It also seems to be the best lens for milky way panoramas in this focal length range, featuring almost perfect coma correction and less vignetting than the competition. While the Sony lens is the easy choice from the performance standpoint, paying for it is the hurdle. This is essentially average for a 50mm lens, but not as useful as the magnification figure on most 35mm lenses. Do you remember the cult Canon EF 135 mm f/2L USM? It’s been praised practically since forever because of its image quality; I admit I was entranced by its achievements myself when I finally got to test it. Still it’s worth comparing these results to the performance of a good contemporary lens. By f/4.0 the maximum resolution of the Canon in the frame centre amounted to 43.2 lpmm. The Sigma A 1.4/40 by f/1.4 fared the same, within the margin of error, but with one difference: it got to that value on the very edge of full frame…

Often, subjects are not placed in the center of a composition, and lenses typically show decreased sharpness in the periphery of the image circle, where light rays are refracted to a stronger angle than in the center. Optics: The lens is a pretty complex design with 16 elements (including 6 special dispersion elements and one aspherical element) in 12 groups. That makes 24 glass/air surfaces where reflections can cause problems. There’s fluorine coating on the front to repel water, dust, and dirt and should make for easier cleaning. The Sony ZA has 12 elements in 8 groups, the Zeiss Batis has 9 elements in 8 groups. [+] While the wide-aperture color blur and moderate geometric distortion keep this lens from perfection, the Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG DN Art Lens is otherwise a great performer optically.

Sigma 14mm f/1.4 Art: Video Capabilities

The Sigma 40mm F1.4 DG HSM features a rounded 9 blade diaphragm which creates an attractive blur to the out of focus areas of the image and an optical design comprised of 16 elements in 12 groups, including three F Low Dispersion (FLD) and three Special Low Dispersion (SLD) elements. While a 50mm lens used (on a full-frame body) is modestly too wide for tightly framed headshot portraits (a too-close perspective is required), this angle of view is excellent for wider portrait framing. Lateral (or transverse) CA (Chromatic Aberration) refers to the unequal magnification of all colors in the spectrum.

The USPS love stamps shared above have an image area that measures 1.05 x 0.77" (26.67 x 19.558mm), and the overall individual stamp size is 1.19 x 0.91" (30.226 x 23.114mm). Size (diameter x length): With a diameter of 88mm (3.5in.) the length of the lens varies with the mount: with a Nikon F-mount it’s 129mm (5.1in.), with a Sony E-mount it’s 157mm (6.2in.). Put a Nikon FTZ-adapter on the F-mount version to shoot on a Nikon Z body and you end up with 159mm length. The lens hood adds 50mm (2.0in.) and is 106mm in diameter bringing the total length to a massive 21cm (8.2in.) in front of a modern mirrorless body. This is a huge lens even topping the monstrous Zeiss Otus lenses in length and clearly showing its heritage as a DSLR design that has to cope with the larger flange distances. The Sony ZA is not a small lens either but at 79 x 112mm plus 37mm for the lens hood (98mm diameter) it looks small in comparison. And the Zeiss Batis is even smaller at 81 x 87mm + 40mm for the lens hood (91mm diameter). [-]Sigma claims the lens is dust- and splash proof and like all of Sigma’s full frame E-mount lenses there is a rubber gasket to be found at the bayonet. Autofocus This is what I did here, I refocused for every shot to get the best possible result at different locations in the frame (center, inner midframe and outer midframe).

When shooting at f/1.4, vignetting is noticeable towards the corners of the image frame. That’s not an altogether bag thing, as it can give an attractive look to many types of image, including portraits and still life shots. And if you’d rather have a more uniform level of peripheral brightness, in-camera correction for vignetting is available. The lens relies more heavily on in-camera correction for distortion, as is the case with the majority of recent lenses designed for mirrorless cameras. Whereas the previous DG edition was essentially a zero-distortion lens, the DN exhibits noticeable pincushion for a 50mm prime, when auto correction is disabled. All in all though, image quality and all-round performance are absolutely fabulous. Regarding the Sony E-mount version of this lens, Sigma develops, manufactures, and sells lenses based on the specifications of the E-mount, disclosed by Sony Corporation under license agreement. The outside is made from the same high quality polycarbonate we already know from the other Sigma Global Vision lenses. For example, Sony has six FE 50mm prime lenses in their line-up at review time, plus a 55mm option for those who need just a little more. Autofocus is handled by Sigma’s Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM). It’s a smooth and quiet system, but I did notice the 40mm performed slower than the 28mm Art. Again, because I was shooting these lenses on different camera bodies, I can’t say for sure if the 40mm itself was at fault. Still, the 40mm Art’s performance was strong, and most photographers won’t find flaw with its autofocus speed. Our TakeThis is your cheapest option when looking for a native 35mm f/1.4 lens with AF, personally I would pay slightly more to get the Sigma 35mm 1.4 Art. The exposure of the f/1.4 to f/2.0 corner crops has been lifted in post to reveal more details. portrait distance

It has a minimum focusing distance of 40cm /15.7in and a maximum reproduction ratio of 1:5.3, and an aperture range of f/1.4-f/16. The lens has a dust- and splash-proof structure and there is a special water- and oil-repellent coating on the front lens element. What is the Sigma lens's greatest advantage? Price. It is significantly less expensive than the Sony lens. What are the differences compared to the Sigma reviewed here? No AF, lower corner sharpness, slightly less smooth bokeh rendering, more vignetting, more pronounced onion ring bokeh, better flare resistance, only 420g heavy and much smaller size. While distortion correction AI is very good, this correction is destructive at the pixel level as some portion of the image must be stretched or the overall dimensions reduced.

The image quality comparison shows the Sony lens slightly sharper in the center of the frame at f/1.2 Coma is absent in the center of the frame, gets worse toward the edges/corners, and generally appears as a comet-like or triangular tail of light that can be oriented either away from the center of the frame (external coma) or toward the center of the frame (internal coma). The f/1.4 results show strong color separation, and you should expect to see this separation in some images, such as in the details of a white bridal dress. Weight: 1177g (42 oz.) in the F-mount version plus 61g for the lens hood. Sigma does not list the weight of the E-mount version which has a 28mm longer “throat” but I assume that’s an additional 100g. If you use the F-mount lens on a Nikon Z body the FTZ-adapter adds 133g (4.7 oz.). The Sony ZA is only half as heavy at 630g (22 oz.) plus 30g lens hood. The Zeiss Batis is incredibly light in comparison at only 362g (13 oz.) plus 32g for the lens hood. But then it has a one stop slower focal ratio. [-] This lens produced practically no flare effects even at narrow apertures in our standard sun in the corner of the frame flare test, an excellent performance.