When Sigma first made known the existence of the 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM Art lens, the photography world could barely contain itself. Social media and blog comments blew up all over the net, including in the Fstoppers universe. This lens has been a subject of intense conversation for the past few weeks, nothing more debatable than speculation of pricing. Speculate no more. Sigma has revealed the pricing, and you're not going to believe it.

The lens will be available in early July in the United States for $799. That is well below the average speculated price of about $1200, and even below my original estimate of $1000.The price point is shocking considering this is the first modern auto-focus zoom lens that will be able to maintain an aperture of f/1.8 through the entire zoom range.

Though some images taken with this lens were released last week, you probably should ignore them. Love them, hate them, they don't matter. They were done with a prototype and are not necessarily indicative of final performance.

The lens arrived in studio this afternoon and we will be testing it over the next couple days to have a review to you by early next week. If you want to review our initial impressions, we took a look at the lens last April. Until then, what do you think of the price point?