Customer Reviews

SIGMA LENS 15-30mm f3.5-4.5 EX Aspherical DG DF for CANON 35mm and Digital SLR

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Performance:
This lens couldn't be much sharper at 15mm, it is pristine. Softer at 30mm, though still better than average corner to corner. I like that it seems optimized for 15mm. Some flare, but any 15mm zoom is really prone to that. f3.5 is a little slow, but at 15mm 1/15 sec works for handholding, so it isn't a problem. Incredibly deep DOF at 15mm, makes for spectacular foregrounds, sharp from your feet to the horizon (at least with a cropping DSLR). 8 blades is very respectable for a lens of this price and not much is usually OOF.

Build:
Superior. Suprisingly light for it's size. Fast AF. The 82mm front thread is accomplished using a felt lined cap that slides firmly over the permanent pedal hood. A little awkward but it works a lot better than it sounds. No vignetting with an 82mm front filter using a cropping DSLR at 15mm, I doubt the same would be true with full frame where the angle of view is really uncanny.

Overall:
Arguably the best in its class, great price makes it even better. Everytime I see the images I thank myself for buying this lens.

This lens compares very close to my Canon 17-40mm f4L lens. This lens does not have HSM (Canon equivalent of USM) so it is slightly noisy yet it focuses pretty fast except in low light conditions. Accessory flash is a must if you are using indoor low light shots.
Even though it says 15-30mm actual coverage is only 16mm at the wide end. I was a little dissappointed because I bought this lens thinking I would get 15mm because I own 17-40mm. I have not gained much in the wide side.
I paid less than half the price of Canon for this lens. This lens feel very solid.
Sharpness and color saturation is superb.

Let me preface this by saying that I have been seriously into photography for about 1 1/2 years now. I say this b/c often times when I am reading a review I don't know the persons level of expertise. I am no expert. I would consider myself a beginning amateur. If you would like to see some of my shots (in order for you to make up your own mind about how heavily my following comments should be weighed) check out cappspreception.blogspot.com. The photos are ordered from most recent to least recent. Onward...

Pros: 1) I was hard-pressed to get ANY glare off this lense. HUGE PLUS! 2) I was able to get extremely close (physically close) to my focal point allowing for precise DOF. 3) I have not been able to tell a loss of quality with a the aperature wide open (3.5 or 4.5 depending on zoom). 4) The built-in lense cap is a pro and con, depending on the situation. 5) Great feel to the lense. Nicely weighted, sturdy.

Cons (the few I have found): 1) Noisy as hell. Of course I own 2 L-series so I am not used to that at all. 2) It hunts worse than my other lenses. But, again, I own the L-series and they don't have this problem. 3) The built-in lense cap casts a harsh shadow if you are not using a bounce flash, so if you don't own a flash be prepared to use a tripod or steady hands b/c this thing will block the built-in flash all day.

Overall I am stoked to have finally bought a wide-angle. I feel like a whole new world has opened up to me and I was thrilled to not spend $1200! I recommend this, but be prepared for the few (minor) cons that come with it.