My Christmas Present has been purchased :)

[Blade]

Hi Guys and Girls,

My wife and i went shopping yesterday (at a local fairly large centre "Lakeside") (U.K.)

Whilst walking around (was drawn to the "photographic" shops) as usual, and saw in the window a wonderous site :) .

The Sigma 15-30 F3.5-4.5 EX DG
Appreciate it may not be to everyone's taste or budget, but had a good look at it in the shop, and my wife Sally bought it for me for Christmas, and am over the moon :D

This is the first "Wide Angle" lens i have owned, and thought that they would be smaller (wide diameter) but not as deep as they are.
I imagine that a good UV filter is not going to be cheap on a 82mm size.

It may not seem so to the more (much) experienced members here, but to me this seems a huge lens for 15-30mm i appreciate that on the S2 it is not actually 15/30 but still a very wide angle lens.

There may be better/faster len's available but am very proud to have this as part of my kit.

And cannot wait to start using it, (just thought i would share my news)

Kind regards all.

[Derek Byrne]

Hi Blade,
Congratulations on your (wife's) purchase. I am about to follow in your footsteps - tomorrow! I tried out the 15-30 while still waiting for my S2 and was blown away. I use a Nikon 24-120 for normal use, but I really miss a "proper" wide angle.
Once again, congrats.
Derek.

[lightwrangler]

I looked at this one but decided on the 17 -35mm Sigma instead. So my comments are based on that lens. The overall quality of the lens is quite good. Of course like any ultra wide angle zoom; watch out for flare - it can occur suddenly and with all of those elements there is lots of it. I find the lens quite sharp at 17mm when using smaller aperatures, but falls off at 2.8 quite a bit. At 35mm the fall-off of sharpness is not very noticeable, but it is there.

Yes it is a large lens, but one should expect this with a Ultra wide angle zoom. But really I don't find it very heavy at all. Filters are of course expensive but you may not need too many. I am currently trying to find a Lee filter adapter for my lens, since I have a bunch of grads and softs.

All in all I think this is a good lens. Better than average handling, good sharpness and finally a good value. Hope you enjoy yours.

[Blade]

Dear Derek

May i ask please have you tried your new lens ?
Apart from making sure it was OK in the shop, mine is wrapped for Christmas.

Kind regards.

[Derek Byrne]

Hi Blade,
My lens was not available until yesterday - Thursday - which coincided with severe local flooding in my area (Co. Kildare). So, Saturday it will have to be.
While out taking pics of flooded fields and swollen canals this morning, I couldn't help thinking how much better each image would have looked if viewed through a wider lens!!

Try telling your (extremely generous) wife that the dyes used in Christmas wrapping paper give off fumes which strip the coating from Sigma lenses.........

I'll get back to you with my first impressions of the 15-30 a.s.a.p.
Derek

[Blade]

:D lol !

Worth a try,

Looking forward to your kind reply... in the midst of what i imagine a terrible problem jope you manage to get some great shots.


Kind regards

[amazingthailand]

Hi All,

I bought my Sigma 15-30mm lens about 3 weeks ago, and it has hardly been off the camera since.

I love the lens and I especially love the wide angle view I can now (finally) get on my S2. But there is one thing I absolutely hate. The damn lens cap/cover.

What I hate is the two part design. Can't figure out why Sigma made it 2 parts instead of just one part. Probably for ease of manufacturing, I guess.

By the way, no way to use a UV filter to protect the front element. You cannot use screw-in filters of any kind on the front due to the protruding front element. That is why the lens hood is permenantly attached - for protection.

If you want to use a filter, it must be gelatin and it fits into a slot behind the REAR element.

Yes the lens is BIG - VERY BIG. But it is also very light (for it's size).

As for flair - not so bad, as long as you are aware of it. Any wide angle lens of this focal length will have a similar problem. No way to avoid that, just be aware of the possibility of flair and watch for it.

Sharpness: pretty good. I suspect we may be at the limits of the CCD to resolve the small detail the lens sees in a wide angle shot.

I plan to shoot some film with the lens and then do a comparison with the S2. I suspect the film will perform better than the CCD, or more specifically, the lens will perform better with film than the CCD.

Kodak says film is equivalent to about 25 - 30 megapixels. If so, then the S2 CCD has about 1/5 the resolving power of film.

Overall, I love the lens. Very good bang for the buck.

Cheers.
Declan

[Derek Byrne]

Hi Blade,
I finally got to use the 15/30. It is everything I expected and more! I have yet to do a proper critical analysis of edge and corner detail/sharpness etc., but initial impressions are really good.
I agree with Declan (amazingthailand) about the lens cap and detachable "hood" being a bit of a pain. This lens is big, but it gives a nice balance to the S2. Unlike my other zooms, the 15/30 does not double in size when going from one end of the range to the other. When attached to the S2 the overall length from the camera back to the tip of the lens hood is exactly eight inches (just over 200mm) so I had to treat myself to a new case to carry it all. The lens comes with a really nice case of its own, which I substituted for one of the pouches that came with my new LowePro Off Trail2. This gives me room for the S2, the 15/30, another lens, spare batteries and extra flash cards.

(If your wife gave you the case for Christmas, you could be playing with the 15/30 right now!!!!!!)

Roll on Dec. 25th., eh?
Derek.

[Blade]

Dear Derek,

Really pleased that you are enjoying your new lens, and that it is (in your opinion) (valued) worth having...

please keep coming up with ideas for me to try, :) i do not think any will work, they will just keep me amused until the 25th Dec ;)

I am relatively new to all this... the opinion seems that a screw on filter will not fit the lens... ?

Would it not be worth fitting the "slot" it filters on the front...i apologise for the wording, just do not know of the "official" name for non screw type filters...
IE from lee filters etc..

Kind regards again and would love to see some shots with the 15-30 especially but any would be great.

Stuart

[amazingthailand]

Hi Blade,

No filters can be attached to the front of this (Sigma 15-30mm) lens.
The lens shade is not removable as it acts as a protector for the rather large hemispherical dome of a front element. The large domed element makes the attachment of any kind of filter impossible.

You could, I suppose, rig something by removing the lens cap from the lens cap ring, but this would severly restrict your wide angle view, probably eliminating the reason you purchased the lens in the first place.

Personally, I get a little nervous without that protective UV filter in place, But I'll learn to live with it. What I really regret, is not being able to use a polarizer.

As Derek stated, the S2 lens combo, is quite well balanced and handles very well. At first glance the lens 'looks' heavy, but it really is very light, thus making the combo very easy to use. Plus, as Derek stated, the length of the lens does not change as you zoom.

Reviews I have read, state that the edge sharpness is low at wide aperatures, but improves as you stop down. For us, with S2's, this is less of a problem as we don't see out to the edges of the image anyway. Center sharpness is good, especially when stopped down one or two stops.

Cheers.
Declan

[Blade]

Thank you Declan,

For taking the time to reply with kind info.

Regards

[amazingthailand]

Hi Blade,

No problem, glad I could offer some useful info. Now, how you can stand to wait until Dec 25 to start using the lens, I'll never know!!!

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Declan