The Photo Times: Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens

In summary

The 35mm focal length has provided a classic angle of view for general photography ever since the days of film, and it’s just as relevant for ‘full frame’ cameras in the digital era. Whether it’s equally useful for cameras with APS-C sensors depends on how much you need lens speed.

This is an excellent ‘walkabout’ lens and great for street photography. It’s rugged enough to take bushwalking, although on the heavy side and not water-resistant. But if you’re looking into the future and seeking lenses that will match the 24-36-megapixel sensors of current high-end DSLRs, this lens won’t let you down.

There’s plenty of competition for this lens in both angle of view and lens speed, with Canon, Nikon, Samyang, Sony and Zeiss all offering 35mm f/1.4 lenses and most also having slightly slower lenses with the same focal length in their ranges. The Sigma lens is very competitive in three key areas: performance, build quality and price.

Only the Samyang lens is cheaper than the Sigma model, which is much more solidly built. The Sigma lens is roughly half the price of the cheapest 35mm f/1.4 lens from Canon, Nikon, Sony or Zeiss.

Full review

Sigma’s 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM is the first model in the company’s ‘Art’ series of lenses. Designed primarily for cameras with ‘full frame’ (36 x 24 mm) sensors, it can also be used with APS-C sensors, where it covers a focal length equivalent to 56mm on Canon cameras or 52.5mm with other brands (Nikon, Pentax, Sigma and Sony). Nikon and Pentax mount lenses lack an aperture ring.

Â Side view of Sigma’s 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens. (Source: Sigma.)

The Art range represents premium-quality lenses and Sigma is one of the few manufacturers whose products are solely made in Japan. Every lens is checked before leaving the factory with a proprietary MTF measuring system that can detect faults previously undetectable with normal quality control inspections.

The optical design of the lens is relatively complex with 13 elements arranged in 11 groups. Exotic elements include two aspherical, three SLD (Special Low Dispersion) glass and one FLD (â€œFâ€ Low Dispersion) glass, which has low-dispersion characteristics equivalent to fluorite.

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The diagram above shows the arrangement of the exotic elements in the optical design. (Source: Sigma.)

Sigma’s Super Multi-Layer Coating reduces flare and ghosting to deliver sharp and high contrast images and is effective in backlit conditions. The lens is supplied with front and end caps and a petal-shaped lens hood that attaches via a bayonet mount. This mount on the review lens was rather stiff but the hood carries an ‘in-out’ mark to help you orientate it correctly for easier attachment.

Who’s it For?
The 35mm focal length has provided a classic angle of view for general photography ever since the days of film and it’s just as relevant for ‘full frame’ cameras in the digital era. Whether it’s equally useful for cameras with APS-C sensors depends on how much you need lens speed.

Only the Samyang lens is cheaper than the Sigma model, which is much more solidly built. The Sigma lens is roughly half the price of the cheapest 35mm f/1.4 lens from Canon, Nikon, Sony or Zeiss.

Build and Ergonomics
Â Like Sigma’s other ‘Art’ lenses the 35mm f/1.4 is made mainly from TSC (Thermally Stable Composite) plastic and metals, with a brass mount that is ruggedly constructedÂ and has treated surfaces to ensure durability. TSC combines minimal thermal shrinkage with outstanding hardness and has 25% greater elasticity than conventional polycarbonate. It matches well with metal parts and enables designers to produce slimmer zoom rings and scaling rings

Positioning a large-aperture aspheric lens at the front of the series of lenses in the design has enables Sigma to design the lens with a relatively slim barrel. This lens also helps to minimise both distortion and vignetting. Â A single FLD glass lens with the same performance as a fluorite lens is combined with four SLD glass lenses to minimise chromatic aberration.

In combination, they minimise chromatic aberration, astigmatism and field curvature and optimise light distribution in the lens. This enables it to achieve high resolution from the centre to the edges of the frame, along with clean and aesthetically pleasing bokeh.

Autofocusing is controlled by a Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM), which moves internal elements to ensure quiet, fast and accurate autofocusing along with superior optical performance at close focusing distances. The diagram below shows how the floating internal focusing system operates. This system reduces amount of lens movement required and provides additional aberration control.

The focusing ring is approximately 45 mm wide and located 10 mm behind the front of the lens. It carries a 35 mm wide rubberised grip band with fine ridging. The ring turns smoothly with a nice amount of resistance to minimise accidental adjustments. It rotates through about 95 degrees with soft stops at each end of the range.

A distance scale is inset into the barrel just behind the focusing ring. It’s marked in metres and feet, ranging from 0.3 metres to infinity. Unfortunately the dark grey paint used for the marking can be difficult to read in dim lighting through the small window covering the scale.

Just behind the distance scale is a depth-of-field marker, which applies to the Æ’/16 aperture setting. No infrared index mark is provided.

This section of the lens barrel is matte finished, with ridges on the base to improve handling comfort and security. A slider switch on the left side provides AF/MF selection.

A circular metal patch carrying an ‘A’ is embedded between the distance scale and AF/MF slider, indicating it is an ‘Art’ series lens.Â The barrel between this section and the mount has a shiny black finish that ends with the mounting plate. Engraved on the lower side of this section are three figures that indicate the year the lens was released.

The inner side of the lens hood is ribbed to suppress reflections and rubber is incorporated into the bayonet attachment to ensure a secure fit. The lens cap features a new design, which Sigma says is an improvement; but it’s still a pinch-style attachment that’s not noticeably superior to others of its type.

This lens is threaded for 67 mm diameter filters, which is the same diameter as required for Nikonâ€™s 35mm f/1.4 lens but smaller than the 72 mm filters used on the Canon equivalent. It is compatible with the optional Sigma USB dock and Optimisation Pro software, which enable users to adjust and fine tune focusing parameters.Â

Performance
Â Shots taken with the review lens were similar in character to those we took with the 18-35mm DC zoom we reviewed at the same time. They contained plenty of detail with natural-looking colours and nicely nuanced tones, regardless of which camera we used the lens on.

Our Imatest tests were with the lens on a Canon EOS 5D Mark II body but we also took test shots with the EOS 7D and EOS 1100D bodies to check its performance with crop-sensor cameras. With all three bodies, the review lens produced excellent results.

Our tests showed the ‘sweet spot’Â for sharpness to be a stop or two on either side of f/4 where resolution was highest. However, even at f/1.4 this lens showed good centre-of-field sharpness, although the expected edge and corner softening was apparent. Interestingly, it was less than we expected for such a fast lens.

Resolution remained high through to f/11, at which point diffraction limiting took effect, although the drop in resolution between here and the minimum aperture of f/1.6 was less than we normally see. The graph below shows the results of our tests.

Lateral chromatic aberration was well controlled and remained within the negligible band at all aperture and focal length settings. In the graph of our Imatest results, below, the red line separates negligible and low CA.

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Â Autofocusing was very fast and very quiet, thanks to the Hyper Sonic Motor, which makes this lens ideal for photographers who enjoy recording movies. Even in low light levels, the review lens locked on quickly and accurately and showed no tendency to hunt for focus.

Some flare artefacts were captured when the lens was pointed towards a bright light source, although it was relatively difficult to force the lens to flare. There was no loss of contrast in strongly backlit shots due to veiling flare.

With a minimum focusing distance of 30 cm, this lens isn’t suitable for macro work. But it can be used for shooting close-ups of larger flowers and insects. The f/1.4 maximum aperture produces a very shallow depth of focus, making it easy to blur backgrounds.

The nine-bladed iris diaphragm ensures background highlights remain circular throughout the aperture range. Bokeh was generally attractive with very smooth transitions between dark and light tones and very little outlining of highlights.

Vignetting was much as we had expected for such a fast lens. At f/1.4 there was a noticeable darkening around the periphery of the frame, particularly in the corners. However, this was barely visible when the aperture was stopped down to f/2.8 and gone by f/4.

The peripheral illumination correction function in the Canon camera bodies we used could not pick up correction information from this lens so no corrections were applied whatever the aperture setting. This factor should be borne in mind if you rely on in-camera corrections for this aberration. (If you don’t, it’s easily correction with editing software.)

Rectilinear distortion was also much as we predicted, with very slight barrel distortion occurring. This is low for a lens of this type.

As part of Sigma’s Global Vision design, this lens is compatible with the new Sigma USB dock, which enables users to customise AF microadjustments to suit their personal preferences. Sigma’s MSRP for this product is US$79; it’s selling in Australia for around AU$85).

Conclusion
As a walkabout prime lens, Sigma’s 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens is a winner, combining a very competitive price tag with excellent resolution and good all-round performance. Despite being on the large side, it is very well balanced and not out of place on smaller DSLR bodies, although it is best matched to cameras with ‘full frame’ sensors.

This lens would also make an excellent ‘workhorse’ for a photojournalist, who would find its low-light capabilities very useful. The fact that it focuses quickly and almost silently makes it equally useful for video shooters.Â

SPECS

Â Picture angle: 63.4 degreesÂ

Â Minimum aperture: f/16

Â Lens construction: 13 elements in 11 groups (including 2 aspherical elements, 3 SLD elements and one element of FLD glass)

Â Lens mounts: Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sigma, Sony

Â Diaphragm Blades: 9 (circular aperture)

Â Focus drive: Hyper-Sonic Motor

Â Stabilisation: No

Â Minimum focus: 30 cm

Â Maximum magnification: 1:5.2

Â Filter size:Â 67 mm

Â Dimensions (Diameter x L): 77 x 94 mm
Â Weight:Â 665 grams