Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 Is a Fantastic Deal

I failed to write about this because I've been busy, but I wanted to point out that I must happily eat my words. I said that Sigma would try to charge an arm and a leg for their new 18-35mm. I based this on the fact that they tried to charge, oh right, ten-thousand dollars for the SD-1 when it was first announced. Well, it appears that they learned from their mistake. Sigma announced the price of the new 18-35mm f/1.8 and it is a scant $799. This is called being competitive. If only Sony, Olympus, and Panasonic would hear the news.

Not only that, the lens is excellent. I'm talking truly excellent. This is a world-class lens for a wonderful price and you should have it in your kit like yesterday. If you are one of the weirdos who actually bought a Sigma SD-1, then it's a no-brainer. You need this lens.

Two reviews are out, SLRGear and Lenstip. Both are unequivocale in their praise. SLRGear even goes so far as to say that if you are even remotely interested in this lens, pre-order it now lest you will have to wait months to actually get one. From the review:

SPECIAL NOTE: As you'll see below, this is an incredible lens at an amazing price vs. the competition. We believe it will be severely backordered.

Damn. That is some high praise. For me, this is especially exciting because it finally puts a top piece of glass on Pentax for a decent price. Pentax's cameras are great, but their lens selection sucks. This lens alone makes Pentax cameras a viable option. Which is great. I love Pentax cameras. My first camera was a Pentax K1000.

Long story short, if you have a Canon, Nikon, Sigma, Sony, or Pentax APS-C camera, and you don't already have a lens like this, buy this lens. This is borderline top-pro glass. Top-pro glass for only $799.