8-16mm 4.5-5.6 DC HSM - Reviews by PhotoCamel Members

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Sigma 8-16mm 4.5-5.6 DC HSM

Reviews	Views	Date of last review
3	2177	Sun November 20, 2011

Recommended By	Average Price	Average Rating
100% of reviewers	$700.00	9.0

supersize	supersize	supersize

Description:

Product Highlights:

* For Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony, And Sigma EOS DSLRs
* For APS-C Format Digital SLR Cameras
* Equivalent to 12-24mm in 35mm Format
* 75.5-114° Angle of View
* 9.4" (24cm) Minimum Focus Distance
* Well Corrected for Distortions
* FLD Elements Correct Color Aberrations

The Sigma 8-16mm F4.5-5.6 DC HSM is an ultra-wide zoom that has a 35mm equivalent angle of view of a 12-24mm lens when used on DSLRs with APS-C size image sensors. Sigma's FLD glass elements, equal to fluorite glass, correct for distortions and color aberrations to deliver beautiful high contrast images.

The lens has a minimum focusing distance of 9.4" (24cm) allowing you to get in close to a subject to create exaggerated perspectives. This super wide angle zoom is perfect for shooting landscape photography, architecture, building interiors, photojournalism, wedding photography, group pictures and a wide variety of other shooting opportunities you may encounter.

Price: $699.00

Buy Now from BHPhoto >>

Keywords:

sigma 8-16 8-16mm ultra wide angle

Author

stef@apl

F1 Camel

Registered: June 2010
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Posts: 2858

Review Date: Fri June 25, 2010

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $700.00 | Rating: 9

Pros:	ultra wide angle, well contructed, fast accurate AF, sharp
Cons:	no filters possible, barrel distortion at wide

For the price and amazing wide angle, I give this a pretty strong rating. There is simply no competition for FOVCF 1.6 cameras. It's not perfect, but it gets a +1 rating for being the only one in the field.

The Sigma 8-16mm is a sharp, fast AF, extremely wide-angle lens for crop sensor cameras (effectively a 13-26mm for full frame). It will not work on full-frame, but there are already lenses available that are wider for those cameras. This is well-built, responds quickly, and "feels" good. The minimum focus distance is amazingly short, which opens up some creative perspective shots. It comes with lens caps, a lens case, a built-in hood, and a small barrel to attach the lens cap over the hood.

There is strong barrel distortion at the wide end, which is expected; this mostly disappears around 10 or 11mm. There is some CA at the edges, though far less than expected. The edges are also fairly sharp, but it does have a maximum aperture of only 4.5 so this is also expected. Due to the bulbous front element, you cannot attach filters. (If you don't mind cropping some vignetting, you can probably get away with a filter attached to the included lens-cap-tube at 16mm.) You should use an external flash -- camera-mounted flash will cast a shadow due to the extreme angle of this lens. External strobes might have issues with the wide angle, too!

This lens is good for environmental portraits, creative perspectives, landscape and architecture, urban, group photos, and certain merchandise (foods, small items, closeups).

It is not suited for general portraits (unless you like huge noses), technical (items which requires no perspective issues), or low light.

Very short MFD. The bottle here was inches away from the camera.

Cool front element:

A nice wide shot of a forest, but which had to be stitched with the sky because you can't attach a polarizer.

More wide angle. Notice the angle of the sun from the shadows, and the slight flare on one of the windows (which I could've shaded manually with my hand). I'm intentionally shooting low with intent to crop, to reduce perspective issues.

Good for certain items, such as foods:

I need to clean out my truck....

All photos by: Stefan Chakerian, Aperture Laboratories, Albuquerque NM

------------------------------
--stef

Aperture Photography - New Mexico Event & Wedding Photography
Aperture Photography - Facebook

Equipment list

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oldcanon
Alpaca

Registered: September 2011
Posts: 18

Review Date: Sat September 24, 2011

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 9

Pros:	Widest lens available for my 7D, very sharp wide open, good colour and contrast (except into the sun), little parallax error when used carefully, even at 8mm, flare is much less of a problem than I expected. Handles very well with smooth zoom and focus
Cons:	unless extreme care is taken parallax errors are huge at 8mm and side-lighting in strong ligh will wash out colour

I used to have the old sigma 10-20 but traded it in for the canon 100 LIS macro. Over time I missed the creativity of the UWA lens so when the sigma 8-16 came available I wanted one, but couldn't justify buying new. I'm now several hundred shots into evaluating the new lens and so far its a joy to use, even though I am having to re-learn the good habits of UWA shooting, in particular the need to keep the plane of the sensor parallel with the scene.

Here are a couple of shots showing how rapidly this lens can lose parallax lines if the sensor is not properly aligned + an uncorrected interior shot showing how well the parallels can be controlled, all shots at 8mm

jcc

Vicuna

Registered: November 2011
Location: Norman, OK
Posts: 96

Review Date: Sun November 20, 2011

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 9

Pros:	one of the widest viewing angles available for non full-frame sensors, build quality, price
Cons:	exposed front element