Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM

Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM for APS-C sized sensors has just been announced by Sigma. Sure to be a favorite for landscape and architectural photographers.

Probably the most encouraging thing about the release is how several of the lens elements have been upgraded over coatings used for their other wide angle offerings.  Performance from this lens should be solid, but I’ll be reviewing it once I’ve gotten my hands on one and shot with it.

Also, generally the widest end of a zoom will be a tad soft in the corners so this lens “should” improve in quality as you zoom in a tad.  It might be possible that at 10mm it will be sharper than Sigma’s current APS-C wide angle zoom offering (which I own and use on a Sigma SD14).  I’ll be able to compare the Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM to the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 DC HSM head to head.

The Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM is equal to the following 35mm equivalent on the following cameras:

Nikon APS-C cameras = 12-24mm (35mm equivalent)
Pentax APS-C cameras = 12-24mm (35mm equivalent)
Sony APS-C cameras = 12-24mm (35mm equivalent)
Canon APS-C cameras = 12.8-25.6mm (35mm equivalent)
Sigma DSLRs = 13.6-27.2mm (35mm equivalent)

Sigma has also announced the following lenses:

Sigma 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM

Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM

Sigma 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM

Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM

NEW CAMERAS

Sigma SD15 ==> which now has 5 AEB at +/-3.0EV (that’s huge!!!)

Sigma DP1x

Sigma DP2s

And finally, last but not least, they have updated their RAW processing software program SIGMA Photo Pro to 4.0 which now is multi-core aware and is claiming it will improve IQ for all cameras.