Best Value UWA ?

shotokan101

Ex Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2009
Messages
78,936
Reaction score
29,369
Points
15,348
Location
Glasgow
Hi folks - current kit lens is a Sony 18-55 F3.5/5.6 - and I'm thinking about what would be a good value UWA....

Any suggestions ?

Ta,

Jim
 
I don't think either the Sony 11-18 or the Sigma 10-20 are cheap. Dyxum may point you at other options but both of the above always seem to go for £300 or so on ebay. the upside is that you probably wouldn't lose much if you bought one and sold it on.
 
Hi folks - current kit lens is a Sony 18-55 F3.5/5.6 - and I'm thinking about what would be a good value UWA....

Any suggestions ?

Ta,

Jim

I think you are stuffed for low priced UWA lenses. There are some manual fish-eye lenses on eBay from Russia, but I didn't want a fish-eye.

Ended up buying Chris's Sigma 10-20mm off him for around £285(?). It's probably used more than the Tamron 17-50mm that I have because I like UWA. Well worth it.
 
I think you are stuffed for low priced UWA lenses. There are some manual fish-eye lenses on eBay from Russia, but I didn't want a fish-eye.

Obviously it would be great if there was a "useable" UWA for under £150 :D but at the moment I'm actually interested in those that people think are "good value" as opposed to necessarily being "cheap" - so if the best "bang for buck" out there in your opinion is a £300 or £400 Jerkoffski 10-20mm F3.5-4.6 then lets hear about it - who knows I might have a winning lottery ticket sitting in that pile of 10 I've not checked yet :rolleyes:

Jim
 
I think what you need to do is to find someone who had both the sony 11-18 and sigma 10-20 or somewhere that has both so you can test and decide for yourself. The more I've looked at lens reviews on Dyxum the harder I'm finding it to find real comparisions especially for these lens.

Pricewise for new lens an imported sigma is the cheapest option. Second hand on ebay there doesn't seem to be much in it.
 
Last edited:
I think I would stay away from the UWA zooms unless you have the money to go FF and get the CZ

I'm tempted by the Sigma Fisheye 10 F2.8 EX DC HSM
 
I think I would stay away from the UWA zooms unless you have the money to go FF and get the CZ

I'm tempted by the Sigma Fisheye 10 F2.8 EX DC HSM

Any particular reason ?

Jim
 
I'm tempted by the Sigma Fisheye 10 F2.8 EX DC HSM

Ahoy JetSetWilly!

Have you seen the variants of the Samyang 8mm f/3.5 MC Aspherical fisheye? Plenty on evilBay under Samyang or Falcon for £179.99 albeit with metal a-mount. It is MF but the reviews (and there are plenty) are pretty darned impressive as are image samples if you don't want AF.
 
Look at all the pics taken with these 10-20 zooms they are nearly always at the 10mm end

Read as much as I can over the last month and the bad parts seem to stick in my mind such as the Sigma 10-20mm is like mush in the corners between 10-15mm at any aperture and even then never gets any better than very soft.

Not much difference for the Tamron 10-24mm soft in the corners and does not improve no matter what aperture you use

The prime is much better rated and I like the distortion effect :smashin:
 
Thanks JSW - I misunderstood your post and didn't realise you were suggesting a UWA Prime :facepalm:

...so in that case - what's the best value UWA Prime too and are they generally cheaper or the same price but faster glass ? :D

JIm
 
Ahoy JetSetWilly!

Have you seen the variants of the Samyang 8mm f/3.5 MC Aspherical fisheye? Plenty on evilBay under Samyang or Falcon for £179.99 albeit with metal a-mount. It is MF but the reviews (and there are plenty) are pretty darned impressive as are image samples if you don't want AF.

Yes seen some stunning shots from these but still not drawn to buy one lol
 
Thanks JSW - I misunderstood your post and didn't realise you were suggesting a UWA Prime :facepalm:

...so in that case - what's the best value UWA Prime too and are they generally cheaper or the same price but faster glass ? :D

JIm

It isn't cheap lol I think the cheapest I've seen it is £420 from HK and between £500-£600 here :devil:
 
It isn't cheap lol I think the cheapest I've seen it is £420 from HK and between £500-£600 here :devil:

**** Me Sideways ! :eek: - you're not kidding :( - wonder why they're so expensive - especially APS-C designed ones ?

Jim
 
Thanks for that - interesting reading - guess I'd better keep buying those lottery tickets :D

Jim
 
An ultrawide aps-c prime (10mm f/2.8 anyone??) would be great.

Sadly I haven't seen an UWA zoom for aps-c that has good corner performance except the 11-16mm tokina which isn't available for Sony :thumbsdow

That said with UWA the soft corners doesn't matter that much imo, the chromatic aberration that all UWA's seem to produce is annoying
 
My Sigma 10-20mm arrived today from Onestop Digital, only taken a few shots around the house tonight with the onboard flash and it seems to be sharp enough to me, so I don't think I've got one of the totaly soft ones that people have reported.

It's the first time I've used Onestop Digital but what a great service, ordered Sunday arrived today at 10am via Fedex, which was fully track-able all the way to my door. :thumbsup:
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom