I recently upgraded my camera, going from a crop sensor camera (Canon 7D) to a full-frame (Canon 6D Mark II). Just about all of the lenses that I use are EF mount, so upgrading to a full frame didn’t result in my having to buy new glass… with one exception.

The wide angle lens I was using was the Canon EF-S 10-18 lens. It’s a fine lens. It’s not nearly as expensive as Canon’s EF mount wide angle lenses and, for the hobbyist, it seemed like a good fit. I took some nice shots with it and would definitely recommend it to a starting photographer with a crop sensor camera looking for a wide angle lens.

For a long time, however, I had wanted to get a nicer wide angle lens. However, I couldn’t really bring myself to pull the trigger and purchase an expensive wide angle lens. However, with the upgrade to full-frame and the fact that my 10-18mm is incompatible with a full-frame, I knew that it was time. I did some research and found that I liked the new Sigma Art lens. When I found it at a very good price, I knew it was time to pull the trigger.

I haven’t had a lot of chances to put it through it’s paces, but so far, I find that I like this lens. Image quality is very good and it is very easy to use.

The first few shots come from a salt marsh that is near my home. I looked up and saw the clouds and knew that it was the perfect day to test out the new lens.

These last two images are of the Manhattan Bridge, taken at Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn.

While I do like this lens, there are one or two things that I’m not crazy about. First of all, this lens is heavy — certainly much heavier than my 10-18, but that’s to be expected with a f/2.8 over a lens that is f/4-5.6.

The other is that this lens does not accept standard filters. I could purchase a set of 150mm square filters for it, but I don’t know that I can truly justify the expense of that right now, or that I even really want to put ND filters on this. It’s certainly something to think about.

That’s it for now. I will be giving this lens a much better workout when I take it to Acadia National Park later this month. Stay tuned for more images. In the meantime, do you have a favorite wide angle lens? If so, what is it, and what do you like about it?

Zev