Sports Photo Guy -- Gear -- Sigma 12-24 vs. Tokina 10-17

After my initial test of the Tokina 10-17 as a wide angle substitute, I've begun using it in my business travels to complement my 18-200 VR. At a fraction the size and weight of my Sigma 12-24, the fisheye zoom fits easily in my Crumpler Horseman along with my D80, SB-600, and aforementioned 18-200.

For this comparison, here is the reference image:

Lee Chapel, Washington & Lee University, Lexington, Virginia
Nikon D80, Sigma 12-24 @ 12mm, 1/100 @ f11, ISO 100

For this comparison, I shot the same scene with both lenses at their widest settings. Images were shot in RAW with minimal post-processing applied: only ACR 3.7 default settings, with PTLens distortion correction for the 12-24 and fisheye correction (125/19) for the 10-17. Images from the 10-17 were then cropped to match the approximate field of view of the 12-24, and resized to the full 10MP dimensions (bicubic resampling) prior to extraction of 100% crops. No sharpening was applied at any point.

A few things become immediately apparent: the Sigma is definitely the sharper of the two, though not by a lot. Wide open, the Tokina even appears to have a slight edge. The sweet spot for both lenses is around f8-f11. Note also a very slight color difference; I feel the Tokina's rendering is the more accurate one.

To compare corner sharpness, click here.

Buy the Tokina	Buy the Sigma
For Nikon	For Nikon
For Canon	For Canon

f-stop	Sigma 12-24	Tokina 10-17
f3.5
f4.5
f5.6
f8
f11
f16
f22