Sigma 15-30mm EX IF: a great WA full-frame value

[lattiboy]

This is just a little writeup for people who are looking for wide-angle coverage for their A900. I picked this one up sight unseen from fleabay after reading a single good writeup in the dyxum db. I paid $300 for it, but it seems to go for around $400 used most the time. I owned the MinO 17-35mm D for a bit, but found 17mm just a bit too "narrow" and the corners were pretty terrible. The Sigma is a BEAST of a lens and has a very bulbous front element. The build is very in line with the "EX" designation: It feels quite solid and has that nice felt exterior.

Anyway, I've been using the 15-30mm more than anything else over the last few months. The sharpness, even wide-open, is pretty phenomenal. Light falloff and vignetting are kind of apparent wide-open, but disappear when stopped down to f/5-6 or so. It's only really apparent in sky dominant landscape shots anyway. The biggest (and really only) problem with this lens is the flare and ghosting apparent whenever direct light is in the shot. Distortion is pretty well controlled for an ultra-WA, but it does improve greatly past 18mm or so.

Sorry if this writeup is a bit incoherent, I'm out sick from work today and just thought this might help those not looking to drop $1600 on a CZ 16-35mm.

Sample pics:

15mm, f/14:



17mm, f/3.5 (shows good distortion control and ghosting):



30mm, f/4.5:

[Dr. Harout]

Great and thanks for sharing.

[aster]

Thank you lattiboy,

Your personal views are much appreciated. All shots are appropriately selected and the cathedral interior is testimony enough for the quality it delivers.

Get well soon and I hope you're feeling much better already!

Yildiz

[David Kilpatrick]

The flare and ghosting problems are less if you can find an EX DG version - I assume your is an original EX, with no DG. It's worth paying another $50-100 for a DG model if possible. This applies to all the Sigma EX full frame lenses. In the last few years, every design has been upgrade to DG which is just an indication of digital optimisation. It even improved the 70-200mm f2.8 in a fairly big way. So look out for DG in the model name when buying s/h.

David

[docmaas]

1. Regarding DG: I believe the 15-30 was the first lens to get that designation and I don't believe I've ever seen one without it.

2. The OP has a bad copy. That magenta spot on the left side of the right side arch is a lens fault. I had one with the same problem and spent literally years trying to solve it by treating it as flare. Never did get it to work; however I finally sent it to Sigma and they replaced it with one without the problem. I searched literally hundreds if not thousands of images on pbase and found two other 15-30s that exhibited the same problem and it appeared in multiple shots from both those samples.

3. To eliminate the problem take two shots offset from one another, crop out the magenta and stitch them together using stitching software. You might also contact Sigma even if the lens is used as they have been pretty generous in going beyond the warranty terms in many cases. Whatever else you can say about Sigma they have always been excellent in customer service in my experience.

Mike

[David Kilpatrick]

The EX DG 15-30mm appeared in 2002 along with the 20mm f1.8 and 24-70mm f2.8 and a few others - all simultaneously. From my own 2002 report, it seems to have been brand new, with no previous design - I just assumed that the OP had a non-DG version as no DG was given in the model name, but IF was mentioned. When I tested the 15-30mm I found it excellent, but gave it a hard workout - full frame Provia 100F film shots, and Fuji S2 (seems incredible now that Fuji's S2 was 7 years ago!). But when I later got the 12-24mm, the extra contrast and bite of the 12-24mm, over the 15-30mm, was noticeable. Ever since then I have described the 15-30mm as lower in contrast, and tended to steer clear of it (I've used the 12-24mm on many cameras, but the 15-30mm only ever got this one first test).

Here's a downloadable PDF on my 2002 article covering new Sigma EX DG lenses, and it's obvious from the report that the 15-30mm did not have an EX non-DG predecessor. I'm really surprised, actually. 2002 seems a very long time ago, considering that Sigma were still changing lenses to DG quite recently!

http://www.photoclubalpha.com/siglenses.pdf

David

[Dr. Harout]

And since it's docmaas' first post, let's welcome him.

[lattiboy]

Hey, thanks docmaas! I'll give Sigma a call this week. I bought this used, but hopefully they'll be cool about it. I've got the original case and stuff. That sure sucks it ruined all these pics from the church, but you live and learn.

Welcome to photoclubalpha! Great first post!