This looks like it might be a rather interesting lens as an alternative to the Nikon 12-24mm. If there are any early adopters out there, I would love to hear your impressions & reports.

They are not available yet (here in the UK).

I asked my local dealer about the lens yesterday. It came up because I was thinking about adding a 12-24mm to some other photographic kit I was buying this week. He suggested that I wait for the 10-20mm to come out and to test the lenses back to back before buying one.

This lens takes the same size dioptres as the 12-24mm (and 18-35mm & 17-35mm Nikkors). Also the zoom ring is conveniently at the rear of the lens barrel, which makes it easy to add a zoom gear and drive it from a control in the housing.

Alex

This looks like an interesting lens. It could give a bit wider view in a zoom for Nikon users.

It will be interesting to see how the optical performance compares with the Nikkor 12-24mm. Also the price has yet to be announced. Perhaps it will drive down the price of the Nikon lens. Judging only from the specs, the faster focusing with USM than the Sigma 12-24mm will be nice. This brings it up to speed with the Nikkor. But the Nikon still has an edge in max aperture with F4 throughout rather than F4-F5.4. Of course this is a bit wider than the Nikon 102 deg vs 98 deg.

I'm eager to see if this will fit in the Ikelite port with a zoom clamp. They list the diameter at 3.3" which is right at the maximum to fit the port but not enough to be under the 2.8" requirement for the zoom clamp. The Nikon 12-24mm is listed as 3.2" dia. It has a special zoom clamp to fit the larger diameter. I wonder if the 3.2" is for the main barrel or the filter thread which is considerably wider. The sigma appears to be wide throughout. My guess is that it won't fit. Perhaps it will fit in the new 8" dome? It would be nice to take advantage of the 9" minimum focusing distance. No diopters required.

The article didn't say if this will fit on the 10D or not. This could be an attractive alternative to the Canon 10-22 that doesn't fit. Especially if it fits an Ikelite port.