Customer Reviews

Sigma 20mm f/1.8 EX DG RF Aspherical Wide Angle Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have used this lens extensively with the 1D and the Rebel XT. Results have been excellent. My suspicion is that the previous reviewer got a defective or damaged copy of the lens. It is incredibly sharp, even at f1.8, which I did not expect - generally you expect a lens to be a bit soft wide open, especially 1.8. The degree of sharpness of this lens is quite surprising.

I have used, for example, both the Canon 50mm f1.8 and the Canon 35mm f2.0, both of which are deservedly renowned for their sharpness and contrast. I find this lens to be sharper than either of them wide open. The lens provides images which have excellent color saturation and contrast. Of course, at f1.8, depth of field is razor thin, by design, which is great for bokeh or out of focus background, but which also requires care concerning the desired focal point being in focus. Speaking of bokeh, I find it to be very attractive compared to any other lens I have used.

Its minimum distance focusing is also quite remarkable. I think it is rated at just under 8 inches, but I routinely focus at distances which seem a good bit closer than that. The lens works well as a macro for many applications, with a relatively strong multiplication factor.

Of course, given the inherent light-gathering of a 20mm focal length lens, combined with a huge aperture of f1.8, this lens is outstanding for shooting indoors or in other low-light situations with natural light and no flash.

Canon's nearest competitor to this lens is the 20mm f2.8, which is a full stop slower in terms of light collection. I consider this lens to be an extremely good value at the retail price, new. If you can get a good copy used on-line, it will be an incredible value. You may find that you never want to take the lens off the camera because of its versatility as a walkaround lens.

This lens has been extremely well-reviewed, by and large, on lens forum sites. I encourage you to check those out. Most people rate the lens 5 out of 5. A distinct minority give it 1 out of 5. I suspect that they either have defective copies which may need repair, or they have inaccurate perceptions of the lens. Also, popular photography magazine online reviewed this lens, as well as the 24 f1.8 and the 28 f1.8, very highly.

I would highly recommend this lens to anyone who wants a fast, sharp superwide angle lens.

Sigma 20mm EX is an exceptionally well made lens. Performance is extremely satisfactory. It is almost indispensable for me to go without it when I am outdoors. Takes very good wide angle shots of buildings, parks and friends and family picnicking in the park. Shots have come very sharp and crisp with edge to edge brightness and sharpness. 20mm wide angle focal length gives you a very large depth of field which is essential for taking shots of wide open outdoors, filling your frame with a large expanse of ground/sky. Fast f1.8 aperture will let you take snaps indoors in natural light and hand-held shots of lighted buildings etc. in night time. Rear focusing feature of this lens results in fast AF and also the length of the lens remains same. Macro shots of subjects will give you convex mirror type of fascinating images and one can produce far more interesting effects depending on one's creativity.

Indoor flash photography may give rise to vignetting due to ultra wide nature of the lens as most flashes cover only 28mm span. This may probably be solved by using a wide angle attachment on the flash which to my disappointment was not available for my flash (Pentax AF-280T). Also 82mm filters may prove to be expensive. But I think a filter is essential for this lens as the front element glass is very near to the filter area.

All said this is an extremely satisfying buy (most bang for bucks) which gives you great results.

I purchased the Sigma 20mm f/1.8 lens, mainly for wide field astrophotography purposes. I refuse to pay what Canon was asking for a comparable lens...this Sigma lens costs less than half of what Canon charges. I can tell you the quality is top notch - well built, very sharp images across the field, easy to use and transport. The two issues I knew about before purchase - the autofocus is a bit rough and noisy compared to the Canon and you have to engage the focus ring for manual focussing - were no surprise, and really not much in the way of issues anyway. The autofocus with the Sigma is a bit noisier than the smooth Canon lens, and is remembering to move the focus ring when manually focusing really a hassle? Some reviewers made it sound horrible, but for saving over $500 I will put up with a little noise and a focus ring......

I captured some fanstastic shots of the Perseid meteor shower while camping at Joshua Tree in early August - the Sigma performed flawlessly. I recommend this lens without reservation.

If you want to take indoor shots with your SLR, this lens will let in enough light to stop the action. It also will work on your film camera for those REALLY wide-angle shots. I typically use prime lenses for shooting indoor shots and this is one of the best, because of the wide angle (30mm equivalent), sharpness, and speed. No other wide lens has the speed of this one (f1.8). I have taken shots in DIM light without flash that have come out great. My best 3 lenses for indoors are this one, a Pentax 35mm F2.0, and a Pentax 50mm F1.4. I have a Sigma 28mm F1.8, but it is not as sharp or useful as this one. The only drawbacks are the size and the cost of a filter that fits this (82mm filters are NOT cheap).

This is one of my all time favorite lenses. I usually just leave it mounted. It's fast max aperture and close focusing make it indispensable to me. Check it out--it focuses to within an inch of the front lens element! [edit: re-checked and it's actually about 3" from the front element. For reference the Nikon 20/2.8 focuses about 9" and the 28/1.4 focuses about 11" from the end of the lens.]

I've had one issue-it recently self destructed. The iris folded over itself. It's inside the four year warranty (and damn near the end I might add) so it's been fixed and is currently on the way back to me from sigma as I type this. I'm disappointed it failed, but considering the frame count and price, I can't really complain. [edit: ok, maybe I can complain. It took them no less than five (5) tries to repair it properly. But in the end they did and I only had to pay the cost of shipping the first time. Works at least as good as new.]

I paid not much more than $300 for this lens new almost 4 years ago, and I'd gladly pay twice that for the shots this lens has gotten me. I've taken it out in the rain and snow and hail and the fact that it failed only recently attests to the build of this fine lens.

Buy it while they still make it! I may buy a backup soon for this reason.

[edit: falling in love all over again! This thing rocks on my new d700!]

This lens has been out on the market for almost ten years. The current version on amazon is different, at least on the outside, from previous ones. I don't know if there is a difference in performance, but I find the lens to be fairly sharp even at wide open. It seems recent feedbacks and reviews are more positive than in the past.

Anyway, this is a perfect lens for crop sensors, especially for doing HD video indoor. As you may know if you want less than 22mm on a crop sensor(or 35mm on 35mm equivalent)and fast (less than 2.5), for low light, then this is IT, no other choice on the market.

Fortunately, this lens performs very well, better than what many old reviews would have you believe. I think most people will be happy to have this powerful lens in their bag, for situations that all the other lenses on the planet simply cannot deliver.

This is a great lens! The quality of the bokeh is beautiful. And the build of the lens is very good, Autofocus is a bit loud but surprisingly fast and quite accurate. I use this lens with a T2i doing video, fantastic for that! Very good lens for the price.

Love the colors, bokeh and sharpness even almost fully open. Some might not like the bulk but I like being able to firmly grab the lens for a better camera grip.

My god! This is a very sharp lens! High-quality, weighty, well-made! I use this with my Canon EOS 20D and 350D cameras. Great performance! I do not think that I have had a picture come out anything less than sharp using this lens! This is the only Sigma brand lens I own; all my others are Canon brand. I get the feeling that Sigma must be a worthy Canon competitor in regard to the quality of their lenses, but I can't base that on having owned only one Sigma lens. Anyway, I certainly recommend this 20mm as a GREAT wide-angle lens!

I had been using a Pentax-M 50mm f/1.4 and loved the ability to shoot in low light. However, the -M lenses are manual focus and manual aperture, and I was getting too many out-of-focus shots that I regretted missing (I'm taking a lot of baby shots lately). So I decided to get a full-auto fast prime, and I was looking at this and it's 24mm and 28mm cousins.

The lens works beautifully. It's a tank and feels well-built. Not as tight as an all-metal lens, but solid nonetheless. If you note, the 20mm doesn't have a macro mode - the 24mm and 28mm do. Really, it focuses very close without any problems, but at this focal length it's kind of silly to be thinking 'macro photography' anyway.

The 30mm effective focal length is a tad wide even for indoor close-quarters shots. If I had to decide again, I'd probably opt for the 24mm or possibly even the 28mm - the effective focal lengths would be a little more practical for my purposes. However, if you want to take in a lot of scenery and need a fast lens, this fits the bill without venturing into the fisheye territory.

Optically, I was disappointed at first, because I was getting soft pictures when it's wide open, even when on a tripod. But then I did a focus test and found my camera was back-focusing. I have a K10D, so you have to do some trickery to adjust the focus (search online and you can find out how), but afterward, I'm getting acceptably sharp images.

And, for the record, my camera says the aperture opens to f/1.7 - not that I'm complaining.

I give it just 4 stars, though, because when compared with my Pentax-M 50mm f/1.4 when they're both wide-open, the old 50mm is noticeably sharper. From what I've heard, you have to spend the cash for one of the Pentax limited lenses to get the same quality in an auto focus lens as with their old -M and -A glass. So, for about half the price of a limited lens, you're getting a good deal.