Squamish, Thanks for the heads up, but I think I would feel safer going with someone more local. KEH has it for around $600. I think the freight would make up the difference. I might wait a month or two to see if I hear any more on the rumored AF-S 35mm. Meanwhile I will still scour the web for reviews and pictures taken with the lenses. I might try to see if a local store has any of them and take a few shots but I doubt they will be stocked lenses.

There is a 35mm 1.4 for $578 US just listed on Matsuiaya store today : *DINK REMOVED*

Nikkor 24/2 AIS would be my first choice... not in the same class as the new 24/1.4, but perhaps a bit better than any Sigma...

You can find the 35mm at Matsuiya Store on eBay for $500 - 1100 depending on if its brand new or not. I know for sure that he has a new one at the moment. However, its supposed to be the weakest of all the 1.4 Nikkors, so I'd imagine you might be much happier with either the 24mm or 28mm or 35mm, for the optics and the AF.

My cousin has the Sigma 28mm 1.8 for the Canon mount, it's not really all that great. Yeah, it's 1.8 and all, but it's nowhere near as sharp as the 35mm 1.8, which I was comparing it to wide open. It's pretty soft, in my opinion. I doubt it would be anywhere near the performance of a 24mm 1.4.

And if you're expecting the 35mm 1.4 to be cheap, I wouldn't be banking on it.

I really want the fastness of a fast lens. I actually have the 17-35 but want something that will be better for night shots without a flash and other low light or low DOF situations.

I am leaning to the Sigma 28 1.8 but was wondering if anyone knows if the Nikon is better or better enough to spend the extra on. I was looking more at a used Nikon 35 which will be closer to the cost of a new Sigma 28 (but still more).

I think the rumor is the 35 1.4 is on the refresh list but I'm not sure if that's accurate or the (best guess) timing of the refresh. And if the manual lens is a grand, an AFS version will probalby be two grand...

What about an older 24mm 2.8 AF-D lens. Its not as fast, but 2.8 is still pretty fast. Another thing, if you want to go with the 2.8 it might be worth looking into a zoom like the 17-35 or 20-35 and then you have more options.

There aren't many other choices, other than the Sigmas and the already mentioned 35mm F1.4 AI-S, which would cost a good chunk of cash in and of itself.

So I'm pretty impressed with this lens and can think of a bunch of times it would come in handy and be useful for me. I'm not so impressed with selling my car to be able to afford it. I've started looking around for a suitable lens that is more in the range of only selling my motorcycle to afford, but I'm not sure what the low-down is on them.

Basically I'm looking for a fast wide angle for a FX camera. 35mm or less f1.8 or faster. The two I think are best are the Sigma 28mm f1.8 (I think this is a little better then the Sigma 24mm 1.8) and the Nikon 35mm f1.4 AIS manual focus.

Is there another one or two that I'm missing. Is one of these something to stay away from? I've read the Sigma 28mm has some focusing issues but mostly on Canon DX cameras.
Thanks
Noxin