Note: This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.
When I first got a digital SLR, my brother gave me some great advice.
He told me to wait a few months before buying any new lenses. At the
time, I had a Sigma 28-90 and a Nikkor 35-135. Those should be enough
for a while. Eventually, I’d figure out what, if anything, I needed to
get. It didn’t take me long to realize that I wanted to get wide-angle
shots. 28mm was pretty wide, but there were shots that I just couldn’t
get.
The day I decided to buy something, I was in North Carolina.
There was a bus station I wanted to photograph, but I had a building to
one side and a building behind me, so I couldn’t get into a position
where I could photograph the entire building. I knew it was time to buy
something wider.
I knew that I wanted to get really wide shots
and didn’t want to have to go out and buy yet another lens, so I decided
to go all the way. I looked at several lenses, including the Nikon
12-24. I finally decided on the Sigma 10-20 for several reasons. (The
most important was that the Nikon 12-24 was more than twice the price of
this lens at the time.) I had looked at lenses that weren’t as wide,
but I was afraid that it wouldn’t be enough.
When set to 10mm, I
get an extremely wide shot with this lens. It ranges from 63.8 to
102.4°, which is pretty good. My mother wanted me to take pictures of
various tents. I was standing so close to one that my mother wanted me
to stand back. I actually moved a little closer so as not to include a
fence in the picture. I’ve also found that it’s hard to take pictures
without people because they often don’t realize they’re in the picture.
The
lens is f/4-5.6, which means that it’s not letting in as much light as
other lenses. Then again, I intend to use the lens mostly outdoors. If
you’re indoors, you’ll have to get an SB-600. I have a Nikon D50 and the
onboard flash isn’t enough. You can actually see where the on-board
flash falls off.
I have tried using the lens on occasion for
nighttime photography. It’s a little trickier because you need a tripod
and no flash. You’re better off using a tripod and going for a long
exposure. If you go to my Flickr account, I’ve actually tagged many of
my Sigma 10-20 shots as such. Many came out good, but not as good as
they could have been.
The lens works better with nature
photography than with architecture, the reason being that it’s tending towards a fisheye
lens. The distortion is somewhat noticeable at 20mm and very noticeable
at 10mm. (The distortion can be compensated for in Photoshop.) When I
had the lens at work the other day, a coworker was using the lens to
take pictures of our faces. It looked almost like a funhouse mirror.
If
you’re at 10mm and you’re taking pictures of a room, you have to have
the lens aimed perpendicular to the wall. If you do point the lens
perpendicular, you’ll notice that the room seems deeper than it really
is. If you don’t, you may see some of the vertical lines tilting. This
is true for any straight line, really. If you can go into a store and
test out the lens, point the lens at a wall and move the camera left to
right. You’ll see what I’m talking about.
One interesting aspect
is that it’s a HSM lens, which is the Sigma designation for High Speed
Motor. If anyone reading this has a D40, D40x or a D60, you’re thinking
to yourself that the salesman may have said something about having to
use Nikon DX lenses. This is because those cameras don’t have a lens
motor. You have to buy lenses that have motors, such as the Nikon DX
lenses or (drum roll, please) Sigma HSM lenses. Yes, this lens will work
on the aforementioned cameras. (In retrospect, I should have tried it
on one of those cameras the other day, as I work in a camera store.)
If
you have a full-frame camera, like a Nikon D3, you’ll see cropping. The
lens was intended for digital cameras. If you’re wondering if they make
a VR version of this, it would really be pointless as you don’t need it
with smaller distances. You have to really move a lens to get shake at
10mm. As for color fringing, I have noticed it on one or two photos, but
the lens has been pretty good at not having it. This is especially
important for outdoor shots.
Overall, the lens gets five stars. The lens is exactly what I want and, while expensive, was worth every penny.
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