Sigma 19mm f2.8 - first impressions and shots

[ramcewan]

Well I've had my $100 sigma 19mm f2.8 for about a week and wanted to share some first impressions and snapshots.

The lens is plastic but doesn't feel terrible, better than the kit but not as nice as the 45mm f1.8 (I can only dream how nice the all metal zuiko 12/17/75 lenses are). It comes with a lens hood which is a nice touch since the front element is pretty exposed and could catch glare. The hood mounts on a bayonet and stows backwards with minimal added bulk.

First thing I noticed is it is very quick to focus, miles ahead of the adapted 4/3 lenses and noticeably faster than the 14mm or the 45mm. This enables shots that are very spur of the moment, more on that in a moment. The one downside is I have had a shots where it indicated locked focus but it was not in focus.

It also seems to focus rather close which is fun for a wide angle.

So let's get to some shots - all indoors so natural light from windows and not very good natural light at that.

Here's a fun shot of my cat Kazoo, you'll notice the focus is on the nose and the wide angle makes it more pronounced while the rest fades out of focus. This was f2.8 1/30 and ISO 1600 btw, so wide open and pushing the limits of handheld and my noise on the e-pl2.


why hello there! by ramcewan, on Flickr

As I said the speed to focus makes it fun, like this shot, again of my crazy cat kazoo, I held the camera in my hand down on the ground and just shot blindly, focus here was on the eyes but at 1/25 there is some movement blur as well the camera picked f4 and ISO 800, might have been crisper if I'd gone shutter priority. Again a fun shot I thought.


Kazoo coming at you by ramcewan, on Flickr

So how about some orchids, again handheld semi-cloudy window light, as you can see focus is rather close for this focal length.


P2168774 by ramcewan, on Flickr


and one more


P2168769 by ramcewan, on Flickr


So in conclusion this is probably the best $100 I've spent in a while, it's a fun lens and if you don't already have the 20mm or 17mm a nice way to experience the focal length.

[James Emory]

Very well done and indeed a bargain for 100 bucks.

[SammyKhalifa]

Can't wait to see how it looks for outdoor shots once the weather warms up.

[James Emory]

Sigma has replaced this lens with their new 19mm model. Not available yet. Wonder what the difference is other than body style.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._8_dn_for.html

[ramcewan]

Thanks for checking them out.

Originally Posted by James Emory

Sigma has replaced this lens with their new 19mm model. Not available yet. Wonder what the difference is other than body style.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._8_dn_for.html

As near as I can tell from the press release the body is now metal but the optical formula is the same. They are touting a new improved proprietary QA process that will be applied to the new version as well.

[Greg Chappell]

Image quality looks good enough for sure. Kazoo is really cute. I'm looking forward to next week with my daughter and playing with her two cats.

[SammyKhalifa]

How does the size feel to you, compared to say the 14mm 20 or the kit lens? I mean, obviously the 14 is smaller. I've seen shots of the lens online but I have a hard time how it "feels" on the camera.

[ramcewan]

Originally Posted by Greg Chappell

Image quality looks good enough for sure. The kitties are really cute.

thanks greg, when the weather is bad the kitty shots start happening!

Originally Posted by SammyKhalifa

How does the size feel to you, compared to say the 14mm 20 or the kit lens? I mean, obviously the 14 is smaller. I've seen shots of the lens online but I have a hard time how it "feels" on the camera.

It is about the same size as the 14-42mm II kit lens in the un-extended position however it is fatter and doesn't taper like the kit, being your basic black cylinder, very similar diameter to the 14mm pancake but much longer obviously. With the included lens hood on you might confuse someone into thinking it is the PL 25mm f1.4 from a distance

As far as feel, it feels good and solid, the lens mount is metal which is always nice. Overall construction quality is on par with the Lumix lenses I own, which is of course a little behind the Zuiko 70-300mm and 45mm f1.8.

There is a faint rattle when the lens is off the camera or on the camera and the camera is off, as mentioned in many reviews this is due to the focus design, as soon as the lens/camera is powered up the rattle is gone as the focus motor engages the mechanism.

[ramcewan]

P2258824 by ramcewan, on Flickr

Shot this outside this morning as the sun was coming up, got six inches yesterday. While this shot didn't end up having much interest it does show a pretty sharp and as near as I can tell ca free

[SammyKhalifa]

Keep it up there!