Lens advice

leche solara

I use a crop sensor Canon 450d and am considering buying a wide angle lens. I have reduced the list to the Canon 10-22mm f3.5-4.5 USM, which is about £530, or the Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 EX DC HSM, which is about £400.

Obviously the Sigma is a good bit cheaper, but I wonder is it worth spending the extra money on the Canon. I like the idea of having all Canon gear, but not simply for the sake of it.

Any advice appreciated.

oshead

I had the EF 10-22 and swapped it for the EF 17-40 only because I bought the 5D MkII. The 10-22 is slightly dearer than the 17-40 and although I can't tell the difference in IQ, both lens are excellent IMO.

So in conclusion, the 10-22 is L quality for IQ but maybe a tad less for build. I have no experience with the Sigma.

bogmanfan

I've heard bad things about the Sigma regarding quality control. Apparently there are good examples and bad examples of the 10-20 out there, and it's the luck of the draw which you get. I would definitely avoid buying one secondhand for that reason. Canon 10-22 is supposed to be excellent.

CabanSail

I have a Sigma 10 - 20 and have shot with it a lot. If you have the funds to get the Canon then go for it but my Sigma has done me very well over the years.

jaybeeveedub

I dont know how the the ex dc compares to the ex dg...

but I have a sigma 12-24 ex dg hsm which I used professionally and never had any complaints....

I even borrowed the canon 14mm 2.8 L and was happier with the results from the sigma... much as it pains me to say it being a worshipper at the altar of "L"....

I started out using it on a 30D then on a 5D then on a 1Ds, and it never failed to impress.. especially on the 1Ds which is notoriously revealing of poor glass, very little ca and easily resolved distortion...

tis a heavy bugger though...!!

AnimalRights

the 12-24 by all accounts is a damned good lens.

jaybeeveedub

I like it...

although I hardly ever use it any more as I have abandoned zooms in favor of primes

(I wound up my company as I specialised in Hotels and Commercial Property... and I don't think NAMA is going to be paying for interior photos anytime soon!!)

on the positive side I am back taking photos for the love of it again

5uspect

I have the Sigma. It's a nice lens but isn't the sharpest wide open. I've heard about the QC issues alright but mine seems fine.

Both only work on cropped sensors so if you don't plan on going FF then that shouldn't be an issue.

Here are a few examples of my results:
http://pix.ie/theusual5uspect/1996135
http://pix.ie/theusual5uspect/1742732/in/album/380081
http://pix.ie/theusual5uspect/1742729/in/album/380081
http://pix.ie/theusual5uspect/1761488/in/album/380928

Obviously these have been processed as well as sharpened by pix.ie and I've filters on a few of them...

AnimalRights

You're saying that Pixie auto sharpens pics? I don't think that is the case?

5uspect

In general any re-sampled image is sharpened to some degree during the interpolation.
It's pretty standard on most image hosting sites. I presume pix.ie also use some sharpening but perhaps not as aggressively.