Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX DC HSM

A new ultra-wide zoom from Sigma for crop frame cameras only the 10-20 provides a viewing angle up to 102 degrees and provides an 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 (T1i, 7D, 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 Canon 10-22 f/3.5-4.5 is arguably the most flare resistant, the smallest and lightest when that’s important, has low distortion. Its 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 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 its 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 is built like a sturdy tank (and therefore a bit heavier) and 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.
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.

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 (one week’s rental) off of the purchase of the Sigma 10-20 f/3.5 lens.