UWA!!!!!!

Do not mistaken.. i'm not crying nor sad. I was bored. I decided to go out to check on tripod prices. It was raining. I braced myself in the rain (its not that heavy) waiting for the bus. After about 10 mins dancing in the rain, the bus finally arrived. Again, when i arrived at my destination, the shop was closed. So unfortunate. since i was using the new rambler smart card anyway, what the heck.... i just get another bus to the town. I went to few camera shops to check out tripods and bags. I do not bother to have a look at lens coz shops here dont stock many alpha mount. Even if they were, its xxxxxxx expensive. Since my effort was fruitless anyway, i decided to have ago. Since this shop are having sale for their lens, i just asked
me: Do u stock sigma for sony?
guy: Not sure, which one?
me: hmm.. 10-20 maybe?
guy: dont think so...

As i was about to leave, he called me and told me they had one in stock. I asked for the price and then walked away. I made some thinking (and calculating of course) along the way. And the result...


UWA!!!! I couldnt resist the temptation. Yes, UWA stands for Ultra Wide Angle, Super Wide or whatever u called it. I went home with the sigma.

Some quick review ( i had no chance to test it since it was raining outside)....

It comes with lens case, petal hood (i like..), rear cap and front pinch-type cap. And dont forget the lens.

The lens case feels nice. Cushion-like padding at the bottom (front) and styrofoam at the top (mount) part.

It has 77mm filter diameter which is normal (huge to me since i only have experienced 55mm kitlens and 49mm km 50mm). Very narrow filter thread. The front element bulge a bit, i'm not sure whether it touches the cap while its on. Since i have no filter to try on, vignetting is not an issue so far (inside my room).

The weight is just nice (470g). The focussing is ok (no HSM on alpha and pentax mount). The distance scales are carved on the body( which i dont like), unlike the Canon n Nikon version. During the auto focusing, the manual focus ring rotates (which i dont like). So make sure u are holding it at the right place while auto focusing.

The angle covered (10mm which is 15mm on 1.5x crop factor) is something i could only wish i had earlier.
The zoom ring is quite tight but will loosen after a while. During zooming, the barrel extends abit starting from 14mm. The f-value goes up quite fast. 10mm = f4. 11mm f4.5. So make sure u have enough lighting if u want to bring this inside.

Performance wise, i cant comment since i haven't got a chance to bring it out. My first impression, i love the angle, the size, the hood and the extreme wide (did i mention that?).

What i dont like is the rotating focusing ring while AF, no HSM (i wonder why the RRP is the same as other mount which availabe in HSM), the front cap is very close to the front element (i think its the same for every UWA) and the distance scale.

I chose this lens instead sony 11-18mm because of range and price-wise. Since both of them are for APS-C sensor, i wont lose anything so i go for a cheaper version. I hope alpha mount will have faster and constant aperture UWA lens in the future coz i almost definitely gonna get that...

Sample pictures will follow later. And i hope my next toy will come ASAP :P