Sigma 10-20mm f3.5 EX DC HSM Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras with APS-C Sensors

Product Information

I like Sigma's center-and-side-pinch lens caps. It is easy to remove the caps even with a lens hood installed. If you'll never print larger than 8x10" this lens might be ideal for you, but it is not truly up to professional caliber. However, neither are any of the other ultrawide zooms, it seems. The exceptions cost two or three times as much and don't go nearly as wide. People are the one subject that you will not want to be too close to when shooting at ultra wide angles as they will appear perspective-distorted. Like the rest of these focal length ranges, The 10-20mm range will complement 18-something mm lenses very nicely. Typical of ultrawide lenses, barrel distortion is quite strong at 10mm. Imatest recorded 4.64% barrel, which will cause problems with straight lines towards the edge of the frame. However, the shape of the distortion is uniform so this should be fairly straightforward to correct in image editing software afterwards. By 20mm, the barrel distortion has been replaced with a very low level of pincushion. Imatest recorded 0.213% pincushion distortion, which should pose very few issues in normal shooting situations.

Sigma 10-20mm 1:4-5.6 EX DC HSM review

Sigma makes this lens for a variety of mounts, but only the Nikon, Canon and Sigma mount versions have the HSM, or Hyper Sonic Motor function – Pentax and Sony versions don’t. This lens allows you to override autofocus by simply rotating the focus ring – any time. I find this very handy and practical. The zoom ring is wide enough and easy to operate with 10, 12, 14, 16 and 20mm marks signed. Given the limited 2x zoom ration, there is not much of a movement needed to zoom from 10mm to 20mm. The lens unsurprisingly features only a plastic barrel. To me, this is no issue at all. Given how small and light the lens is, a metal barrel would be an overkill. NIKON D750 + 50mm f/1.8 @ 50mm, ISO 1000, 1/80, f/2.8 Again, the physical size differences between these lenses are not significant - and all of these lenses have a very nice-to-use size.

I had this Sigma 10-20mm variable aperture lens for more than 3 years now and I love it. I do not get much time to shooting landscapes these days but whenever I do, I bring this beauty along. It performs very well and 10mm is really wide for nice landscape/cityscape shots. The wide angle makes a difference. I invariably put a circular polarizer on it. The Tokina is sharper at similar aperture and focal length settings, has less vignetting - even stopped down - and does not extend. Overall the Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM is a solid, well-built lens with good operational characteristics, which justifies its popularity with generally decent imaging results. While its long-running, unique selling point of being the only third-party 10mm zoom has now disappeared, and it faces strong competition from Tamron's 10-24mm, the different characteristics of the two lenses means it's still a good option for APS-C users looking for the widest of ultra-wideangle zooms.

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

These focal lengths take in a very wide angle of view - and subjects must be close or otherwise turn into a tiny spec in your frame.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. Canon's 10-22mm may be a comparatively old design (2004) but it still holds its own compared to the Sigma. While it doesn't offer a constant aperture, it's just as sharp and has a touch more telephoto distance to offer. CA tolerance is a bit better, distortion is about the same but there is a bit more corner shading.