shangyrhee wrote:
I am going to Paris & Rome in June and in the market to get a wide angle lens for my Pentax K3. I am currently looking at Sigma 10-20mm & Tamron 12- 24mm.I would appreciate you personal experiences & recommendations. Thank you, Shang
Tamron doesn't make a 12-24mm. Tokina used to, but superseded it with a 12-28mm f4 a year or two ago. Both those Tokina are good lenses. The Tokina 11-20mm f2.8 is, too, but it's larger, heavier and more expensive (it superseded an earlier 11-16mm f2.8). On an ultrawide lens, most people actually don't need an f2.8 lens... they just think they do.
Tamron makes a 10-24mm ultrawide. It's okay, but personally I think the Tokina are better lenses.
HOWEVER... TOKINA 12-24mm, 12-28mm, 11-16mm, 11-20mm and 10-17mm ARE NOT OFFERED IN PENTAX MOUNT. This is probably by agreement between the two companies so that the less expensive, but equal quality Tokina don't compete with the Pentax lenses.
Instead, Pentax themselves offers a 12-24mm f4 that's manufactured for them by Tokina. (They also both sell a 10-17mm, but that's actually a fisheye zoom... with stronger, less-corrected wide angle distortions.)
Sigma makes 10-20mm in two versions.... One is a smaller, lighter, less expensive variable aperture (f4-5.6 or f4.5-5.6?). The other is a bigger, heavier, more expensive non-variable f3.5 version. The latter has been on sale lately, which makes me suspect they are about to replace it with a new model and are discounting it to clear the shelves of the older one.
So, actually your only ultrawide zoom choices for use on a K-3 are:
- Pentax 12-24mm f4
- Tamron 10-24mm f3.5-4.5
- Sigma 10-20mm f3.5
If you consider used too, you might be able to find the Sigma 10-20mm f4.5-5.6.
I've used a Tokina 12-24/4 for many years on my Canon cameras... I liked it's build and image quality better when I compared with the Tamron and Sigma lenses. But, for Pentax cameras that's only available in the Pentax version, which sells for about $700 (compared to the Tamron 10-24mm and Sigma 10-20mm for around $450-$500.)