C. Lens - Sigma 12-24 EX DG HSM Canon fit on a 5D (3 full res images)

[Malcolm_Stewart]

I bought this lens, second-hand, in a buying spree earlier in the year when we sensed that the low price days were over! I paid £300 for a lens in mint condition and supplied in its case, but with no box. I've seen them at around £550 on the used market recently.

Sigma's webpage

I haven't used it much, but last week we visited the RAF Museum at Cosford, and I chose it as I guessed that space might be limited. There's plenty of comments and formal reviews on the web, and references to how it works on an APS-C sensor, so I thought I'd post some real life full res images taken on my 5D.

Sample at 12mm 1/60 at f7.1 400 ISO. This was experimental, to see how wide 12mm gets!
TSR2 rear view

Sample at 16mm 1/50 at f6.3 400 ISO. A mere 16mm wide angle.
TSR2 side view

Sample at 12mm 1/60 at f6.3 800 ISO. A very confined area, so the 12mm was needed.
Junkers transport

These are all hand held jpeg images, shot at -1/3stop compensation to help preserve highlights, and then processed in Photoshop, Levels to raise the mid-tones slightly. I left the white balance as delivered by my camera. I then applied USM twice. 30,60,0 followed by 200,0.6,4. "Saved as" to jpg with a setting of 5.

Hope they give some idea as to the real world uses for what is a very wide angle zoom, with reasonably good drawing.

[alanS]

This is my most used zoom on my 20D. I've looked through it on FF but not used it on one yet.

I'm glad you like it.

[Barney]

Thanks for posting the full res images. The thing that strikes me most is the drop of sharpness and detail in the corners. It would be interesting to see how this compares to Nikon and Canon's own versions.

[Malcolm_Stewart]

Thanks for posting the full res images. The thing that strikes me most is the drop of sharpness and detail in the corners. It would be interesting to see how this compares to Nikon and Canon's own versions.

Yes.

Perhaps I ought to see how it does stopped down to around f11, and carefully aligned etc. on a tripod, which would really slow me down!

To the best of my knowledge, Canon don't offer any lens with a 12mm focal length on full-frame. There's an expensive EF 14mm f2.8L II, and the 16-35 zoom is now in its MkII version.

[Malcolm_Stewart]

At last I've got round to uploading an image showing a different use of the lens, this time at 17mm and f11. Here I've tried to keep the camera dead level, and I've removed the extraneous grass in the foreground and some foliage at the edges.
Those who know this church in Milton Keynes will appreciate how little space there is for recording the tower. Outside the churchyard, there's lots of trees which do a good job of hiding Robert Hooke's work. (Hooke as of Hooke's Law for springs, and inventor of the universal joint etc.

Willen Church (full resolution)

[johnf3f]

Been to Cosford (with my 5d) and struggled at times with my 17-40. This lens looks interesting, though not as good as a Canon "L" it's cheaper for occasional use.

[alanS]

"..though not as good as a Canon "L" it's cheaper for occasional use."

It's better than any Canon 12-24mm FF lens, L or not. Oh hang on...Canon don't make a FF zoom lens as wide as the Siggy 12-24mm

[Malcolm_Stewart]

I've toned down the processing on the 17mm example here, and I think this version looks better - it does to me, now that I'm using a decent display!

Willen Church (full resolution) revised version