Sigma Wide Angle 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro Autofocus Lens for Canon EOS USA

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

Great lens for low light situations and macro-like photography. For the price you can't beat it. If you have the extra bucks, of course, go buy an L-series lens. I've noticed several other reviews griping about the autofocus being too forward or backward. If you're dealing with that issue, then you need to be on manual focus anyway. I've shot indoors and outdoors with this lens for the last two weeks and have not had a problem.

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

After receiving the lens, this is now my go to lens as a walk around lens on a crop body. It is a fairly large lens, but it seems nicely balanced on my Rebel with a battery grip.

The manual focus ring is a breeze to use once you get used to it. The macro capabilities of this lens are more of an added bonus to a great walk around lens as opposed to being a dedicated macro lens.

The only thing that is a downside to this lens is the auto focus. It is slow and noisier than the canon variants. It is fine however in most environments.

Nice fast wide prime for the price!

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

After using a 50 mm 1.8 lens I discover the need for a wider lens. I loved the 1.8 low light capacity. And searching found this one.
This is an all purpose lens. Excellent, clear, sharp for video and photography. My camera is a T2i and now it is my favorite lens.

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

Amazing wide angle lens in low light. I use primarily for shooting videos and this lens makes me happy. I normally use in manual focus mode and I do feel like you must be very mindful of keeping your focus in a very small range.

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

Good sharpness, excellent weight and construction. smooth mechanics. Macro performance a little less than outstanding, but that's not what it's made for. Definitely recommend, especially for the price.

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

Great lens and good price. clarity is superb. great glass. I like the build. the auto focus is a little slow and noisy but it doesn't really affect me since I primarily use manual.

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

I primarily use my t2i for video and this lens tops all others. I had Canon's 50mm f/1.8 for a couple of months, but grew sick of shaky video because of the crop sensor on my camera creating the lens to be telephoto. But the f/1.8 on the that lens was just amazing. So I decided to buy this lens in hope of a better focal length with the same fstop. The first day i used this lens i realized it solved all my problems. For video, it gives fantastic, sharp DOF even in low light. The shakiness was taken way down too.

As for photography, this lens is great as well. The colors are deep and rich, the fstop is great, and 28mm is perfect for most shots. Also being a macro, you can take some very cool still of insects or anything else very small.

The lens comes with a custom lens hood and a nice protective case. A wonderful addition.

The bad. Really there is only one thing. For some reason this lens goes just a hair past infinity. So when you rack focus all the way out, you get a blurry image. And adjusting it to exact infinity because of the play can get annoying. But this flaw still will not stop me giving this lens 5 stars.

I recommend this lens for anyone serious bout DSLR filmmaking, especially if you have a crop sensor camera like the 7D, 60D, or t2i/550D.

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

I bought this along with a Canon 50mm f/1.8 and Canon 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS USM with the Canon 60D body. I'm getting back into photography after being a 35mm film buff over 20 years ago. From my previous experience, I believed that prime lenses are better than zooms for image quality and fastest aperture. I bought the Sigma because it was the best value for 28mm f/1.8 out there for Canon. I use it as my main lens for capturing our first child (6 months old) and family snapshots mainly indoors. You don't need to use flash with the 1.8 but it does require you to mind the distances between subjects as the depth of field is quite shallow. I'm still learning the best way to autofocus (back in my day everything was manual focus) and had a few shots that were front-focused, but what I'm learning it was because I wasn't using spot focus mode. I find the images very sharp and they look great to me. The lens comes with a very sturdy, reversible tulip-style hood. It is a bit heavy and long for a 28mm but manageable for me. For the money, I would definitely buy this lens again and I'm not sure for someone like me it would make sense to spend over a $1,000 for a lens with similar capabilities.

Highly recommended!

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

I use this lens for video production on my Canon DSLR, crop sensor.

It produces very nice images even in low light, wonderful bokeh and a very shallow depth of field.

I use a Genus 77mm ND Fader Filter on this lens to stop down the light so that I can maintain a 1.8 aperture for a shallow depth of feild, and 1/50th exposure to follow the 180 degree shutter rule while recording video.

It comes with a nice carry case with a handy belt loop at the back. The case nicely fits my Tokina 11-16mm as well.

Because I shoot on a DSLR in video mode, I have to focus manually. For me, the travel distance between macro and infinity is not enough. Focusing from 2' to 5' only requires that I move the focus ring 1/8th of an inch. I would rather a larger range of motion on the focus ring. I will be solving this by purchasing a follow focus ring. This will increase the overall diameter of the focus ring and should fix my issue.

My other focusing issue, while focusing manually, is that rocking the focus all the way to infinity; does not focus to infinity. I am slightly out of focus when I reach the end of travel on the ring, I have to rock back 1/16th of an inch to be focused at infinity. Keep in mind, I always shoot wide open and focus manually for video. I have gotten used to this minor point already, having used it for 2 shoots.

I would definitely purchase this lens again.

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

This is one of my favorite lenses. I have used it for 5 years. People seem to be more interested in the 20 and 24mm versions. In terms of image quality this lens is MUCH better than the canon 28 f1.8 and more on par with the 35mm f1.4L. Colors are a little warm, but this is easily corrected and usually looks rather nice anyway. The combination of fast aperture, wide-angle and close focusing abilities allow this lens to take pictures which no other lens can.
I have found that with very careful manual focusing this lens is sharp to the edge wide open!

The biggest weakness of this lens is auto-focus. It is slow, not always accurate, and it requires two adjustments to switch between AF and MF. That being said, the AF is fine in brighter light when smaller apertures are used. Even in low light the AF can be used, as long as you are paying attention to confirm focus.

Despite the counter-intuitive AF-MF switch, the MF with this lens is excellent. Almost as good as a classic MF design.

If you can deal with this lenses functional quirks, you will be very pleased with the performance.

This lens is good for up-close gritty documentary in tight dim spaces, surreal near-macro discoveries and even interior architectural documentation.

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

This lens, although super loud, is one amazing piece of glass. Along with a unique focal length (awesome on my full frame or cropped sensors) its ability to capture amazing macro images never ceases to amaze me. Rated at a minimum focusing distance of 7 inches, I have found this lens easily focuses down to 4 inches and is sharp all the way down to f/2 (1.8 seems a bit much at times...)
I recommend this lens above all other at this focal length for its sharpness as well as its macro capabilities. If you dont mind the noisy focusing mechanism, get this lens!

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

I give this lens 5 stars based on what I expected for the money. Very crisp photo's, great depth of field and excellent low light shooting. Highly recommended.

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

i like this lens a lot. Good DOF and a really good sturdy build. Over all i recomend this lens

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

This is my new favorite lens for my Rebel XT. Pretty sharp at f/1.8, and really sharp as you stop down. It can focus quite close to the subject which allows for interesting photos. Focus is slow and noisy, but consistent. Initially the AF was slightly front-focused, but with a small adjustment to my camera AF the focus is now perfect.

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

I bought this lens to use mainly at concerts. It opens up wide so I can capture action easily. I absolutely love the focus and the quality that it brings. I'd use this lens for practically anything. I'm in love with it!

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

I bought this lense in Jan. 09 primarily for shooting Aurora's in Alaska. I just returned from a trip where I used it pretty extensively, and I am very pleased with the sharpness and overall color quality on all the shots. It is noticeably sharper than my 1.8 Canon 50mm. All shots were at f1.8 at 10 and 15 second exposure times and with manual focus. I also used it extensively for other low light conditions such as sunsets, etc, and was very pleased with sharpness. For kicks, I shot some wide open during the day as a test and as others have reported did notice softness and some distortation around the edges. But I'm not sure why anyone would shoot day shots at 1.8 anyway - at 2.0 and above it is fine. It is a solid feeling lense and I must have gotten a new lense with a different design for the manual focus setting because I did not have any issues with accurate manual focus settings or any difficulty using in manual focus mode. No focus drift, etc. On auto focus it was quick and precise - no focus issues at all. Overall I highly recommend this lense.

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

I use it for photos in low light and operate the lens almost exclusively wide open. Soft at f1.8 (sad) but incredibly sharp by f3.5. At f/1.8 and ISO 800 you can imagine I can get "the freeze" on all sorts of indoor parties and social gatherings without interrupting the mood.

Also, as my only macro lens it is really impressive with the close-focus capability.

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

I am so glad I purchased this lens! It produces super clear images and focuses pretty fast, even in really low light situations. A great lens for a great price!

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

i've had this product for almost a month and use it quite often. i'm often shooting events for work and, for fun, portraits of people. it helps me in several ways by appropriately lighting the subject in low light situations and by capturing a bigger portion of the background.

it's noisy, but that doesn't bother me.

it's also a great complement to a 50mm lens. if i had the choice, i would definitely by it again!!

Comments about Sigma W/A 28mm f/1.8 EX Aspherical DG DF Macro AF Lens:

This is a cheap, wide prime with the bonus ability to function as a macro lens. While its 1:2.9 ratio as is not a 'true' 1:1 macro, it is already possible to almost get focus within the lens hood. It produces nice, sharp images, although you're wasting your time if you use the auto-focus for anything but inanimate objects.

Pros:
Cheap, wide and sharp
Wide and well gripped focus ring
Double positioned focus ring means that you can avoid accidentally bumping the focus

Cons:
Autofocus is the slowest on any lens I've ever used

With this lens you get what you pay for. If you're expecting exceptional sharpness and 1:1 reproduction then this isn't the lens for you, but if you want a good, wide prime then you should definitely consider this.