Photography News Issue 63

Photography News | Issue 63 | photographynews.co.uk

44

First tests

Sigma40mmf/1.4DGHSMArt £1099

Original image

Specs

Sigma has reinvented itself in recent years, from an independent provider of competitively priced independent lenses to cutting edge lens supplier making no-compromise lenses that often outperform its camera brand rivals. This has been driven by its Art lens range, designed for the highest resolution and performance. Some of these lenses are cheaper than the Canon, Nikon or Sony glass, while others are bigger and more expensive so Art lenses are certainly not just a budget or lesser option. With cinematographers demanding even higher resolutions, Sigma has now built its first lens specifically as a manual focus cinema lens for the ultimate optical quality, then fitted this glass into an Art-style AF lens body. So that is why we have the 40mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art, available in Canon, Nikon, Sony and Sigma mounts for full-frame shooting. Over a grand for a 40mm prime is a lot of cash, when you could buy a Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens for roughly a third the price, weight and size. However, it is a totally different beast and this advanced Sigma outperforms any 50mm standard lens hands- down. The Sigma has more glass, in more groups, with a more advanced optical design. You can even use aUSB dock to give the lens firmware updates as new features are introduced. And there’s also the fact that it’s a 40mm lens, not a 50mm. With a full-frame, 40mm falls between the traditional standard view of the 50mmand the documentary shooters’ traditional favourite, the 35mm – although it’s close to the 43mm theoretical standard of full-frame. In use, it’s feels like you have a 50mm lens on but are able to get a bit more of the scene in the shot, and you soon get used to it. One of the reasons to use such fast aperture lenses is to shoot it wide open for the shallow depth-of- field. That makes focusing critical, and on a DSLR you might struggle depending on how good your AF system is. On a mirrorless camera like the Sony, it nailed focus every time as we switched between face detect and normal single-point AF. The lens uses Sigma’s HSM (Hyper Sonic Motor) which is fast and quiet, and the autofocus can be overridden by manual control by turning the

Price

£1099

Format 35mm and APS-C Mount Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony E, Sigma Autofocus Sigma HSM Construction 16 elements in 12 groups Special lens elements One aspheric, 3 FLD and 3 SLD elements Coatings Sigma multi-layer coating. Front and rear elements have water- and oil-repellent coating Filter size 82mm Aperture range F/1.4-16 Diaphragm Nine blades Internal focus Yes Manual focus Yes, full-time manual override Minimum focus 40cm Focus limiter No Maximummagnification 1:6.5 Distance scale Yes Depth-of-field scale No Image stabilizer No Tripod collar No Lens hood Lockable hood supplied Weather-sealed Dust and splash proof Dimensions (lxd) 87.8x131mm Weight 1200g Contact sigma-imaging-uk.com

F/1.4

F/2

F/2.8

F/4

Above The 40mm f/4 isn’t light or compact, but it’s a stunning performer

F/5.6

focusing ring. Here, mirrorless again helps with things like focus peaking and getting it perfectly sharp. It focuses as close as 40cm, and at this distance focusing becomes critical. The lens is from the same design school as others in the Art series of primes, with a smooth barrel and a deep focusing ring towards the front plus pro-level weather sealing and build quality. There’s a small window for focusing distance and a switch to swap between manual and autofocus. There is no built-in image stabilisation, so DSLR users are out of luck in terms of controlling the shakes. Mirrorless cameras with in- body stabilisation obviously have a clear edge here. That’s if you don’t mind a lens that totally overpowers the smaller camera body and makes it feel unbalanced. Sigma has the MTF charts to prove this is the firm’s highest-resolving lens ever, and our tests back that up. It’s stunningly sharp and produces very detailed, crisp images with lots of contrast. And the images are sharp right across the whole frame, notably from f/2.8 to f/8. It is still very

impressive at wider apertures while at f/11 and f/16 diffraction does soften results slightly and some unsharp mask helps. There is hardly a whiff of distortion, and coma – the comet-like tail on highlights that can blight fast, wide-angle lenses – is absent. There is virtually zero chromatic aberration, but some vignetting at the widest apertures, although this disappears after f/2. We used a Canon EF mount version, but on a Sony A7R III with Sigma’s MC- 11 converter. If we’d used the lens on a pro Canon body, the clever in- built aberration control would have made things even better straight out of camera. Flare is well controlled thanks to the lens hood and Sigma’s multi-layer lens coating, and looks okay even when you provoke it enough with a very bright highlight. Then of course comes the magic bokeh, so crucial nowadays, it seems. With a fast f/1.4 aperture and a nine-bladed diaphragm, it produces beautifully round bokeh. Even the pixel-peeping Instagram crowd will love it. AD

F/8

F/11

F/16

Above Impressive performance at every aperture is what you get from this stunning lens from Sigma. Not cheap, but great value

Below The Sigma lens is particularly useful when it

comes to achieving impressive bokeh and shallow depth-of-field

Verdict

Sigma set out to build its best ever lens with the 40mm f/1.4 Art, and it has definitely achieved its goal. It’s a stunning performer, but all that optical greatness comes at a price. At £1099 it’s not cheap, and at over a kilogram it’s not light. It’s also a slightly odd focal length that most photographers don’t really consider. But if you want a stunning performer that is built to last, this Sigma is a winner.

Pros Optical performance at all apertures, good bokeh Cons Bulky

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