Ring Lens

May 31st, 2008 admin Leave a comment Go to comments

ring lens
Can I use a 77-72mm Step Down ring for Sigma 10-20mm lens on a Canon Rebel?

I have a bunch of filters for my 28-135mm lens with a 72 mm thread, but I've just bought a 77mm Sigma 10-20mm lens (which I love!) Given it's a wide angle lens, is it advisable that I buy a new set of filters or can I use a step down? Any help would be well appreciated!

The suggestion to shoot a photo by holding a 72mm filter in place and see what happens is a good one. You'll probably see vignetting or dark corners on your photo, esp. if you take a photo of a white wall or blue sky.

In a pinch, you can normally use step down rings without problems on a telephoto lens, since their angle of wide is quite narrow. But I'd be hesitant to use them on a wide-angle, especially an extreme wide angle like a 10-20mm. If you are going to crop so don't mind some vignetting then maybe it doesn't matter, but then why use such a wide-angle lens in the first place?

BTW, you probably don't need a whole new set of filters. Some filters like polarizers aren't as useful on ultra wide angles (they're difficult to use, and give a weird looking sky that most people don't like). I'm not a big filter user, but I have a set for my most used lenses, and improvise with Cokin-Ps - the adapter rings are relatively cheap, but sometimes I just hold the filter up against the lens! LOL....