Sigma 15 - 30

[Nigel Wallace]

Folks

Anyone used and had experiences with a Sigma 15 - 30 lens. The new Ex DG one ? Is it good or bad. Its either that or the 17 - 40 F4 L. Prefer Canon but an open to comments/suggestions.

Cheers

Nigel

[drisley]

I think Olegis has that lens.
He's produced some amazing shots (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=37783&highlight=sigma+1530)with that lens. However, it is supposed to be rather large and heavy.

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

I also own the lens.
It's a big lens but rather light, much lighter than my 28-75 f2.8 Tamron.
I love it, it has good sharpness even wide open it's nice.
But watch out when buying used, I had one that would not operate on my 10D, they had another one lying arround and that one worked perfect.

Love it.

Greetings,
Frank

[Nigel Wallace]

Folks

Thanks for the advice, i am still unsure which one to go for , Canon 17 - 40 or Sigma 15 - 30. I have a shop close that has a large selection of both Canon & Sigma's so will try both whilst i am in there.
The only major drawback to the Sigma i can see is its prone to lens flare, but here in the UK sunshine is rare so not sure if that will be a major factor :lol:

Cheers

Nigel

[Dale]

Folks

Anyone used and had experiences with a Sigma 15 - 30 lens. The new Ex DG one ? Is it good or bad. Its either that or the 17 - 40 F4 L. Prefer Canon but an open to comments/suggestions.

Cheers

Nigel

I have the lens and love it. It is the only non canon lens I have. A few photos taken with it are at:
http://www.photokaechler.com/coulonge/index.php
http://www.photokaechler.com/fire/index.php

[Olegis]

I have this lens indeed and like it very much - it's sharp and WIDE (24-48mm on a x1.6 crop body). I also debated over this lens and the (wonderful) Canon 17-40, but in the end went for the Sigma because of the additional 3mm on the wide end.

The lens is quite large, but surprisingly not very heavy. The downside is 86mm filter mount - filters that large are quite expensive. The AF is slower than that of the Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 and louder as well, but I never found that to be a real problem with wide-angle lens - most of my shots with the Sigma are architecture / landscape, so the focus is manual anyway. The AF/MF switching mechanism is quite unusual, but once you get used to it - you stop noticing that.

You can get the Sigma 15-30 for $479 here (http://www.deltainternational.com/store/Item_SGL15%2D30C.htm) - this store is quite reputable according to the Resellerratings.com. It's about $200 cheaper than the Canon 17-40.

You can view some shots I made with the Sigma here (http://www.pbase.com/olegis/streets_ta&page=all).

[Jim_T]

I've got one.. It's my only non-Canon lens.

To me anything under 100mm is wide angle, and I shoot very little wide angle shots... so I scrimped when buying a wide angle lens.. :) I knew I wouldn't use it much and I really don't. But I do find it great bang for the buck.. It's a good lens.

I've got a few sample images on my Pbase account if you want to peek.. They're full size, complete with EXIF.. (You can see the full size image if you click on the "original" size link). 'Canola field is edited, but the others are unedited exact copies of the JPEGs that came out of the camera.

http://www.pbase.com/jim_townsend/sigma_15_30mm_samples

[Nigel Wallace]

Folks

Once again , thanks for the replies, you are talking me into it

Cheers

Nigel :lol: