Preface I was looking to a wider addition to my TAMRON SP17-50/2.

Beautiful mechanics; Extremely low distortion

Very poor edge sharpness; Disaster corner sharpness; Vary poor performance against the light

Never bought a Sigma before, and I had read that some of their wide-angle lenses felt a bit cheap. Pleased to say the 8-16mm looks and feels like the reasonably premium lens that it is. Nice and weighty, smooth focus and zoom rings, and a very snug fit to my A700 a-mount.All lenses are compromises.

Sharp Focus; Strong Construction

Slow Focus

Gary Wolstenholme takes a look at this unique lens, which is currently the widest rectilinear lens available for APS-C sensor cameras.

Outstanding sharpness in the centre; Excellent build; Unique wide angle field of view for APS-C cameras; Compact dimensions; Silent focusing; Low distortion

CA towards edges of the frame at 8mm; Falloff at 8mm; No way to attach filters

For the sole purpose of wide angle photography, the Sigma 8-16mm lens is the benchmark. The images are surprisingly sharp. An engineering marvel!

The Sigma AF 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM may be the new star in this lens segment. It's very sharp across the whole range straight from the max. aperture. Lateral CAs are also very well controlled. That's quite an achievement for such an extreme ultra-wide angle zoom lens.

A unique wide angle lens for APS-C cameras providing a rectilinear field of view equivalent to that of a 12-24mm lens on a 35mm camera.

Outstanding sharpness in the centre; Excellent build; Unique wide angle field of view for APS-C cameras; Compact dimensions; Silent focusing; Low distortion

CA towards edges of the frame at 8mm; Falloff at 8mm; No way to attach filters

The lens is very sturdy and the image is great in day light. The images are very sharp but its not that great for night photography. If you are looking to buy this lens, I suggest you check out the real item or silmilar items because 8-16mm is really wide.

SUPER and I mean SUPER wide

Wight; Not great for night photography

Add the Sigma 8-16mm Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens to our ever expanding list of coveted photography toys. The Sigma 8-16mm lens is the widest angle zoom lens currently in the market, built specifically for DSLR's with APS-C sized sensors.

The Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM Lens delivers very good image quality, has solid build quality, has fast and quiet HSM AF and has a reasonable price. But perhaps the most exceptional Sigma 8-16 feature is the ultra wide angle range of focal length range available - including the widest focal...

Wide-angle lenses are essential for landscape photography, which is one of, if not the most popular, photographic genre. So when a brand new ultra wide-angle lens hits the shelves it's always going to be of interest to many of us.