When I saw the announcement for the Sigma 12-24mm f/4 DG HSM ART Super Wide-Angle Zoom Lens, I immediately signed up to give it a test drive and I’m glad I did. Super wide angle lenses have been the go-to lenses for most real estate and landscape photographers for years.
Undoubtedly, the king of the hill in this space has been the Canon 11-24mm f/4 Prime. Fantastic image and build quality are the two traits that have made the Canon lens the top choice in this focal range for years. That said, the Canon lens has eluded many photographers because of its wallet-busting price tag of almost $3,000. That price tag has led most of us “prosumers” to search for an alternative.
The choice for many of us was clear, buy a lens such as the Tokina 16-28mm, the Tamron 15-30mm, or the Canon 16-35mm and sacrifice 5mm and some image quality, or cough up the $3000 to get the extra 5mm. Now, if you are a real estate photographer, I don’t need to tell you that the difference between capturing a tiny room at 11mm or 12mm as compared to 16mm is huge. While many of these less expensive lenses can produce great images, especially once you learn how to manipulate your camera settings in the field or your images in post, it would be great to have a lens that performs well, gives us the extra range and does not break the bank. Well, I’m happy to say that day has finally arrived with the introduction of Sigma’s 12-24mm f/4 ART lens.
While I’m not going to get all “techno-geek” on you in this article, I would like to point out that the specs on this lens are extremely close to the Canon 11-24mm f/4. I do believe that Sigma intends for this lens to be a direct competitor to what is widely (no pun intended) considered to be the gold standard in the wide angle space.
Ok, let’s get to the nitty gritty. How does the image quality stack up to the canon? In my experience with this lens, the Sigma is every bit as good as, or even slightly better than the Canon at the shorter the focal lengths between 12-16mm. It’s only once you zoom in past the 16mm mark that the Canon starts to pull away from the Sigma in terms of sharpness. At the longer focal lengths, the Canon lens consistently captures sharper images across the frame. But that is the biggest, and arguably the only, difference. Many of the other image characteristics such as distortion, vignetting, and chromatic aberration the Sigma lens performs just as well as the Canon.
If you are in the market for one of these prime wide angle lenses, I’m going to guess that you have a few other lenses in your bag, and your interest in this lens would be to use it as wide as possible or close to it. With that in mind, I would have to say that the Sigma is a great choice. Finally, with a price tag that is around $1500 cheaper than the Canon lens, I would say it may be the only choice for photographers looking to spend less without sacrificing quality.
Buy the Sigma 12-24mm f/4 DG HSM ART Super Wide-Angle Zoom Lens now at Adorama and get a free gift. *VIP360 2 Day Delivery Eligible.
