by Garik
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I am very keen on purchasing the Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM lens, but one of the draw backs of this lens is that I can't put normal / standard filters on it. Can anyone please advise if I could purchase any third party filters or any way to attach filters onto this lens? |
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At 16mm, you can use 72mm filters with the lens cap tube fitted with a slight increase in vignetting wide open. For some of the focal length range, you can use Lee or Cokin square filters hand-held (or with a jury-rigged standard that attaches to the camera body rather than to the lens), but the field of view will be bigger than the standard 4-inch filter size at the 8mm-end of the scale. Normally with lenses of this design (and with fast long telephotos having huge front elements) the filters are either attached at the back of the lens (replacing a plain glass "filter" that is installed otherwise) or are fitted into a drawer of sorts near the rear of the lens. Sigma did not choose to go that route, and due to the extreme convexity of the front element and the extreme field of view at 8mm, there is no way to use a front-mounted filter at all focal lengths. (A polarizer would be out of the question in any case with a lens that wide, except as a "special effect".) |
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I love this lens. A guy here has used a Cokin X Pro filter with a universal adaptor to overcome the problem. I saw some company make a similar thing specifically for this lens (that I can't find after much googling) which was for a silly $200 or so, but the cokin + universal ring is likely much more reasonable. I've not bothered trying this for mine yet as I quite enjoy the natural colour and light changes that such wide angles produce in the skies already. Even with such a contraption, a polariser is out of the question as you'd get distorted effects rather than what the filter is designed for at such wide angles. |
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Like Dreamager says the Cokin X-pro filter holder is the best option for the Sigma 8-16mm lens, I use the X-pro filter adapter and the 77mm lens adapter ring. The 77mm ring fit's with just enough space to put some protection tape on the lens or ring to protect the lens from scratches when you slip the ring over the lens barrel. With a few turns of tape the filter adapter ring sits tight and safe on the lens and works rely well. (REF: http://www.stockholmviews.com/sigma_8-16/sigma-8-16mm-filters.html) Another however more expensive is to adapt the SW-150 Filter Holder from LEE filters that are made for the Nikon 14-24mm lens for full frame DSLR's. Regards/Stefan |
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