Reviews for Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM Super Wide Angle Zoom Lens

My favourite lens

Strengths: Excellent built quality, Cheaper than Nikon, Supports lense filter, (relatively) light weight.

Weakness: None so far.

I love this lens. It's my favourite lens so far. The 10mm wide angle allows me to take pictures like never before. The lens is slightly curved, and is protected by the frame. This means the lense does not have a weird cloth cover like a lot of other wide angle lens. You can also use lens filters on it (although with Photoshop, you don't really need any).

It's also realtively light. The lens has a rubberized texture on it, which gives the lens a quality feel, and makes it easy to grip. There is a lens carrying case that came with the lens (unlike my Nikon lens). And it's much cheaper than the comparable Nikon lens.

I've read some reviews saying this lens does not perform as well in low light. I shot a bunch of interior and night photos with this lens and found nothing of the kind.

Too bad I can't post any web links on this review, otherwise, I could point you to the photos I shot with this lens from my New Year's weekend in New York.

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Best buy for Nikon users

Strengths: second-widest lens on the market, great price, nicely built + good image quality

Weakness: don't expect a $3,000 lens for that price

I have been using semi-professional Nikon equipment for many many years and finally decided that I need a super-wide angle. Initially, I was hooked on Nikon's 10.5mm lens, but the Sigma's zoom intrigued me. My next-widest lens is an 18mm, so the Sigma's 10-20mm zoom closes that gap very nicely.

Compared to the Nikon, this lens starts only a f/4 - but hey, it's a super-wide angle, so it can deal with pretty slow shutter speeds anyway. I've been taking shots of up to 1/2 sec. without tripod and no problems. The other major difference is that Nikon focuses as close as 14cm, while the Sigma needs about 24cm. If you know it, though, that's really not as bad as it sounds.

On the bright side, the image quality is pretty cool for this price. And the Sigma is about 100 bucks cheaper than the Nikon! Now how does that sound?! :) Also, you get the zoom and - even better - the Sigma can deal with filters. I recommend to purchase a circular polarizing filter, which also protects the lens from dust and finger prints.

Some reviews I read compare this lens to $3,000 equipment. That's not going to work! But you definitely get what you pay for, or maybe even a little more. Really really great lens, highly recommended!

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Incredible Value!

Strengths: Widest DX lens available for Nikon, very sharp, incredible depth of field

Weakness: Front and rear lens caps

I bought this lens for a Alaskan cruise, and was glad I did. With the huge field of view, you definitely need to compose your shots carefully to avoid empty, boring foregrounds, but with a little planning, it can take great portraits in front of the mountains, glaciers, etc. Because the 10mm focus distance is short, hyperfocal distances of 1-2 feet are possible, meaning everything from within about 1 foot to the horizon can be in sharp focus. This lens generally takes very sharp, contrasty photos that rival Nikon's own 12-24 for about half the price. And the extra 2mm on the wide end are great. The only problem with this lens is you have to learn to avoid excessive linear distortion in your shots. While I strongly recommend the lens, I wouldn't recommend using for the first time on critical shots. You need to practice a little first. Finally, the lens comes with a very nice (though slightly bulky) case, but throw away the Sigma lens covers both front and rear. They are terrible. Standard Nikon caps, however, can be found cheaply, and work much better.

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Wow!

Strengths: Construction is excellent and allows the use of standard width filtering

Weakness: Only one, the lens caps!

I agonized over this purchase for quite some time as I already owned a 12-24mm. Some of my magazine work involves interiors wherein the 12 was merely adequate while this lens lets me work in areas and from angles I only wished for previously. Thus far, and it's not been a long time, the results are stunning!

Landscapes, another "must" for my assignments, will also have the positive impact of real polarization filtering with no loss of image in the corners. Can't wait to do a Pano ...

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Sigma 10-20mm Super Wide Angel Zoom for Nikon

Strengths: light weight, silent operation, excellent optics

Weakness: as a more flimsy feel than a Nikkor

I bought this lens in late April/early May for my Nikon D70 and a trip to India. It supplemented an AF Nikkor 24-50 mm and an AF Nikkor 80-200mm, both leftovers from the before-digital age.

The Sigma turned out to be a very versatile lens, allowing me to take unobtrusive navel-level shots in markets, etc., thanks to its wide coverage. For most landscapes I preferred the Nikkor, but that may have been because of a lot of haziness that made super-wide angel shots a bit iffy. Architectural shots with the Sigma turned out crisp and sharp, especially so when not going all the way down to the 10mm. Beware of the intial tendency to try to cover EVERYTHING because this lens opens up so wide--the slightly fish-eye like effect gets old quickly.

Frankly, I can't say much about CA at this point becaue I haven't had the time to work extra closely with some of my favorite shots. :)

Overall, I'm glad I bought that lens and took it along.

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Incredibly Wide

Strengths: WIDE (15mm equivalent), low cost, good quality.

Weakness: Not the fastest (F4-5.6), cheap lens cap.

I bought this lens for my Nikon d70s. I plan to use it for landscape photography, where it can work wonders. Looks best around F9-12. Indoors you will see some softness shot wide open. Distortion on a lens this wide is dramatic, so you must be careful when shooting to keep the camera level. Build quality is nice. It feels feels solid, just slightly heavier but on par with 18-70 kit lens. Focus and zoom rings are plastic, and a bit stiff. Auto focus is reasonably fast and quiet. Comes with a padded soft case. A minor disappointment is the cheap lens cap, so I bought a 77mm Nikon cap to replace it. Overall this will make a really good addition to the 18-70 kit lens.

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Sigma 10-20mm HSM for Nikon

Strengths: REALLY wide, 77mm lens, lens hood is about about the same as the lens (unlike the Tamron 11-18)

Weakness: Focus gets easily tricked. Will not work on film camera at all. Lens cap does NOT have center pinch...but easy to buy replacement.

I REALLY debated this purchase...trying to decide between the Tokina 12-24 and this Sigma. For the most part, I am glad I got this lens. Actually, I have had a LOT of fun with this lens. I already had a Sigma 15-30, but when I got the Nikon 18-200, I wanted something wider. It didn't make a lot of sense to get just a 12mm... when I already had down to 18. Although, my previous 15-30 was MUCH better at 15 and 18 than the 18-200 when it came to distortion. Images with the Sigma 10-20 are sharp enough to me...and clean. The reports of low CA are accurate as far as my low level of analysis goes. The loss of a stop is not that big of a deal...although it is noticeable. I think the real impact is in the focusing. I have two other 2.8 lens and am used to those, as well as other AF-s Nikon lenses, and this lens is the slowest focusing lens I have. It also gets tricked up WAY too easy on the focus where you can hear it hunt through it's focus range. This is on a D200 with the focus sensor set to wide...so maybe there is some tweaking that can be done to improve the focus responsiveness. But, I still really like the lens...and would buy it again over the Tokina.

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Sigma 10-20mm Wide Angle Zoom EX DC

Strengths: Contruction, optics, weight,

Weakness: lens caps (minor issue at most)

I use this excellent lens with a Nikon D2Xs SLR. Since the Nikon has an APS-C size sensor, getting a wide angle lens can be difficult. The Sigma 10-20mm zoom has the 35mm equivalent of a 15-30mm zoom...very nice! The images are clear and very sharp. With an aperture of f4-5.6, I find this lens to be fast. Of course, you can find a faster wide angle, but you'll pay significantly more for a minor improvement. Sigma used an internal focusing system, which means that the front of the lens does not rotate, an important feature if you utilize a polarizing filter as I often do. This lens uses Sigma's "Hyper Sonic Motor" for a quiet, high speed auto focus. The multi-layer coatings keep chromatic aberrations at a minimum. Barrel distortion is also relatively minimal. The minimum focusing distance is only 9.4 inches throughout the zoom range.
Note that this lens is specifically made for APS-C size sensors. You will see vignetting if used with a film or full-frame sensor camera.

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Fantastic

Strengths: All around great lens, REALLY wide, built like a tank, quick HSM focusing, great price

Weakness: included caps are trash, barrel distortion (not bad)

I too debated on this purchase a long time, between this lens and the Tokina 12-24mm. There were so many mixed reviews on this lens and had had previous bad experiences with (non EX) I was hesitant, but I really wanted that extra 2mm more and the fixed aperture really wasn't very important to my use. Maybe I lucked out and got one of the good copies but I'm so glad I decided on the Sigma. The first thing I noticed was its excellent build quality and nice finish. The included lens cap and end cap are absolute junk and you will want to replace them with quality ones, perhaps OEM Nikon. The Lens cap is a cheap outside snap (as opposed to center snap) impossible to take on and off with the hood on. The end cap won't fit on other lenses and must be orientated exactly. Sharpness and contrast is better than I was expecting, even in the corners and wide open. Stopped down a stop or two it's great. CA is well controlled, there is a little barrel distorion, but I think it is well controlled considering the range of this zoom. If you are considering this purchase, I don't think you will be disappointed. Considering it is the cheapest of all the SWA zooms it's also an excellent value.

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Great lens for landscape picture

Strengths: Super wide angle in 10mm

Weakness: Quality of edge area under F5.6

I'm using this lens with D2X.
My main lens is Nikon VR18-200mm.
This lens is good combination.
10mm wide angle is great!!
My only concern is quality of edge area in landscape photo under F5.6.
So I fix F8 and adjusting ISO or shutter speed for D2X.

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Great Lens

Strengths: Very wide, light, fast focusing

Weakness: None yet

This is a great lens... goes very wide and works well with the D70. Its fun to carry around and perfect for a vacation. The only thing i don't like about this lens is its slow aperature...can't take too many night time shots with this lens. but all in all a great landscape lens. Very fun!

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Sigma EX 10-20mm f/4-5.6 DC HSM

Testseek.com has collected 13 expert reviews for Sigma EX 10-20mm f/4-5.6 DC HSM and the average expert rating is 81 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

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