Customer Reviews

Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC Lens for Minolta and Sony Digital SLR Cameras

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After shooting about a hundred initial photos on my a300, I noticed that the images weren't as sharp as the high reviews led me to expect. Thinking my lens had sub-par optics, I ordered a replacement from Amazon. Same story with second copy. I then set up a shoot-off between my Sony 16-105 and the two Sigma copies. Shots were of an old picket fence and a fruit basket, at 16 and 20mm with f-stops at wide open, f8 and f22. Auto focus center-weighted. Distance 1 meter. During this test, I realized that the Sony was auto-focusing to one meter, while the Sigmas read just over a meter. I double checked my distance and then manually focused the Sigmas to 1m. Pics were great. When allowed to auto-focus, the Sigmas consistently read just past 1m. Reviewing my earlier shots which seemed soft revealed this back-focusing was the true culprit.

Lastly, I compared the Sony 16-105 to my Sigma 50mm 2.8 EX macro using the same process described above. The Sigma 50mm auto-focused perfectly and is easily the most detailed lens I have. I've also used other Sony lenses, as well as a Minolta 200mm 2.8, with no auto-focus issues. Given the solid reviews of the 10-20mm, I can only assume I fell victim to a bad lot. Amazon was great to work with and refunded my money. I'll wait a few months and order another. If that lens is good, I'll amend my review. Sorry for the long post, but since I'm dinging a well reviewed lens, I thought I should be specific.

This is a really w-i-d-e lens, made just for DSLRs. It can give you some great outdoor shots, and when you're trying to take in as much of a room as possible (like for insurance photos), the only thing wider is probably a fisheye. At a recent trip to the auto show it worked out pretty well; I was able to get right up to the concepts and fill the frame with the car rather than being forced to back up and include a lot of distractions. Some have reported problems with autofocus, but I've had no problems so far. A friend who ordered this lens several months before me was expecting the lens to have the HSM (Hyper Sonic Motor) feature, which it did not. Turns out there was an error in the item description. Sigma describes this feature as being available on SOME models, not all, so it might not hurt to call before you order.

I've had this lens for ~8 months now and couldn't be happier. Wide open this lens is a bit soft, but when stopped down to f/5.6 (f/8 is best) the beauty of this lens really starts to show. As far as extreme wide angles go this is the best bargain out there - anything better will run you $1400+ and need a full frame body to take advantage of it. I'm perfectly happy with my A100 and $450 10-20mm - this lens is small, relatively light, and focuses quickly (probably even faster for A700 users).

Combined with sony's super steady shot I feel comfortable handholding this lens full wide at shutter speeds as low as 1/5 so even though it's slow the wide focal length and sony's in-body IS make this lens great even in low light. Also when using sony's relatively new HVL-42AM flash (for fill) I've found this lens takes amazing outdoor portrait shots - perfect for isolating your subject when at a distance in dramatic nature scenes or emphasizing their presence in close up shots. All-in-all I can't recommend this lens enough - it's taken many of my favorite photos and it definitely doesn't hurt that it's a blast to use.

I bought a Sigma 10-20mm F4.5/5.6 EX from Adorama a few months ago and was quite pleased with the results using a Sony A200 camera. Fine color and contrast and very sharp--much sharper than I was expecting. Apart from typical wide angle effects, there is very little apparent distortion if you mind to keep the horizon centered in the middle of the picture frame. A great landscape lens.

My copy seems to be a little decentered, so that opposite corners of photos do not exactly focus in the same place. This just re-enforces my love-hate relationship with Sigma products. This is grounds for sending the lens off to Sigma for repair or replacement--but I have a few years. I'm also mistrustful of auto-focus.

All inherent problems with this lens are addressed to my satisfaction by manually setting the focus (different places for different focal lengths) and stopping down to F10 for 10mm and F14 for about the remainder of the zoom range. One would expect this to cause less-than-optimum image resolution, but the results are superb--very sharp landscape images corner to corner.

There is also a little light falloff (not glaringly so) at image corners, but this is easily corrected in CS3 Photoshop RAW tools. The wide view of this lens is really quite wonderful.

seems like the first lens we buy after purchasing a camera is the telephoto zoom lens so we can get closer to our subjects......in the words of another photographer, the best zoom lens we have are our legs.....and with this excellent lens, you can walk right up to your subject and take a crisp clear shot and still have all the interesting background in focus also....great for indoor, architecture, and group shots......

i recently shot a church dinner with those round tables that seat 8-10.....i was able to hold the camera over my head and with a bounce flash, take an in focus photo of everyone at the table standing only 4-5 away.....

the quality is good through out the whole range and it is a very well built quality lens......i have a few friends who own one also and we use this lens all the time.....you'll find yourself grabbing this lens more and more as time goes on......

Excellent, no visible barrel distortion. The only drawback is relatively high f-stop, so low-light shots are tricky to do.

Got my lens a few days ago, and sorry to say I was a bit disappointed. First of all, the picture and description of the lens I ordered (for my Sony A-700) was inaccurate. There is NO HSM on this lens for the Sony, tho the picture would show otherwise. No auto and manual switch either. But the thing that really disappointed me was that I tried it at all apertures, and it just wasn't that sharp. I have other Sigma WA zooms that are much sharper and cost less than this one. As far as the build goes, I have no problem with that or the weight of the lens. It's a solid, well-built lens...unfortunately, I didn't purchase it for those reasons. It just doesn't perform the way I expected it to. Maybe I just got a dud. I don't know.

Fantastic wide range makes this a great choice for a wide angle lens. Photos are clear and sharp with only a little barrel distortion on the outside areas. You might be able to fix that in Photoshop, but I happen to like the style it gives the image. Not fisheye or anything, but slightly in that direction.

It has a very close focus range, around 9 inches, and I was able to pack a ton of people into some shots at the local hospital ICU where a family wanted to take possibly their last family portraits with their infant son. I got 8 people in with room to spare from only a few feet away.

The only con I can think of is that it's not very fast. f/4-5.6 doesn't work great in low light conditions so be ready to break out your flash. Check out http://www.abetterbouncecard.com for a fantastic method to improve your flash photography skills in no time and for less than a dollar in materials.

Oh, one plus is that, unlike some of the other buyers here, mine came with the HSM feature. It wasn't listed on the box, but on the product info book that was in the box.

This lens is very sharp and reasonably light. The reason why I chose this lens is because it probably is the smallest among the wide angles out there. No, it is not an "HSM" lens for Minolta and Sony. But for this price it is unbeatable ! I've used it on my cruise to Vancouver and Alaska and hardly taken a bad shot with it. If you're into wide angles and price is, or is not a concern, it really doesn't matter, this lens performs with the best of them out there. As with any wide angle lens, barrel distortion is noticable but at 15mm, what can you expect. Knowing that you can shoot more creatively and out to 30mm group shots are very nice and convenient. I've had several wide angle lens previouly and this lens is also a winner!

Excellent build quality. Lens has a very "heavy" feel to it and performs excellent. The included lens hood also works well.

I am very impressed with the quality of the images and the close up photography in macro mode is also excellent.