Wide angle choice Leica 16-35, Panasonic 18 or Sigma 17

[mfoegen]

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I am looking for a wide angle. Any experience or thoughts on the Sigma 17/4, the Panasonic 18/1.8 or the Leica Zoom (16-35)?

Much appreciated.

[huwm]

What about the Sigma 16-28mm f2.8

I don’t use it very much but that’s because I don’t need wide that often 

Fairly small and light and I can carry it ‘in case’

[LeicaR10]

Mfoegen,  First welcome to the Forum.  You will find a wealth of knowledge and experience that photographers are more than willing to share with you.  Of course everyone will have an opinion to include myself.  Second, you will find the Leica SL 16-35 Super-Vario-Elmar to be most excellent.  I used it for years to create landscape photographs that my clients purchased in spades.  I can not speak to the Sigma or Panasonic lenses, but definitely recommend the SL 16-35.  Leica is also rumored (Leica Rumors) to be fielding another ultra wide angle lens as well.  In the meantime, I suggest you read this review of the SL 16-35.  His assessment is pretty much spot on.  Also, I am including a link for you to check out photographs taken with the SL 16-35.  You have choices.  r/ Mark

Try:  https://www.vieribottazzini.com/2018/05/leica-super-vario-elmar-sl-16-35mm-f-3-5-4-5-asph-in-depth-review.html

Try:  https://onfotolife.com/lens_sample_photos?lens_id=4090&page=1&focal_min=0&focal_max=800&aperture_min=0&aperture_max=32

[beewee]

Sigma 14-24mm is also very good.

[Paul2660]

Sigma 20mm 1.4 is excellent also. Basically coma free wide open. Very sharp corner to corner. 
 

Paul

[Sohail]

The Sigma 14mm/1.8 is worth looking into too. Here are a couple of images:

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[mfoegen]

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Hi all,

thank you for the tips. I have two SL Summicrons, which I really love. I will definitely buy the 21 once they get around of producing it. Currently I am looking for something that is to stay. That means: Either a prime that extends my range, or a Zoom that I would take if I do not want to carry a selection of primes (e.g. on a hike). One prime (either Sigma 17/4 or Pana 18/1.8 or Sigma 20/1.8) or one Zoom, probably Leica because my experiences with the Leica glass (Summicrons, 90-280) is a joy.

[Donald M]

I recently bought the Sigma 17mm dgdn F4.0 as an addendum to my VE24-90. My main reason at first was the light weight (230gr) so that I could extend my wide angle possibilities without carrying another heavy zoom lens like the 16-35 or a Sigma zoom variant. Based on the positive reviews I decided to buy the lens. On my MacBook the pictures look excellent, but I have to check them on my monitor at home to be completely sure. 
The weight is indeed very pleasant compared (and in addendum to) the 24-90. I hardly noticed the extra weight.
I find it a haptic design fault of the Sigma lens that next to the A (aperture from the camera) sits the F22 of the lens. Already twice, without noticing it immediately, it very easily shifted from A to in the middle between A and the F22 setting, which means F22. Better would have been f4.0 directly next to the A setting and then the aperture settings upwards and/or a harder stop between the A and F22 and other aperture settings. 

[beewee]

I took all my native L-mount lenses out today and did some controlled tests with the SL2-S on a tripod with multi-shot for 100MP. I shot every single lens at every single marked focal length found on the SL zooms, plus 14mm for the Sigma: 14/16/19/21/28/35/50/75/90/120/160/220/280 mm. Aperture was set wide-open, and at every single full-stop increment from f/2-f/16. And every photo was taken with the same center focus point about 1km away and the camera tilted around 30 degrees such that the view of the horizon went to corner of the frame (CameraLabs style) and I did this tilting +/- 30 degrees so I tested all 4 corners.

Lenses tested include: 14-24/2.8 DG DN, 16-35/3.5-4.5 SL, 24/3.5 DG DN, 24-90/2.8-4.0 SL, 28/2.0 APO SL, 90-280/2.8-4.0 SL.

The results could be summarized as follows:

• There were minimal differences in sharpness between any of the Sigma and SL zooms at 100 MP
• The Sigma 14-24/2.8 DG DN held up with the SL zooms for the focal lengths where they overlapped, and was marginally sharper than the 16-35 SL when stopped down to around f/5.6 on both lenses
• The 24/3.5 DG DN was as sharp as all other lenses tested at 24mm when stopped down to f/5.6. It was also very good wide open and mainly suffered with vignetting.
• The only lens that was noticeably sharper than the rest of the group, not surprisingly, was the 28 APO SL
• With 100 MP multishot, it seems contrast detect AF using the 24MP sensor was sometimes the limiting factor in terms of getting consistent focus on all lenses when shooting at 100 MP but for normal 24 MP single shot, the problem doesn’t really exist.

Overall, if you’re shooting the SL2-S, any of the lenses tested would be perfectly capable of rendering very sharp images at 24 MP. There’s really no reason to pick one over the other when it comes to sharpness, especially when stopping down slightly such as what you may do for landscape shots. It’s more about ergonomics, weight, focal range, filter options, and other considerations that you may have that should be the deciding factor.

While comparing 100% crops between lenses at comparable focal lengths, I was most impressed with the Sigma 24/3.5 DG DN since it’s such a light weight, compact, and affordable lens that is able to keep up with lenses costing 3-10x its price, albeit you can’t change focal lengths.

For myself, if I’m going out to shoot with one lens, I’d probably choose either 16-35 SL or 24-90 SL for their versatility in most landscape shooting scenarios. The pick between the two would depend on the scenery that I expect to capture. If I’m shooting astro and northern lights, then it’s the Sigma 14-24 DG DN. If I’m willing to sacrifice versatility for absolute image quality and the unique look wide open, then it’ll be the 28 APO SL.

Edited May 7, 2023 by beewee

[rcusick]

The Panny 16-35 F4 is light and spectacular.