Pro Moviemaker Spring 2018PMM_SPRING 2018

50MMPRIME LENSES

across the whole frame, only losing a slight amount of that bite when shot wide open at T1.5. That’s very, very impressive. And there is no sign of any distortion at all, where all the other 50mm lenses we tried had some barrel distortion. Vignetting is virtually non- existent, too. There is no discernable focus breathing, so as you change focus the image stays the same size in the frame which is a key bonus of a true cinema lens. Only in real extreme cases of dark subjects against a very bright background was there a hint of some purple fringing. This was less than on any of the other lenses we tried and can be removed in post-processing. Flare is well controlled and very pleasing, when you provoke it into flaring with a very bright highlight. And you have to go to extreme lengths to get it to flare, too. But a lens is more than just about optical quality, it’s about using it and getting the best out of it on your camera. The Sigma has a very smooth focusing and iris action with a long throw that makes manual control easy and natural. The resistance is just right, giving the lens a real quality feel that spoils you when you have to switch to lesser lenses. And of course the standard-sized teeth fit rigs, too. And having no clicked stops on the aperture means precise control of exposure is easy. You just can’t do that on a DSLR AF lens. The cons of all this metal bodywork and lots of glass is in size and weight, and it comes in at 1355g/2.99lb. On cinema cameras like the Sony FS5 or FS7 it’s right at home, giving you something large to grip onto that counterbalances

RIGHT The geared focus and iris rings are smooth with just the right amount of resistance. Quality. .

add ND filters, which can be a bit of a faff and a considerable expense considering the lens has a huge 95mm front element with an 82mm filter thread. Of course, on many cinema cameras you can dial in the built-in ND filters. The Sigma is solidly built with such precise tolerances that just fitting it onto the front of your camera is an exercise in precision engineering. It’s a very tight fit, to keep things lined up as precisely as possible. There’s certainly no sloppiness at all. The Sigma has more lens elements in more groups and more fluoride elements than all the other lenses on test, and it shows in the results. If you’re worried about future-proofing yourself against not only 8K but HDR capture, too, then Sigma will be the lens that you can buy in confidence, knowing there is no other fast prime that comes close to its performance at this price.

the camera well. It’s the perfect companion. And as these cameras tend to be used with external monitors and have focus peaking as well as centre-zoom features to see just how sharp your image is, getting your shot in focus is as easy as it can be. But on smaller cameras like the A7 series or even A6300 mirrorless, the sheer size and weight is a bit of an issue as the glass is much bigger and heavier than the camera. You can use it handheld, but it’s much better on a rig and certainly on a tripod. And with these cameras offering smaller screens, getting everything sharp can be more of an issue, unless you use an external monitor. So if you’re rigging up your mirrorless like a cinema camera, it’s ideal. For run and gun, less so. And with a minimum aperture of just T16, then if you want a shallow depth of field in bright light you’ll be needing to

BELOW On a cinema camera the Sigma is right at home. Being full-frame it also works well on Sony's A7 series.

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SPRING 2018 PRO MOVIEMAKER

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