| Author: | | New Member Registered: March, 2009 Location: Bucharest Posts: 17 | | Review Date: January 21, 2024 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | small, smooth, sharp | | Cons: | hard to find one considering it is such an old piece of kit | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: k5
New Or Used: Used
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I was gifted this lens from a friend who got it in a batch of camera equipment he bought. it has an incredible ding on the filter thread. i am surprised this lens is still optically ok. mechanically it has a problem with the aperture. it tends to stick open and practically i can only use it at f2.8 so all i have to say about it is for the wide open performance. i think it is very sharp. i have attached a sample that compares it to my Sigma 18-35mm ART. i have had an M28 f2.8 in the past and have used it for a long time. i liked it but not at f2.8. i think this Sigma is much better at wide open. i will try and fix the aperture because i really want to use this lens especially on my ME Super. The focusing is even smoother than on the Pentax M 50 1.4. My version also has the A setting on the aperture ring but it does not work. I think this lens is much better than the Pentax version.
 | | | | | | | Junior Member Registered: February, 2023 Location: Berlin Posts: 44 | | Review Date: February 12, 2023 | Recommended | Price: $30.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | sharpness, solid construction, smooth, size | | Cons: | none that I can tell | | Sharpness: 9
Bokeh: 7
Value: 9
Camera Used: K30
New Or Used: Used
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Very nice lens. Small, fast, sharp. Can't complain. Great value.
 | | | | | New Member Registered: February, 2019 Posts: 15 | | Review Date: October 15, 2022 | Not Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Close focus quality | | Cons: | See review | | Sharpness: 7
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 6
Handling: 8
Value: 7
Camera Used: Sony digital and film
New Or Used: Used
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I had an optically mint condition lens for a couple of years. A fairly nice and fairly well-made 28mm lens. Focus from 4 inches to infinity is useful and very fine close focus ability that gives clear and sharp results. The turn is solid, but there is a bit of cheap and cheerful plastic feel to it, although that can be said of many lenses of it's time The rear metal mount is also screwed to a plastic subframe. The symbols are not painted into fully depressed engravings, so they wear off in time. The overall feels is a little plastic and flimsy.
Mine came with what looks like Pentax A series mount connectors.
So how did it perform? It has a sweet spot of f5.6 and it's not too bad at f8 as well. Close work 9/10. Up to 30 yards 8/10. Over 30 yards to infinity 6/10. This really is not a landscape lens of you want infinity shots to be clear and sharp. Up to f5.6 is fine for close work but it's not great outside of that distance. Over f8 and quality also falls off a bit too much. F11 was particularly weak in image quality with mine.
It's often rather cheap secondhand. As it's not fashionable and supertrendy like Takumar or Pentax M or A lens of the same mm you can pick these up for a fraction of the hyped up price of those brands. And if you don't venture to taking images of focus beyond 30 yards, its a good lens. I ended up finding a Pentax M SMC 28mm f2.8 that wasn't asking silly price and that gave far wider ranges of aperture sweet spot range and much finer infinity.
Sadly, because of the shortfalls, this is not a lens I could recommend if you can afford a Pentax M 28mm f2.8 as it's a much better lens in every regard. Being cheap and cheerful means you'll pay about $30 for this Sigma but the question is whether you really needed to buy it at all. Mind you, that cost could be attractive if you like macro and close work.
If you do want to try one out then ensure it's clear of internal dirt and fungus because it's difficult to take apart and clean out.
| | | | | New Member Registered: January, 2022 Location: Cov Posts: 8 | | Review Date: April 2, 2022 | Recommended | Price: $20.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Very sharp. Handles really Well. Nice size. Excellent Value | | Cons: | Lots of flare. Some CA | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax K-r
New Or Used: Used
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Nice sharp lens especially for the price I paid. Definitely one to keep. My copy is the early model with A contacts allowing it to work 100% natively with my dslr.
This is an 100% crop of the photo below.
 | | | | | | | Pentaxian Registered: April, 2009 Location: Madrid, Spain Posts: 10,910 | | Review Date: July 6, 2021 | Recommended | Price: $40.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Small, light, good rendering, very sharp even wide open, nice bokeh, very useful close focusing | | Cons: | Not as well-built as an M series, flare, many copies are for Ricoh cameras and have the dreaded Ricoh pin | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 6
Bokeh: 6
Handling: 9
Value: 9
Camera Used: K-3
New Or Used: Used
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Back in the day there was fierce competition to provide wide (28mm) and telephoto (135mm) primes for people to add to the standard 50mm lens that came with the camera. This little Sigma must have been very close to the top of the pile because it's an excellent little lens that can be had for very little. It's light but still made of metal and compact. It handles well and is a pleasure to use on both DSLRs and mirrorless cameras.
Image quality is very good, with nice colour rendering, good contrast, nice out-of-focus rendering and it's very sharp even wide open. Many reviews warn of flare but it's not something I've experienced a great deal and when I have I've been able to control it and use it to add to the image rather than detract from it. Perhaps if you used this as a general use wide angle on FF or film then the sun and other light sources would be more problematic.
My copy has an A setting on the aperture ring but it's not compatible with Pentax's implementation of automatic aperture, it's compatible with Ricoh's system which means it has the dreaded Ricoh pin which can cause the lens to get stuck on an AF K-mount camera. I opened the lens up and removed the pin (rendering the A setting useless regardless of the camera used) for safety. It wasn't difficult.
The close-focusing capability of this lens is extremely useful and makes it a good lens for capturing little details.
All in all I'm very happy with the lens, especially for what it cost. It's far superior to the Pentax M series 28mm f/2.8 or /3.5 and compared to the A series 28/2.8, which it would have competed with back in the day, it's much sharper and has much nicer bokeh. In fact, the only classic 28mm lenses I've tried that I like more are the K and Vivitar (both Komine and Kiron) 28mm f/2s, which cost much more and are much harder to find. For most people looking to try an old 28mm lens this Sigma would be my recommendation.
The first two sample photos show examples of the flare put to (I think) good use.
DSCF1048a Sigma 28mm 2.8 by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr
DSCF1051a Sigma 28mm 2.8 by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr
Fishy by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr
Hand by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr
Paint by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr
DSCF1037a Sigma 28mm 2.8 by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr
| | | | | New Member Registered: November, 2016 Posts: 7 | | Review Date: August 10, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $45.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | center sharpness, macro | | Cons: | chromatic aberrations, flare | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 6
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 8
Camera Used: Pentax K-30
New Or Used: Used
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Center sharpness of this lens is fantastic, even at F2.8. But the corners suffer from chromatic aberrations and can be a bit distracting. The 1:4.5 close focus ability is very useful. The lens is built well with a mix of plastic and metal. Focus is well dampened but the aperture ring doesn't feel as nice. The Sigma also has issues with flare, but a simple hood can fix this issue.
| | | | | New Member Registered: October, 2015 Posts: 2
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: October 23, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $27.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Close focus, bokeh | | Cons: | Chromatic Aberration, soft sides and corners | | Sharpness: 7
Aberrations: 4
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: Sony A7s
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Despite some very serious flaws, there is something about the images produced by this lens that I like.
The flaws:
While centre sharpness is quite good, the sides and corners are weak - even when stepped down. For this reason, it is not a good choice for landscapes where corner to corner sharpness is crucial. In fact, chances are any images taken with this lens will be rejected by micro stock websites because of this.
Chromatic aberration is also quite poor.
The Good
The focus ring is very pleasant to use, the lens focuses really close and I quite liked the bokeh. I enjoyed using this lens for night-time shots of friends and family where the blurred corners and sides masked the lens' weaknesses. There is also a nice 3D quality to images.
I tried a few of these lenses and repaired some too, but ultimately there are better legacy 28mm lenses out there - the Carl Zeiss Distagon 28mm f2.8 is a better choice than this (though about 10x the price).
A word of warning to anyone thinking about repairing one of these: the second element from the front 'bubbles' very easily, so the utmost care must be taken when handling it!
Finally, I did some comparisons between this and the Sony SEL2870, Canon FD 28mm and Pentax-M 28mm f3.5 a while back:
http://www.ashleywootton.com/legacy-28mm-lenses-and-modern-kit-lens-comparison/ | | | | | amateur dirt farmer Registered: December, 2014 Location: probably out in a field somewhere... Posts: 41,766
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 4, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $65.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | solid construction, A-ring, sharpness | | Cons: | prone to flare (put a hood on it) | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 8
Camera Used: K-50
New Or Used: Used
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purchased from eBay (Japan) roughly the same time as a DA 50mm f1.8; took some getting used to as it is prone to flare/ghosting without a hood... I found a Sigma Perfect Hood for it and that seems to have solved the issue... I just am careful around strong light-sources...
great manual lens for my K-50 - quite sharp with nice bokeh...
update - I just finished a month of using this lens for the Single in October challenge:
Pros:
build - while not a large lens by any stretch of the imagination, a substantial feel combined with a well-damped focus ring makes this lens easy to use and a very tactile experience
'A' ring - nice convenience for allowing the camera body to control aperture; this is a plastic ring and feels it, but leave it on the 'A' setting and that's no longer an issue
color rendition - while not quite Pentax-warm, it does render accurately and brightly
focus/sharpness - not bad wide open, but will be become quite sharp after f4 and above; I noticed occasional softness at the edges, but centers are always spot-on (if I am, that is)
bokeh - produces nice bokeh and even some starbursts
Cons:
flare/aberrations - this lens does not like strong light sources unless it is facing away from the source; strong, direct sunlight is the worst and will completely wash away its ability to render colors. I have the Sigma 'Perfect Hood', which is a tulip-type hood, and it does help some, I've just learned to not shoot in those conditions and use it when/where its strengths can shine...
Conclusion:
I do recommend the lens to use, but I honestly think that for a similar or even a bit more money, an SMC M or A 28mm f2.8 is a better lens, if only for the coatings and flare-resistance. I spent a lot of time this month just culling the day's shots to what I could actually use, even if I needed to convert to monochrome to salvage them.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/133285589@N05/albums/72157656953218823 | | | | | New Member Registered: February, 2015 Posts: 3 | | Review Date: March 17, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $50.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | cheap, construction, performance | | Cons: | flare/lensehood issue | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 10
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lense its self is well discribed below, I'd better mention about lensehood and what I did.
The original hood of Sigma28/2.8 is a plastic flower cut and cost $15 in well used condition.
Why do I have to pay so much for just a hood with no good looking?
I bought Nikon's HN-3 metal hood for about $5 and it's still available for new!
The HN-3 screw in hood is for filter size of 52mm, can be attached without any adapter.
Hood is designed for 35mm lense or longer, but lot of example on Nikon Ai-As28mm and no problem ever reported.
I tried HN-3 on Sigma28mm and attached to ME-super, this works perfect.
A lense cap?
you can use 49 and 52mm Nikon's or 72mm Canon…oops.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: August, 2013 Posts: 731 | | Review Date: March 16, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $30.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Build, Price, Fast Aperature, Macro | | Cons: | Sharpness, Color Cast, Camera Compatibility | | Sharpness: 7
Bokeh: 6
Handling: 5
Value: 8
Camera Used: K-5ii
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My copy is in wonderful shape and produces wide shots with a nice bright aperture of 2.8. This lens isn't quite as sharp as I would have hoped, but clears up a bit when stopped down. The lens produces a strange Yellow cast with a bit of Green in the mix in some lighting conditions. This can easily be corrected in post, so no worry there. Also, the lens produces some very strong flare if it catches light just wrong. One more down side, in A mode, the aperture can't be automatically adjusted to a setting lower than f4. This is can be overcome with a manual setting, but it is a bit bothersome.
Over all, the lens can be had at a wonderful price, it is built out of metal and feels solid. Close focusing is a +. I think you may enjoy this lens especially if you have a good copy.
1.) Macro focusing - It is wonderful to get sharp focus up close and still get in a lot of the scene.
2.) Fast aperture - f 2.8
3.) Build Quality - This lens features a all metal construction and feels much like a tank.
4.) If you find one, they can be had at a reasonable price.
the bad
1. Colors lack the Pentax polish but are generally warm and pleasing.
2. The image isn't quite as sharp as I would like, but pleasing all the same.
3. When using the A mode, the aperature won't go lower than f4. You have to manually set it down to 2.8. (oh well, no biggie).
| | | | | New Member Registered: December, 2014 Posts: 2 | | Review Date: December 9, 2014 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | sharp, cheap love its build quality | | Cons: | need a hood | | Sharpness: 8
Aberrations: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 10
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 | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: December, 2010 Location: SoCal Posts: 518 | | | | | New Member Registered: May, 2013 Location: Toronto Posts: 10
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: April 17, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $56.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Very sharp even at f/2.8, close focusing distance, metal construction | | Cons: | Lens flare | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-30
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The angle of view is extremely versatile, allows for very nice close-ups too. The focus is very very sharp, The bokeh is ok - I'm giving it an "8". Handling is wonderful and focus ring quite nice. The only gripe - (this has already been pointed out by others) this lens has a flare problem.
Nevertheless, I would definitely recommended this lens.
| | | | | New Member Registered: October, 2013 Location: Naples Posts: 10 | | Review Date: November 2, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $40.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | Optical quality is good for the price (better than Pentax 28 2.). Compact and light. | | Cons: | It suffers of flare and ghosts, and badly need a hood to keep contrast good (it's not an SMC!). Not Pentax colorurs. | | Sharpness: 7
Aberrations: 6
Bokeh: 6
Handling: 7
Value: 8
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I explained almost everything in the Positive and Negative aspect.
For sharpness, distortion and overall immage quality, it's better than the Pentax 28 2.8, except for the coating... it's really far behinde the SMC pentax, in fact there is a great need of using a lens hood to keep contrast good and evade aberration and a loss of sharpness. With an adeguate hood, it beats the Pentax one.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: January, 2013 Location: Kansas City, KS Posts: 1,612 | | Review Date: September 7, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $50.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Smooth focus, sharp, auto-aperture, nice crop on DSLR | | Cons: | None that I've found | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 10
Value: 10
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I keep this lens on my K-30 more often than not. The angle of view is extremely versatile, from street photography to landscapes and group shots, and the close-focusing abilities produce very nice close-ups of flowers and details of still lifes. It does almost everything!
The focus is very very sharp and my copy has no issues with blurred corners nor CA, at any combination of settings.
The bokeh is not as attractive as my 50mm Vivitar, but it does create acceptable "dreamy" backgrounds wide open, and particularly with some diffused or "golden hour" light.
The handling is wonderful and the focus ring is a pleasure to use. It could be a bit longer, but it is responsive and sure-footed.
Definitely recommended if you're looking for a lens in this focal length.
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