: 7
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 3
Value: 10
Camera Used: K10D, K-5 IIs
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This lens had been my most used autofocus lens for a long time due to 28mm being the widest I had available. It's definitely sharp for the type of lens it is and the price it usually sells for. My largest complaint though is that actually using the macro mode is the most frustrating thing ever when taking photos. You have to rotate it to 80mm flip a switch to macro and then it hunts a lot (K10D). Then since the focusing ring is in the macro area you can't flip the switch back to normal. So, you usually have to switch your camera to MF, rotate the focusing ring back, flip the switch to normal and set your camera back to AF. It's a very frustrating experience when you have to do this in the field. If you want a good 28-80 for under 40 dollars though then it's still a good lens, but if you know your going to be switching between macro and normal a lot then don't buy this lens.
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: August, 2010 Posts: 42 | | Review Date: December 7, 2012 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | good macro, fast focus, nice zoom range | | Cons: | poor hood attachment | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 9
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i bought this lens mainly to try out the macro feature and so far i'm very satisfied considering its cheap price. overall IQ is okay and comparable to kit lens but needs to underexpose (-0.3) a bit to nail correct exposure for high contrast scenes.
| | | | | New Member Registered: May, 2012 Location: Sydney, Oz ~ just past the phone box Posts: 7 | | Review Date: May 22, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $20.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Cheap but nowhere near nasty | | Cons: | zoom & focus can feel 'loose' | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 2
Handling: 7
Value: 10
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I've got two of these lenses, and I use the one I bought second ($20) because it's not as 'loose' feeling as the older one I bought first ($40). The newer one also has a tighter fit at the mount, but maybe that's a wear issue.
I think that negative reviews of this lens are unfair, given the price you pay for the pics you will get. For $20, you won't get a Zeiss Distagon!
Pics that I've taken with this lens are very good IMHO, & I'd recommend it to anyone except perhaps pro's or perfectionists.
Mounted on a K5, you'll never find low light a problem, so aperture isn't so important unless you want nice bokeh, which this lens doesn't do well at with a 3.5 minimum aperture.
Positives ~
Focus is sharp 28mm through to 80mm.
Colour rendition is clean, clear and concise.
Lens is light but solid.
Macro is more than 'good'.
Negatives ~
Light flare can limit photo direction options.
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: March, 2009 Location: EU Posts: 32 | | Review Date: March 1, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | macro abilities, useful zoom range, fast AF, light | | Cons: | plastic built, prone to flare and CA | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 7
Handling: 8
Value: 9
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As for macro I would rate it 9/10, apart from this my rate would be 7/10 so I put 8 
I use it especially to shoot macro but generally this is not my favorite lens.
It is very light so AF is one of the fastest (similar to FA 28-70). Sometimes suffers from CA and has prone to catch flare. Should be stopped down to be quite sharp, the best is F7,1-11. Plastic bayonet - as for now nothing to worry.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: April, 2009 Location: Waldorf, MD Posts: 1,861 | | Review Date: March 1, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $40.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Sharp, lightweight, 1:2 Macro, Inexpensive | | Cons: | A little cheaply built | |
This lens is a solid buy. Mine has a metal mount, as I've heard some use a plastic lens mount, but mine does not. Brand new for $40, it's a good, sharp 28-80 zoom. Focus travel is small, so it focuses quickly, even in Macro at 80mm. It's very light, so it's not a burden to carry around, though it does feel as though it'd break if you dropped it.
A really really good lens, especially for the price.
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