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Sigma 10-18mm F2.8 DC DN for Canon RF Review | Premium Wide Angle Goodness
Sep 23, 2024
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Table of Contents:
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0:00 - Intro and Concept
2:18 - Build and Features
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott, and I'm here today to give you my review of the Canon RLF
0:15
Mout version of the Sigma 10 to 18mm F2.8 DC DN Contemporary Lens
0:22
Now, I've previously spent some time with both the E mount and X mount versions of this lens back
0:28
in 2023. So this is my third time with this lens. It is a very important lens because essentially what's happening right now is it seems like Canon is recognizing that obviously their entries into the RFS mount, their APSC lineup on Canon RF has been extremely limited
0:49
And so they're kind of easing in some third parties from Sigma and then from Tamron into the RF mount just for APSC
0:57
so RFS to cover their APSC lineup. Now, this lens right here is currently
1:04
I would say, the best wide angle zoom you can get for your Canon R-mount APSC camera
1:10
There's not really much competition there because all of the RFS mount lenses are very slow
1:15
There is a Canon 10 to 18 millimeter. It is an F4.5 to 6.3 ISSTM lens
1:22
And it is kind of a plastic fantastic. It does exist, but this Sigma is
1:27
is much better. Now, the one thing I will say about the Sigma is it's not cheap
1:31
$659 U.S. dollars, so the Canon lens is about $300, so it's more than double the price
1:37
of that Canon lens, but here are some primary reasons to consider it. Unlike the Canon lens, it does have a weather sealing gasket. It has much higher build
1:47
quality built around a metal mount and high-quality lens barrel materials, whereas, as mentioned
1:53
the Canon is a plastic fantastic. It does come with the lens hood. It has a cost, it has a
1:57
constant maximum aperture of F2.8 versus F4.5 to 6.3, meaning on the 18 millimeter end
2:04
that is two and one-third stop faster than what the Canon lens is. This has good up-close performance
2:11
and it has a great autofocus performance. So does that make it a lens worth having? Well, that's
2:17
what we're here to explore here today. So when it comes to the build and the handling here
2:21
one thing that I do want to point out is that while I've covered this lens a couple of times before
2:25
focal range is a little bit different because Canon has a different crop factor than what either
2:31
Fuji or Sony does. Their crop factor is 1.5 times for APSC. Canon is a 1.6 times crop factor
2:40
So on those other platforms, this is a 15 to 27 millimeter full frame equivalent
2:45
On Canon, it is a 16 to 29 millimeter full frame equivalent. So not quite as wide, a little bit
2:52
longer on the telephoto in. I would say in this case, I would say in this case, I would argue that the extra bit on the wide end is more useful than a tiny bit of extra telephoto
3:00
But of course, it is what it is here on Canon. Now, there is a little bit different physical design here to accommodate the much larger RF mount
3:09
And so as a byproduct, the lens shape is a little bit different because of kind of a flared-out
3:14
flange at the lens mount. But it doesn't change the actual overall dimensions because in this case, it's not the
3:19
widest point on the barrel. So it's still 72.2 millimeters or 2.8 inches in diameter
3:25
and it 62 millimeters or 2 inches long So it actually 2mm shorter than what the Sony eMount version is However it does weigh just a little bit more because again there extra materials here
3:39
at the lens mount. So it weighs in at 260 grams or 9.17 ounces. Now, I will note that that is a
3:47
full 110 grams more than what the cannon weighs. But again, the cannon, of course, slow maximum
3:52
aperture, and it's also all plastic, including the lens mount. So I would say this to me is still more
3:58
appealing. It's not all that heavy in an absolute sense. It's still nice and compact, but of course
4:04
it has a much, much higher grade of build quality. It's still small enough to fit in the palm of the
4:09
ham, but it actually feels like a really nicely made lens as opposed to what the Canon lens is
4:15
which I've tested a number of them and they do feel pretty plasticy. Up front we have a 67-millimeter
4:20
front filter. The build quality is nice. As noted, it does include the hood. Hood design is unique
4:27
for any Sigma lens, rather than being a bayonet style, it's actually kind of a spring-loaded design
4:33
You line up the little bar on this and then the lens barrel
4:38
and you just press it in. Then to release it, you do a little bit of a rotation, which releases the spring lock
4:43
It's a different design. And there are reasons for doing it is they say this design allows it to be smaller in diameter
4:50
So you don't have this massive lens hood, which is sometimes the case on wide-angle lenses
4:56
because of the spring load, they're eliminating the width of the bayonet clips all around it
5:00
It works. You can also reverse it for storage, and so I have no complaints about it
5:06
It's just a little bit different mechanics that you do have to get used to. Inside, we have seven rounded aperture blades, which means that you also end up with a 14-pointed Sunstar
5:15
Sunstar looks okay. It's not anything particularly special, but it does the job
5:21
There are no features here on the barrel. There's no aperture ring. There's no switches, anything like that
5:25
we have a focus ring. Focus ring is just a little bit more difficult to reach
5:30
due to that extra width here near the lens mount, but for most people it should be fine
5:35
And then on the other end, it can be also a little bit tight if you've got the lens hood on
5:39
because it's a fairly narrow zoom ring that is pressed right up against that hood
5:43
This is a reverse zoom. And what I mean by that is it actually extends out its longest
5:49
which is not much. It just extends out a few millimeters, but it extends out at the 10 millimeter end
5:54
and it's actually fully retorting. tracked it at the 18 millimeter end. You also have the ability to focus down as closely as 11.6 centimeters on the wide end or as close
6:06
as 19 centimeters on the telephoto end. Now, you're getting your highest magnification on the wide end up to 0.25 times
6:14
That's a 1 to 4 ratio and it's only a 0.14 times on the telephoto end
6:20
Only downside on that wide end is you have to get really, really close to your subject to
6:24
achieve that level of magnification. While this lens is pretty much the same than what I've seen on these other platforms
6:32
I would say that in many ways it is most compelling here on Canon due to how little
6:37
competition there is on it. The only thing that I would say that this lens lacks that the Canon lens has
6:42
it's image stabilization. So if you happen to have a camera that has in-body image stabilization, no problem
6:47
But if you really need stability, maybe for doing video work, you might still consider the
6:52
Canon lens for that reason if you don't have a camera that has stabilization inside the camera body
6:58
So how about autofocus That one of the areas that I always most interested in and looking at these multi lenses for the simple reason that that is probably the primary that will be distinguished from others In this case it has an STM or a
7:12
stepping focus motor and it works really, really well here. Obviously, auto focus is, there's a lot
7:19
in focus in focus and wide-angle lenses, but essentially all of the focus changes that I saw are pretty
7:24
much instantaneous. As you can see here, it's whether indoors or outdoors, it's basically
7:28
instant from foreground to background and back. And it's further helped by the fact that you can see
7:34
that focus breathing is extremely low. And so it's just one thing is in focus and another thing's in
7:39
focus, but there's no kind of jarring movement back and forth. That also plays out very well when it
7:45
comes to the video side of things. You can see also with video focus pools, they're quick, they're smooth
7:51
and again, there's no focus breathing, so there's nothing that's jarring. It's basically you just
7:55
move from one thing in the foreground being in focus to smoothly, something in the background being focus and back
8:01
I saw the same kind of results with my hand test, good confidence there in both seeing the hand
8:06
and transitioning to it and then also when it's removed transitioning back to the eye
8:11
And I found that eye focus was fine, depending on how you're using this lens, very likely
8:16
you're going to use it for less human subjects and more environmental type subjects
8:20
But nonetheless, autofocus did a great job. The only thing I found to complain about is that you can see that the lens
8:28
is definitely not parfocal if you zoom in and out while doing video recording
8:32
And I actually saw a kind of surprising amount of lag and it was defocused for a lot of that
8:38
zoom and then it would kind of pull focus again as it got towards the end of it
8:42
So that's my only area to complain about autofocus, but in general it was really quite fantastic
8:48
So finally, let's talk about image quality. Now often I do a deep dive breakdown of the optics
8:53
I'm not going to do that here because I've already done it twice before. And if you want the deep dive in the optical performance, you can either select my Sony eMount version or you can select the Fuji XMount version, kind of maybe whatever is closest to the resolution of your camera and get an idea from that
9:10
I will give you an overview of my findings, however. In this case, we have 13 elements in 10 groups
9:17
It has a very good MTF chart here. And this is the same lens optically on Canon as what it is on either Sony or Nikon
9:25
Now, some of you have asked in advance of me doing this review how it performs for full frame coverage
9:31
In typical canon fashion, you don't even have the option of seeing. And because they have been so restrictive on their RF mount, even here with an RF-type lens
9:43
everything else is grayed out. You only have the option of the 1.6 times crop on, for example, my Canon EOS R
9:50
And so you don't even have the option of playing with it as a full-frame lens. That's how restricted they are on their full frame RF mount
9:56
So just kind of erase that from your mind. In my test, I will say this
10:01
This is the sharper of the two lenses when you compare to the Tamron 11 to 20 millimeter
10:06
I believe another lens that will be coming to Canon RF mount
10:10
And so this is my preferred lens of the two. I like the fact that it goes a little bit wider and then also the fact that it is a hair sharper
10:18
Now, on the 10 millimeter end of things, there is some strong and fairly complex barrel distortion
10:23
And what I mean by that is that when you go to correct the barrel distortion and correct the lines inside, you tend to create a little bit of pincush distortion out on the edges
10:32
I used a plus 23 for this correction. It got the job done but the correction profile does a better job Vignette is heavier here on RF mount than what it was on Sony or for that matter very similar to what I saw on Fuji And that on the wide end
10:48
I basically had to max out the correction at the 10 millimeter end. And so 100% to try to eliminate
10:55
the vignette there. On the 18mm end of things, a little bit less vignette, only a plus 74 to correct
11:01
still quite a bit, but less vignette. However, also there's less distortion
11:07
It changes to a pincushion style distortion. It's much more linear, much easier to correct
11:11
only a minus four to correct on that end. I didn't really pick up on any kind of issue with fringing
11:17
either longitudinal, which is before and after the plane of focus, or lateral, which is near the edges of the frame
11:23
It seems like those kind of aberrations are well controlled here. When it comes to resolution, the lens is very sharp
11:30
in the center of the frames. It's a little softer out towards the corners. The corners sharpened
11:35
up nicely by F4 and they will look very good at landscape apertures. And diffraction shows up at about
11:43
F11. Minimum aperture here is F22. It will be very obviously softer by F22 and so I typically
11:51
try to limit my personal use to go no smaller than F11 because diffraction does seriously soften the image
11:59
I found better sharpness and contrast at 12 millimeters, also less distortion, and so if you're
12:07
seen, you can zoom in a little bit to that, you will get better results. And after that, it gets very slightly worse than that peak from 14 to 18 millimeters
12:16
Still stays very good, and stopping down helps to sharpen it up even more thoroughly
12:21
I found that flare resistance was fairly good, no major issues with flare there
12:26
obviously on Canon, Canon has great color science, so I liked the colors. I like the look of the
12:31
images I could get out of it. In conclusion, it has great image quality for such a compact
12:37
little lens. And so it's hard to imagine getting a better lens right now. And certainly here on
12:43
Canon, there is no better option if you want a wide angle zoom for APSC than this Sigma 10 to 18
12:49
millimeter F2.8. So for that reason, it is a great addition to the Canon RF system. It's a lens
12:56
I've actually, since it's came out for either Sony or Fuji, I've been recommending it to a lot of people
13:01
Someone is looking for a wide angle zoom. This is the one I've been pointing them to, because I think right now it represents the best package of having that fast maximum aperture
13:10
having nice build quality, and then having good autofocus and optical performance
13:15
In many ways, it makes even more sense on Canon due to having so few other alternatives
13:20
Now, I will agree that it's a little bit pricey. You know, it's hard to imagine the third-party lens being twice as much as the first-party lens
13:28
but it has a lot to do with the kind of lenses that Canon has made to this point for its RFS mount
13:33
which tends to be very, very cheap-type lenses. This is not a cheap lens, but it's also a very good, more premium-type option
13:41
So a little bit pricey at $650 bucks, US, but I think it's also a lot of quality for the money
13:47
Now, if you want more information, you can check out my text review
13:51
There's a link in the description down below. linkage there to a image gallery if you want to check out photos from it. There's also some
13:58
buying links there if you're interested in going ahead and purchasing. As always, thanks for watching. Have a great day and let the light in
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