ryan_smith9 Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 <p>I am looking for a wide angle prime in the 16 - 20mm range with a very narrow DOF. I see there is a Sigma 20mm 1.8 out there but do not know much about it and don't see much talk about it. Anyone have this lens and can share they're thoughts/examples? Is it sharp the least bit wide open?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andylynn Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 <p>I looked at that lens and everything I read (including an article on this site) said that wide open it's too soft and not contrasty, and it should only be used stopped down.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.th Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 <p>my (former) example was not the least bit sharp wide open. stopping down to 2.2 improved plenty, and kept improving a little until about 5.6 (or thereabouts). the www opinion tends to be a little evil towards it, as far as i know at least, and samples seem to vary.. and expectations of course</p> <p>i loved mine, and very much regret selling it.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luis_g Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 <p> Does it really matter? It's like the Leica Noctilux 50/.095 There are no other options in that focal length. If that's what you need, what can you do? Deal with it in post production.</p> <p> Or....here's what I would do, if you are using a Canon body: Olympus made a superb 21/2.0 lens for its MF OM-mount film cameras. There is an adapter that will allow you to use this optic on a Canon body. True, it is manual focus, but, this lens was extensively used by Eugene Richards back in the film era, and he used it wide open a lot of the time. Most of the ultra-wide pics you see here were done with this lens:</p> <p>http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=Eugene+Richards+%2Bphotographs&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=UZnYStXBMdCg8Aba0aG3BQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBQQsAQwAA</p> <p>Good Luck!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squeri Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 <p>I've been waiting for the right price on a Nikon 20 2.8 AF. Not as fast of course, but it looks like a nice 20.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreas_manessinger Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 <p>I love this lens. I use it on my Nikon D300, thus on an APS-C sized sensor. Mine is sharp, has nice bokeh, focuses almost down to the front lens, in fact I always call it my wide-angle macro. It has relatively strong barrel distortions for a prime, but that's easily corrected in PTLens. I suppose it will be worse on FX, but for my style of photographing I would not mind some corner weakness wide open.<br> See <a href="http://manessinger.com/category/sigma-201-8">82 blog posts</a> featuring images made with this lens on my blog.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan_smith9 Posted October 16, 2009 Author Share Posted October 16, 2009 <p>Andreas, I like a lot of those shots but several seem very soft all around. Is that your post-processing that is causing that?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan_smith9 Posted October 16, 2009 Author Share Posted October 16, 2009 <p>Andreas, I like a lot of those shots but several seem very soft all around. Is that your post-processing that is causing that?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan_smith9 Posted October 16, 2009 Author Share Posted October 16, 2009 <p>Andreas, I like several of those shot but I also see a lot of softness in several pics.....is that your post-processing causing that extreme softness?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreas_manessinger Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Ryan, give me a few titles and I'll tell you about the pp :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas_sullivan Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 <p>I own it in a Canon mount and I'm extremely happy with it. Is it soft in the corners at 1.8?....haven't got a clue....I only open it up to 1.8 when I'm shooting low light photography and 99% of the time the corners are dark or out of focus anyhow. Sometimes specs and tests don't say the whole story. You have to consider how you are going to use the lens also. When I do landscape with this lens, I'm up at f/11 or f/16 on a tripod and then it's crystal sharp. </p> <p>make sure it's the EX version, however. Some of Sigma's bad press comes from their earlier lenses...once they got to the EX versions they started getting it together.....in my opinion....except perhaps for their first generation EX 24-70 f/2.8....I own it, and I eventually bought Canons version.....soooo much better.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan_smith9 Posted October 16, 2009 Author Share Posted October 16, 2009 <p> <p ><a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/user?user_id=2345993"><em>Andreas Manessinger</em></a><em> </em><em><a href="http://www.photo.net/member-status-icons"></a>, Oct 16, 2009; 01:16 p.m.</em></p> <p><em>Ryan, give me a few titles and I'll tell you about the pp :)</em></p> <p>1096 and 845</p> </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreas_manessinger Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Post-processing. Both images have an artificial blur added :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two23 Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 <p>As a night photographer, the Sigma 20mm f1.8 caught my eye once also. I emailed the few owners I could find and read the reviews. The consensus was it was barely usuable at f1.8 and really didn't start to become even acceptable until stopped down to f2.8. I saw NO reason to buy an f1.8 lens that needed to be stopped down, so I ended up buying a Nikon 20mm f2.8 AFD. That lens is exceptionally mediocre as well, and is one of the few real disappointments I've had buying Nikon lenses. It will never go on a D700 when I end up buying one. OTOH, the Nikon 17-55mm f2.8 is exceptional at 20mm, and the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 is superb within its range. For an FX camera, the obvious choices are either Nikons 14-24mm f2.8 or 17-35mm f2.8. I'm not aware of any Nikon single focal lenses wider than 24mm that are steller performers. You might have an option or two with the Zeiss ZF lenses, such as 21mm. Myself, being an ultrawide fanatic wanting only the best, I plan on getting the 14-24mm f2.8. Lenses are the last place I compromise.<br> Kent in SD</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony_valvo Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 <p>I had this lens several years ago and I found it to be quite good. I did not use it much for low light, but stopped down it was excellent. Here is one done on film and scanned on a Nikon Coolscan.</p> <p>Anthony</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick238 Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 <p>I have one for Nikon mount that I purchased used. The price was right and I wanted a lens for low light/night photos. Its not the sharpest lens, but I do like the fact that you can foucus very close with it, and will open wide for low light. I have no regrets with it.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiro Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 <p>I had one that I used for shooting my friends band. Excellent lens for that. Sharp in the center wide open and close focus. Extra stop of light. Great for getting in tight with lots of distortion. Stopped down to F4 it was pretty good in the corners but I never really used it for that. For the most part the AF 20mm Nikkor will get the job done and is a fraction of the size.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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