Product Description

This super-wide-angle lens is ensured minimal light-fall-off with superior peripheral brightness. The iris diaphragm has 9 diaphragm blades to obtain beautiful out of focus images in the foreground and background. This is an ideal DG lens optimized Digital SLR camera.The minimum focusing distance of this lens is 20cm (7.9 inch) and it has maximum magnification of 1: 4 with fast F 1.8 maximum aperture. The minimum focusing distance of 20cm (7.9 inch) and 94.5? angle of view allow close up photography surrounding the photographic subject.The lens incorporates Dual-Focus (DF) mechanism. It is easy to hold the lens, since the focusing ring does not rotate during auto-focus, yet it provides adequate focusing torque of the focusing ring during manual focusing of the lens. The rear focus system eliminates the need for the front of the lens to rotate, thus allowing the use of a "Petal-type hood", which is superior light blocking effect.The use of aspherical lens elements in both of the front and rear lens groups effectively compensates for distortion, spherical aberration and astigmatism.

Product Details

• Brand: Sigma
• Model: 411-101
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, 3.00 pounds

Features

• Lens Construction: 13 Elements in 11 Groups Angle of View: 94.5 degrees Number of Diaphragm Blades:

Customer Reviews

AMAZINGLY SHARP AND FAST SUPER-WIDE ANGLE
I have used this lens extensively with the 1D and the Rebel XT. Results have been excellent. My suspicion is that the previous reviewer got a defective or damaged copy of the lens. It is incredibly sharp, even at f1.8, which I did not expect - generally you expect a lens to be a bit soft wide open, especially 1.8. The degree of sharpness of this lens is quite surprising.

I have used, for example, both the Canon 50mm f1.8 and the Canon 35mm f2.0, both of which are deservedly renowned for their sharpness and contrast. I find this lens to be sharper than either of them wide open. The lens provides images which have excellent color saturation and contrast. Of course, at f1.8, depth of field is razor thin, by design, which is great for bokeh or out of focus background, but which also requires care concerning the desired focal point being in focus. Speaking of bokeh, I find it to be very attractive compared to any other lens I have used.

Its minimum distance focusing is also quite remarkable. I think it is rated at just under 8 inches, but I routinely focus at distances which seem a good bit closer than that. The lens works well as a macro for many applications, with a relatively strong multiplication factor.

Of course, given the inherent light-gathering of a 20mm focal length lens, combined with a huge aperture of f1.8, this lens is outstanding for shooting indoors or in other low-light situations with natural light and no flash.

Canon's nearest competitor to this lens is the 20mm f2.8, which is a full stop slower in terms of light collection. I consider this lens to be an extremely good value at the retail price, new. If you can get a good copy used on-line, it will be an incredible value. You may find that you never want to take the lens off the camera because of its versatility as a walkaround lens.

This lens has been extremely well-reviewed, by and large, on lens forum sites. I encourage you to check those out. Most people rate the lens 5 out of 5. A distinct minority give it 1 out of 5. I suspect that they either have defective copies which may need repair, or they have inaccurate perceptions of the lens. Also, popular photography magazine online reviewed this lens, as well as the 24 f1.8 and the 28 f1.8, very highly.

I would highly recommend this lens to anyone who wants a fast, sharp superwide angle lens.

Not bad, but not great
Tried three copies of this lens. Great specifications. Nothing else is this fast at this width and this price. The image is acceptably sharp wide open, but only just -- definitely nothing like Sigma 30mm 1.4, which beats this lens hands down in everything but the width.

Good lens if you are a photojournalist and need to print small images at low resolution. Then pixel sharpness doesn't matter much. But if you are a pixel peeper, beware.

The lens is well built, and looks great, but the motor is noisy and I assume eats up camera batteries.

By far the worst thing about this lens is unpredictable focus, which I encountered on all three copies. None of the copies had any distinct front or back-focusing issues, when focusing on paper. Three out of five times they were spot on. Then they would back or front-focus with equal probability. And yes, I know all about the depth of field and this was not a factor in my tests. And my Sigma 1.4 does not behave like that. As this is an older lens, I think there may be some occasional issues of lens-camera communications that don't exist in the newer 1.4 30 mm.

The bottom line is, I am keeping the first copy of the lens. With all the deficiencies this lens has, I couldn't find any other options at this price. I guess with this lens on, I will have to take more than one picture of everything to make sure I got the shot.

Sigma, how about a newer APS-C version of this lens? Please?

Superfast wide angle at affordable price
This is my fifth Sigma lens, and I couldn't be happier with it. Because of it's f/1.8, don't expect much depth of field when shooting wide open. Especially in close ups, that's the trade off for low light capability. This lens has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me with indoor photography when a flash is inapppropriate (performances, candids, etc.). The wide angle is not so extreme that I have to deal with distortion at the edges, but in close ups it creates a different perspective on the subject, especially with faces. I also own a 10-20mm zoom which I use primarily for architectural shots, but this is my go-to lens for landscapes, group portraits and low light situations.