Pulling the Sigma 8-16mm lens from the package once it came in the mail I was surprised at it being heavier and longer than I was expecting. Heavier to me is generally a plus due to the fact glass is heavier than plastic making it easier to keep it steady while shooting. And on the topic of the length of the Sigma lens, that is merely a function of the arrangement of the spherical glass element, its fixed petal hood and that the lens cap has to fit over top of everything. Placed beside any of its wide angle competitors with hood attached you can see the lengths are almost the same, and the Sigma 8-16mm lens has a little bit smaller width. Although the protruding front glass could be a bother to some people as it relates to wear and toughness, I usually tend to be really gentle with my lenses because they cost what amounts to me as a lot of dollars, and I don’t have to look after the Sigma 8-16mm lens any more gently than any others. While you'll have to ensure you don't lose the lens cap, it is large enough that you’ll have a tough time losing it, coupled with the giant eyeball look of the uncapped lens will always be looking at you. On the subject of the build of the Sigma 8-16 lens, its rustic black metal should be familiar to users of other Sigma lenses and does the job exceedingly well in both touch and durability. Both the focus and zoom rings are responsive without drift and are properly spaced apart on the Sigma 8-16mm lens body. A little switch on the side goes between manual and autofocus. Something that is fundamentally unavoidable due to the incredibly wide eight millimeter display angle of the Sigma 8-16 lens is warping due to the barrel. The primary differentiator between an ultra wide angle lens and fisheye lens is that a wide angle is meant to keep straight lines as straight lines, but a fisheye should introduce curved lines. While the Sigma 8-16mm lens only introduces a bit of curving, around the edge of the picture you will see proportions getting the most stretched so trying to place faces or clean geometric shapes in this region of the frame will be quite hard. Digital editing can correct for some of this, but it is definitely not perfect. Then again, this extreme wide angle point of view isn’t meant to preserve precise proportions, and zooming in should cause the distortion to lessen. At sixteen millimeters the shot has essentially no discernable skewing and is great for taking pictures of people and still catching lots of background in the picture. As I've made extensive use of my Sigma 8-16 lens over the last few weeks, I can honestly say the largest issue I’ve got at the moment is not using it often enough. By playing around with perspectives I notice I’m able to make daring shots even more pronounced, add an unprecedented level of depth and space to shots, catching them with great colors and contrast, crisp and controllable detail and all the while knowing I’m able to get wider angles than practically any other wide angle lens on the market.
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Having made broad use of my Sigma 8-16mm lens over the last few weeks, I can truthfully say the biggest issue I’ve got right now is not shooting with it enough.
A run down of the Sigma 8-16mm
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