Sigma 18mm F3.5

S

SteveH

Senior Member
Hi all,
I just inherited a Sigma 18mm f3.5 lens, which although doesn't autofocus on the D3100, I'm still happy to play with... Although the lens is fairly old now, I just wondered what peoples thoughts on this lens are? Is it good, Ok, bad?

Thanks in Advance!
 
S

SteveH

Senior Member
Hi Glenn,
Yep, I have tried a few test shots in the house with the lens, and they look ok, but I suppose the proof will be with a nice landscape!
 
S

SteveH

Senior Member
Hi All,
Here is a quick pic I took with the Sigma 18mm F3.5.....

_DSC2190.jpg

There's just one thing that confuses me... Given that the Sigma is a wide angle lens (As I understand it), I can't see any real difference in the field of view between it, and my 18-55mm Nikkor.... It does easily suffer from lens flare due to the shape of the front element.

Should I be able to see a wider field of view over my 18-55mm at 18mm??

Thanks,
Steve
 
J

jwstl

Senior Member
SteveH0773 said:
Hi All,
Here is a quick pic I took with the Sigma 18mm F3.5.....

View attachment 33752

There's just one thing that confuses me... Given that the Sigma is a wide angle lens (As I understand it), I can't see any real difference in the field of view between it, and my 18-55mm Nikkor.... It does easily suffer from lens flare due to the shape of the front element.

Should I be able to see a wider field of view over my 18-55mm at 18mm??

Thanks,
Steve
Click to expand...

The Sigma is 18mm and your 18-55 is 18mm at the wide end which means they are the same and will appear relatively the same when you shoot the zoom at 18. What a lens is called-wide-angle, telephoto etc.-really has nothing to do with anything other than labeling it. The focal length tells you what you need to know.
 
S

SteveH

Senior Member
jwstl said:
The Sigma is 18mm and your 18-55 is 18mm at the wide end which means they are the same and will appear relatively the same when you shoot the zoom at 18. What a lens is called-wide-angle, telephoto etc.-really has nothing to do with anything other than labeling it. The focal length tells you what you need to know.
Click to expand...

Thanks for clearing that up... I thought i was also down to the convex shape of the front element. Aside from that, the colour and sharpness of the 18-55mm seem much better.

Thanks for your help!
 
J

jwstl

Senior Member
SteveH0773 said:
Thanks for clearing that up... I thought i was also down to the convex shape of the front element. Aside from that, the colour and sharpness of the 18-55mm seem much better.

Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...

"Wide Angle" just means it's a wider view than a "normal" lens. A "normal" lens is one that has a view close to what the human eye perceives. In 35mm and full frame cameras that's roughly 50mm. On the DX cameras that's 35mm or so.

I'm not surprised your 18-55 is the better lens. It's much newer than the Sigma and includes advances in lens technology. It's a nice starter lens.
 
S

SteveH

Senior Member
Thanks Watch, there was very little PS in this shot, just a bit of sharpening... It is much softer than the Nikkor, and it easily suffers from glare at the top due to the shape of the front element.
I still like using it for practice... It is much easier to focus manually than the nikkor thanks to the wider focus ring!
 
K

ktan7

Senior Member
I have this one. It doesn't autofocus. Definitely have to manual focus. I don't use it much anymore as it is too wide and doesn't fit my current visions of work.
 
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