Sigma EX 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 DG

Sigma EX 12-24mm F4.5-5,6 DG Nikon fit AF D.

This a great wide-angle zoom lens offering professional performance, results and is a joy to use.

It is suitable for both digital SLR's and 35mm Film cameras and focusing can be used manually or autofocus.

This my first Sigma lens as I own only quality Nikon lenses so I was unsure at first about purchasing a brand and lens unknown to me.

Any ...
...soon as I took the lens out of it's box. It is as well crafted as any Nikon lens and a truly remarkable piece of design. It has an unusual appearance as instead of the usual glass flat surface lens it has a "bobble" or "ball" of glass which has a very alien look to it. I'm still not used to this and I feel that as it is sticking out so much that it may be a bit vulnerable to potential damage. With a normal flat lens you can screw ... more

Sigma EX 12-24mm F4.5-5,6 DG Nikon fit AF D.

This a great wide-angle zoom lens offering professional performance, results and is a joy to use.

It is suitable for both digital SLR's and 35mm Film cameras and focusing can be used manually or autofocus.

This my first Sigma lens as I own only quality Nikon lenses so I was unsure at first about purchasing a brand and lens unknown to me.

Any doubts or fears about quality were put to rest as soon as I took the lens out of it's box. It is as well crafted as any Nikon lens and a truly remarkable piece of design. It has an unusual appearance as instead of the usual glass flat surface lens it has a "bobble" or "ball" of glass which has a very alien look to it. I'm still not used to this and I feel that as it is sticking out so much that it may be a bit vulnerable to potential damage. With a normal flat lens you can screw a protective UV lens on and you can't with this one. But so far it has been ok and I am very rough with my camera equipment when outdoors and the glass seems to be quite tough. No scratches so far.

The auto focus motor is smooth and quiet and focusing is quick and precise. The zoom movement just glides as you open out to the full 12 mm.

Aperture is controlled through the camera as there is no manual aperture ring but I haven't found this a problem in practice.

It takes Gelatin filters which fit at the rear of the lens to avoid vignetting problems. And comes with a small handy metal template for cutting out the exact shape to fit the filter slot.

It also comes with a dedicated lens hood, a metal ring which helps protect the lens when in storage and a proper zipped lens bag/ cover.

The lens hood is permanently fixed to the lens so you will never lose it! Also by being dedicated it has been designed to work in complete harmony with the lens. Other makes of lens hoods which are often too big end up being visible in the photograph ( called "vignetting" ). So this lens hood instead is just the right size to shade the lens surface from the sun and other light sources without causing "vignetting" problems.

The lens bag/cover is well made and is a bit of a surprise that it was included because sometimes you have to purchase them separately even with expensive lenses. This one will help protect the lens when in storage and in transit. It feels substantial and luxurious.

If you haven't used a "super wide-angle" lens as until this one I hadn't it is breathtakingly wide. I was sitting in a very small room but looking through the camera view finder the lens made the room look like a cathederal, unbelievably larger and more spacious. This great for tricky small indoor spaces where you need to squeeze everything in and normal lenses crop and cut too much out. So no more telling everyone to get in close together and finding a loved one left out of the frame.

Other applications which this lens is particularly suited to are landscape and creative images.

For landscape you will fit so much more in and dynamic compositions are possible as perpective is distorted in proportion to how wide you use the zoom.

The creative possibilities are endless as this lens produces truly exciting images. The world looks very different through this lens and is for anyone who needs to extend a normal image with just more information in it than normal to highly distorted and even abstract photographs.

I am very pleased with the lens and the money I spent on it. And anyone who is considering this lens who wants to explore photography further will benefit from the variety images that this lens can produce. 

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