Photography Gear News

"This new Sigma 12-24mm EX DG HSM II wide-angle zoom for full-frame cameras is a somewhat improved version of the previous lens, the solidly-built Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 EX DG Canon.
Let’s start off by taking a look at how these two lenses compare when mounted on a Canon 5D Mark II body:

• Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 EX DG HSM II Canon vs Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 EX DG Canon

The most striking improvement for the EX DG HSM II is with respect to chromatic aberration, thanks to the use of FLD (“F” low dispersion) glass, specially formulated to simulate the transmission properties of fluorite glass (i.e., lower refractive index and dispersion as compared to other optical glass). There is marked suppression of chromatic aberration at 12mm, particularly in the image center, and at 24mm, chromatic aberrations completely disappear.
Vignetting, transmission, and resolution for the HSM II also show improvement over the earlier EX DG lens, but nowhere near as dramatic:

• For vignetting, there is a net improvement at the 12mm focal length (e.g., f/4.5-5.6), and an overall improvement at all focal lengths from f/8 onwards.
• Transmission results remain low for both lenses, with a scarcely-worth-mentioning improvement of only 0.2 stop for the HSM II.
• For resolution, the HSM II generally better in the center and worse on the edges (for example, at 17mm, f/5).

One surprise, however, is that the HSM II scores worse for distortion than its predecessor. For both lenses, distortion is visible at 12mm, but negligible at higher focal lengths.
Although the EX DG HSM II’s DxOMark overall score (11) beats the EX DG’s score (10), obviously the improvements are not so significant as to induce EX DG owners to run out and replace their old lens with the newer model. For photographers looking for a wide-angle zoom and trying to decide between the HSM II and the EX DG, it is not clear that the improvements to the newer model are worth the more than 50% markup in price over the previous version."

"The Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 L II USM which belongs to the high-end L series of Canon is designed for high performance. Its 13 elements in 10 groups include two aspherical elements for limited the distortion and two UD glass elements to minimize the chromatic aberration. It also features “Sub Wavelength structure Coating” for reduced flare and ghosting and a floating focus mechanism to maintain the same image quality across the whole focus range.

But, how does it really perform?

The best to benchmark the Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 L II USM is to compare it with its excellent Nikon equivalent, the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G ED.

• Both lenses have very similar transmission and distortion with a slight advantage for the Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 L II USM
• The resolution of both lenses is also very similar, even if they both have their own weaknesses: the Canon is excellent at F/4 but less good at F/1.4. And, the Nikon, even if it is more homogenous, is really at its best above F/5.6
• Vignetting really is the weak point of the Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 L II USM down to -3 EV at F/1.4.
• Both lenses keep the chromatic aberration really low, with a small advantage for the Canon lens.

Overall, both these lenses are the very best for landscape photography with a Use Case score of 4.5 stars."