The second Sigma lens is now available for preorder at BHphoto (Click here). There aren’t official review about that lens yet. I found an image of the lens on the GF3 at Flickr (Click here) and some image samples at Laoburi (Click here). But that’s it.
Maybe soon we can talk about a great Olympus-Fuji partnership. Meanwhile the X PRO 1 got in Stock at Amazon (Click here) and is already the most sold camera of the moment (Click here to see the ranking).
Reminder: GX1 and GH2 price drops:
GH2 with 14-42mm kit lens is now in Stock for $749 at BHphoto (Click here) and Amazon (Click here).
GX1 body only is now priced at $649 at Adorama (Click here) and $661 at Amazon (Click here).
3) The GX1 body with 14-42mm kit lens is now priced at $699 at Adorama (Click here), Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
16 Responses
Why anybody would want this piece of crap on their m43 instead of the Panny 20mm f/1.7? The latter is noticeably smaller, marginally faster (in light gathering) and I believe not worse in AF performance. Yes, it’s marginally more expensive too, but not by a large margin. And it’s availalbe today, not at an unknown time!
Tha Panasonic is much worse in AF performance, and it is louder.
The Sigma 19mm is a very good lens. I already have it and I like it.
+2 the pana is yeszerdays techk
Exaggerating the AF in the 20mm to the extreme, it’s not the very fastest but it would be a challenge to miss a shot due to AF performance of it, it’s still a lot faster than any other mirrorless systems AF on any lens.
This 19mm is really for the NEX users, they just happened to offer it to us as well, that’s why it’s not big news for us but still big news.
I tested this little Sigma from a local photofair exhibition in my city. It’s quite strange. If my eyes are not mistaken, I think optical’s performance of Sigma is a bit better than Panasonic.
You are not mistaken, it is a little better than the 20 on Olympus at least. But I didn’t buy both anyway.
19mm or 20mm is not a focal length that is very usefull to me.
I prefer 25mm or 30mm on 43rds format sensors.
I will buy the 30mm though because it’s cheap AND fast AF and will replace my 25mm 43rds lens. It’s a little smaller than the 25mm F1.4 Panasonic.
Agree with you. Since I have the 20mm/f1.7 this lens is definitely not for me. Yes the 20mm makes some noise, and it is somewhat slow, but its size and quality photos make up for this.
The Sigma 19mm lens is sharper overall, especially at the corners. For the same aperture (except anything larger than f2.8 since obviously that’s the max of the Sigma), the Sigma 19mm has better sharpness and much nicer bokeh. It is also silent, which means you can actually take video with it and the AF does not hunt during videos. The sigma 19mm is the fastest AF lens I’ve seen on the M43. The 20mm is the slowest (although I have not tried any of the telephoto lens).
The main advantage of the 20mm is the large aperture and size. If you don’t care about those 2 items, the 19mm is a much better overall lens.
Have you tried this Sigma lens? If not, how do you know that it is a piece of crap? We judge a lens from images it produces, don’t we?
Try it and then criticize it later on.
I’m sure there is a conspiracy against me, otherwise why do I always buy something just before the price drops? There must be a contingent of secret sales operatives spying on me, and as soon as they observe I’ve bought something they send encrypted messages to every sales outlet ordering them to lower prices on all remaining stock. Oh well, c’est la vie. I guess everyone can thank me for the great GH2 prices, because I’m certain that if I hadn’t bought it then the prices would still be high.
You could have just looked at the price history for the GH2 and realized that it was eventually going to have come back down a bit. The 14-42mm kit was $699 in December.
Maybe the GH3 is closer than we think. Either that, or a simple reaction to the OM-D intro shutting down sales. Panasonic hasn’t made a change to this body in over 3 years as well, it’s beginning to look old, at least to me.
December 2010, when the Gh2 started shipping in the US, is not 3 years ago. It’s not even 1.5 years ago.
I too just bought a GH2 and it sucks to see the price drop $150. Oh well, still a terrific camera.
The only partnership is between Olympus and Sony…infact the sensor in OMD it’s clearly Sony 🙂
Omd sensor is not sony