Hey,
Nice pictures !!! Just a few questions:
1. When you were deciding on buying the lens, did you also have Tokina´s 12-24 mm. as a choice for a wide angle?? If so, why didn't you get it ??
2. How sharp is the lens, (some people say Sigma lenses are not always very sharp objectives), how has it done for you ??
3. My main purposes for a lens like yours would be architecture and documentary photography. Do you think this lens is not very convenient for these purposes ??
Thank you very much,
igmolinav
1. I did consider the Tokina 12-24. From what I've read, the Tokina may have a VERY slight edge over the Sigma 10-20 in the sharpness department. However, there were a number of factors which ultimately led me to purchase the Sigma over the Tokina:
a) 10mm vs 12mm.... this is a BIG difference and if i'm buying wide angle, I want as wide as possible.
b) The tokina supposedly has noticeably more CA
c) Tokina does not have an official Canadian distributor... meaning "technically", the Tokina warranty does not apply... and I didn't want the hassle associated with this issue.
2. The lens seems reasonably sharp. I did some informal testing with my tripod and tested it against the Tamron 17-50 as well as the 18-55 kit lens. In terms of sharpness, it is noticeably sharper than the kit lens when stopped down at least 1 stop. It's a little soft wide open (about on par with the 18-55). Compared to the Tamron 17-50, the Sigma falls short in terms of sharpness at all apertures... not a huge deal in practice, but if you pixel-peep at 100%, it's quite obvious which is the sharper lens. Overall it's still a pretty sharp lens... it's just that the Tamron is a remarkably sharp lens to begin with. Ultimately, I don't mind the softness too much as I'll likely use the Sigma stopped down to f/8 or f/11 for landscapes most of the time anyways.
3. I guess this depends on what you're going for. For me, the wide angle distortion is a big reason why i wanted a wide angle lens to begin with. If you dislike distortion, you could always correct for it in PP. At 10mm, the distortion is quite significant... so i would be somewhat weary of using such a wide angle lens if distortion is a real concern for you.
I love #1: beautiful tonal range all the way from deep black to pure white without blown highlights. Lovely mid-tones too. Excellent work on the exposure.
Composition wise, I really like how it brings your eye past the foreground detail onto the building in the gap.
Also, the trunk detail on the trees is very Ansel Adams. And as for the brick detail... Wow!
This is a stunning picture.
Thank you Odaiwai! #1 is also my favourite... I really didn't like the photo too much at first... but once I did the B&W conversion... and tweaked the contrast... everything just sorta popped. Thanks again. Your comments definitely made my day!
With my last 2 photos, I definitely wish I could go back and retake them, paying more attention to the exposure to avoid the blown highlights.
Thanks to everyone else for their comments/advice too. Those of you considering a WA lens... go for it! It's really a lot of fun shooting with it and definitely opens up photographic possibilities I never knew existed.
