Sigma 14mm, Pekka, and wide angle lenses on the D30

Pekka,

I was perusing the archives here and at dpreview, and noticed that Sigma 14/2.8 #1 was fuzzy to the right, and Sigma 14/2.8 #2 is fuzzy to the left. I haven't seen where you've exchanged #2 for Unit #3 yet. Care to give us an update?

In a related note, I responded in another thread that the Sigma 20/1.8 might be a viable option to the Canon 17-35L as it's faster, less expensive, and probably sharper wide open (prime v zoom). Does anyone have experience or samples taken with this lens? I'm talking specifically about the Sigma 20/1.8 DG EX, which was released within the past six months or so.

http://www.sigmaphoto.​com/Html/news/Pixfs_20​_f1-8.htm

I was originally inclined to go for the Canon 17-35L, but I'm thinking that I might be better off getting a couple of primes as it will probably be more cost effective. Plus, the 20/1.8 is about 1.5 stops faster than the Canon anyway. This one should be an excellent ambient light lens.

I would consider the new Sigma 15-30 zoom if it wasn't so slow.

Finally, it would be great if Canon's mid-range zooms would cover down to 24mm. We're already seeing this trend in third party lenses, with the Sigma 24-70 and Tamron 24-135 introduced in the past year. I've heard rumors that a 24-135L or 24-105L lens may be among the new lenses Canon will introduce. It would be nice if Canon upgraded their well-esteemed 28-135IS to a 24-135IS!

JCDoss

My reason for keeping quiet about unit 3 was simply that I was in Portugal for a couple of weeks and some people in Sigma Finland were also on vacation. A couple fo days ago I called their boss there and now this afternoon I picked up the third unit. And I'm happy to say the unit #3 is very good. I have not done any thorough tests yet, but I took about 100 shots in the neighbourhood and I found no apparent flaws. Now it behaves as you'd expect it to behave: the large aperture softness is equal to all directions and smaller apertures gives from edge-to-edge sharp focus plane.

One more note: during this whole process I would like to give the Finnish Sigma importer top score for customer service and speed, and same goes for Optotek, the photo store in Helsinki I bought Sigma from. Really nice, helpful people.

I seem to need as much aperture as I can afford, and it's nice to see Sigma makes these f1.8 lenses. I'll definitely have to try one, as 20/1.8 is very usable e.g. in concert halls.

I hope they'd announce more f1.4 or 1.8 series primes to choose from. Higher ISO on 2.8 does not give same image as ISO 100 in 1.4...

Pekka,

Although I'm glad to hear you've finally got a good unit, I'm sorry that it took so long to get one!

I'd certainly be interested in hearing your opinions of the 20/1.8, if you should choose to get one.

Rumors are flying all over the place, regarding new Canon lenses. I haven't heard anything about new, wide, fast primes though. I have heard of a 50-200/2.8, the mythical 70-200/2.8 IS, a 16-35/2.8, and something on the order of a 28-105L or 24-105L.

JCDoss