Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

This lens is great! I got it for under $200 because it was open-box, so I'm extra lucky. :-)

A lot of people have been complaining about the sharpness, but mine at least is perfectly fine everywhere. Note that the aperture is somewhat low, so you may need a flash (and the pop-up won't do because of lens shadow). Otherwise you may need to stay outside. Keep that in mind when you buy it, but that shouldn't really confine you too much.

Also know that the image will of course be somewhat distorted due to the wide-angle.


overall grade: A

had both this and the canon. you get what you pay for. and you get better pictures with the canon wide glass on your camera. less distortion. and more vivid color. I returned the sigma.

This is the lens that spends about 90 percent of the time on my 20D (I have six lenses!). In fact, I forgot I even owned the Sigma 10-20 until I looked. The lens has very good build quality and the zoom touch is superb. I never really even look at the lens or realize that it's there!

Images are very good, always good colors, tones and good sharpness and saturation. The wide angle offers a little distortion but that is to be expected on 10mm!

The zoom range is somewhat limited but you get used to it. Most of my shots are at either 10mm or 20mm. Zooming is so easy I can't recall even using the zoom, however when I look at my photos they have been taken at different focal lengths.

To me, the purpose of a great camera and a great lens is that they work so well they "get out of the way" of the creative process. This zoom truly "gets out of the way", your so close to the action that you can take small group shots standing about six feet from your subjects. This lens really excels at close in people shots, specially in tight situations.

You can also interact with your subjects, because your not standing 20 feet back asking people to look at the canary standing on your shoulder. You can have a normal conversation at a normal distance from your subjects then raise your camera and get a half upper body shot - not too shabby.

If you take photos of people or working at events where you need lots of shots of people, individually or in small groups, this lens excels. Dare I say it could be an excellent "walk around" lens?

I've owned many lenes of all different brands but most of which have been Canon L series. This was my first time to own and use a lens from Sigma. The Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM copy that I bought here on amazon is as close to an L series lens as I have ever used. I reserched many lenses from Canon, Sigma, Tamron, etc. and I was concerned that because the Sigma lens is not a Canon brand that it might have communication issues with my Canon 20D body as some of the other non-Canon brand lenes I've used. So just as soon as I got it I put it to the test. I am thrilled to say that it passed with flying colors. This lens focuses nearly as fast as my Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM and is tack on and very sharp. The focus ring and the zoom ring are both very smooth. The velvety coating on the lens barrel feels very nice. Other reviews I've seen complain about the noise from the Sigma lens. I hardly noticed any even shooting in an empty house. The noise during focusing is a little more noticable that my Canon lenses but certainly not a deal breaker if trying to decide on wich brand of lens to purchase. I use this lens mainly shooting real estate interior shots and so using it at it's widest angle is where it spends most of it's time. So in these situations there is three main things I needed from this lens:
- Sharpness - I've already said it, It's sharp!
- Controlled C/A - Very little to none I am very impressed and happy here!
- Controlled Barrel Distortion - This is a little more pronounced that the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM that I was renting but again not a deal breaker in my opinion and I feel it is still very well controlled.

I love my Canon lenes but for anyone looking to save a few hundred bucks on a ultra wide angle lens, you will not be disappointed by going with the Sigma 10-22mm EX DC HSM.

the build quality of this Sigma lens is very solid. the HSM(Hyper Sonic Motor) focus extremely fast. to believe it or not, i actually use this lens to photography a lot of full body portrait, and the results are very sharp. at f8-f11, it is very sharp! i own a lot of lens, and i could say this is one of the lenses i use the most. this Sigma 10-20 is great for outside landscape, and works very well for indoor as well. i use it at 10mm w/ F4 when photograph people indoor, and for event photography, because i do not have to backup too much to get a lot of people in the frame. make sure you keep the person in center of the frame, though, because it distorts the image pretty strong at the corners. when my 16-35 2.8L II is not wide enough on my 40D, i would def. switch to this lens