 A new ultra-wide zoom from Sigma for crop frame cameras only, the Sigma 10-20 provides a viewing angle up to 102° and provides a f/3.5 aperture throughout its zoom range. It has all the bells and whistles you’d expect including HSM motor for rapid and quick autofocus, internal focusing with no rotation of the front element, two ELD (Extraordinary Low Dispersion), one SLD (Special Low Dispersion) and four aspherical lenses which should eliminate chromatic aberration and provide very sharp results. Only Works With: Crop sensor cameras (T3i, 7D, 60D etc…) Roger’s Take: Comparing the ultra-wide, crop sensor camera lenses is an extremely difficult task, so I’ll put the summary first: they all deliver excellent image quality and you can’t go wrong with any of them. To my ‘just taking pictures’ assessment they are all excellent. There are some differences though, so I’ll try to point those out so you have a better chance at choosing the one that’s best for you. The Sigma 8-16 f/4.5-5.6 is the widest (and remember, 8mm is 20% wider than 10mm, so it’s a very real difference). Not quite as sharp in the corners as the others, and lower maximum aperture, but it’s really pretty good, especially considering it’s the widest of the wide. The Canon 10-22 f/3.5-4.5 is arguably the most flare resistant, the smallest and lightest when that’s important, and has low distortion. It’s also the most expensive and vignettes a bit. I like it a lot, though, and often find myself preferring it because of its small size. The Sigma 10-20 f/3.5 has a bit more distortion than the others but delivers very nice images and is also built much better than the Canon 10-22. It does everything well. The Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 gives you the widest aperture if you’ll be working in low light (with ultra wides, depth of field is rarely an important point), but it’s a bit soft at f/2.8, so the aperture advantage isn’t huge (I usually shoot it at f/3.5 if I can to get it sharper). It has very little vignetting and distortion, probably the least of the group. Unfortunately, it does show quite a bit of chromatic aberration at times. Overall it may be the best image quality of the group. The Tokina 12-24 f/4 PRO DX II is built like a sturdy tank (and therefore a bit heavier). It does tend to give low contrast images when shot into the sun but is quite sharp otherwise. This is the one I’d take if conditions were rough: I pity the rock this bad boy falls on. Poor rock. But like I said above: they’re all excellent. We hardly ever get anything but happy comments about any of them. Try and Buy Program: Lensrentals is pleased that our friends at SuperdigitalCity have made a special offer for our customers renting this item and considering purchase. Simply email your Lensrentals Invoice number to SuperdigitalCity and they will email you back a coupon code good for $42 off of the purchase of the Sigma 10-20 f/3.5 lens. Specs:
Links:MTF Chart:
Red lines indicate 10 lines/mm; green lines 30 lines/mm. Solid lines are Sagittal, dotted lines meridional. If you are bored and don’t understand MTF charts, you can read about them HERE Lens Construction:
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