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At 10mm, the Sigma 10-20 f/3.5 exhibits a moderate amount of wave/mustache-type barrel distortion (hard to correct). Sigma's 10-20mm f/3.5 EX DC HSM Lens is, in practicality, a wider aperture version of the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM Lens. The Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM Lens is solidly built and weighs in at the middle of its class - but these weight differences are not that big.
Nikon 10-20mm, Tokina 11-20mm, or Sigma 10-20mm: Nikon SLR Nikon 10-20mm, Tokina 11-20mm, or Sigma 10-20mm: Nikon SLR
Landscape photographers are one group that loves to find a close subject and frame it in a striking, vast, in-focus scene I especialy like wide angle photography and what a fun lens this is for architectural and landscape photograpy. Just behind the extended front element, there is a thin manual focusing ring, usable both in the autofocus (AF) and manual focus (MF) mode. For switching those modes, you must use DSLR internal menu, there is no mechanical button/switch. The lens is slightly bigger so it does need a little more adjustment in your lens bags if you already had it tight. The AF/M switch is different on this model. It's almost like they redesigned it and made it an interchangeable unit. I'm not willing to take it apart to find out why it's designed this way, perhaps something to do with the way how they have to make it adaptable for the different camera mounts. I suspect they are using a more easily interchangeable part with circuitry built right into the switch for each camera model/mount. If you have ever taken apart a sigma lens, they all have very interchangeable parts, a smart thing to do from a manufacturing point of view.Overall I'm quite pleased with this lens and I'd say it outperforms my expectations for sharpness and vignetting but would have been nice to see the CA better controlled . I will keep this lens, however the older version (f4-5.6) is reported to be as good or perhaps better in some respects so I'd recommend the f3.5 lens only if the constant aperture is of interest to you. Stopping down produces marginal gains: by ƒ/8 it's about as sharp as it will get, but the sharpness profile is only slightly improved from what we see at ƒ/3.5, and it's already pretty good there. Diffraction limiting sets in at ƒ/11, where performance is still quite good at around 1.5 blur units across the frame between 12-20mm. Sharpness begins to fall off at ƒ/16, and becomes mediocre at ƒ/22 (3-5 blur units). Nikon’s “P” series of NIKKOR lenses use stepping motors to “focus smoother and quieter than previous drive systems. This quiet drive system makes the lenses ideal for use when shooting video.” (quotation from Nikon Press-release). Thus, the focal lengths shown for all of the lenses below are similar to 1.6x longer focal lengths on a full frame SLR or DSLR.
Nikon 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6 DX VR Review - Photography Life Nikon 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6 DX VR Review - Photography Life
Wide angle of view (102.4 degrees at 10mm and 63.8 degrees at 20mm) offers the photographer greater freedom of expression. Three SLD glass elements are employed for effective compensation of color aberration, which is a common problem with super-wide angle lenses. One piece of glass mold and two hybrid aspherical lenses, offer excellent correction for distortion, as well as all types of aberration. I'm glad to have this lens and will get much use out of it.. but I don't think it will be the most affixed lens on my camera as I thought it might have been before receiving it. 10mm, however, is fantastic for big sky photography, massively large landscapes (where detail isn't the leading factor), interior spaces, creative effects, and generally projecting scale of objects. I find, as a result, this Sigma 10-20mm makes up for it's limitations. First off, I love taking photos of sunsets and clouds.. big sky photos and displaying object scale. For this an ultrawide can get you what you want. Compatible models with limited functions: D5, D810 series, Df, D750, D7200, D7100, D5200, Nikon 1 series with the FT1 After seeing numerous photographs taken at wide angle for years, I've wanted an ultra wide angle lens.In the 10-20mm range, OOF details generally remain tiny, but this 7-aperture-blade lens does not produce especially nice blur quality. AF (HSM) is accurate, fast and quiet and the build quality is very good. The MF ring is well dampened and feels comparatively precise and accurate. Like most of the lenses in this class, the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM Lens has a narrow max aperture, and the max aperture changes over the focal length range. This lens will produce very soft images wide open. It is much better at f5.6 and pretty good at f8. On the other hand the HSM motor is great, focuses very fast and seems accurate. The HSM version of the lens features full-time manual focusing, allowing the user to tweak focus even in AF mode.
Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM: Digital Photography Review Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM: Digital Photography Review
Like my other Sigma, the 18-125 DC OS, the focus is fast and reliable, and I don't think I've gotten more than a couple of out of focus shots in the first week of ownership. The center is always quite sharp. This is my first EX quality lens, and I was surprised that after pretty careful analysis of tripod mounted test shots at all f-stops, there was almost no visible difference between f-stops anywhere in the frame after you get above f/5.0. The analysis on slrgear suggests that the lens works best at f/8, but I haven't seen that yet. It doesn't seem to be necessary, which is nice. The center is always very sharp and clear. 10mm is hugely wide, and as you'd expect kind of "bulgey". I'm not sure I need such extreme wide angle, but I will find out when I go to Italy and find myself in cramped medieval streets surrounded by potential photos. In direct comparison with the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM Lens, the Tokina holds a big 1-2 stop advantage over the shared focal length range - Use the widest focal length you have available in your kit (perhaps 18mm or 24mm) to closely match one or more of the above focal lengths and f3.5 aperture throughout the entire zoom range and is perfect for low light photography. Sigma wide angle lenses accentuate the relationship of subjects within a photo and thus become an important creative tool. This Sigma fast fixed aperture makes photography easier for the photographer who wishes to precisely control their depth of field and also for working with non TTL Flash systems. Super Multi-layer coating reduces flare and ghosting, four aspherical lenses provide correction for distortion and inner focusing System eliminates front lens rotation and suitable for use of polarizing filters Perfect for shooting landscape photography, architecture, building interiors, photojournalism, wedding photography, group pictures and more.While we haven't tested it, the Tokina 10-17mm lens is a fisheye, in case you're not interested in rectilinear lenses.
Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM Review Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM Review
The Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX DC HSM Lens sample picture above was taken with a Canon EOS 60D at 15mm, f/8. The focus ring is mounted near the front element of the lens, a thin (1/4'' wide) ring composed of the same rubber, with deep ribs. The focus ring turns all the way around the lens: there are no hard stops, but soft stops at infinity and closest focus. The lens will focus past infinity. The focus ring on this copy of the lens was very stiff, and took some firm two-finger effort to move it.My copy of this lens needs serviced for correction of the left-side softness issue, but I do expect Sigma to make this lens right and for this to be a good lens overall. Fully compatible models. Even for compatible cameras, firmware update may be required*. Fully compatible models are: D7500, D5600, D5500, D5300*, D3400, D3300*, D500 and later models
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