You’ve certainly noticed that I’m a big fan of Sigma’s Art series! My all-round lens, which I don’t want to miss, is the SIGMA 24-70mm F2.8 DG OS HSM | Art. But also the classical lens, a normal focal length for full-frame cameras, the 50mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art, has become a faithful companion that never lets me down.
The lenses from this particular series guarantee a high level of optical performance and great expressive power. Even among true professionals and experts this product series has an excellent reputation! Thanks to its brilliant image performance these lenses aren’t only perfect for landscapes, portraits, still-life, close-ups or snapshots, but even for more artistic paths in photography.
Over the past few days where I had the pleasure to tour around the world a bit and explore some very nice and special corners far from home, not only my two classical lenses were my companions. I’d also put the SIGMA 85mm F1.4 DG HSM Art into my photo bag (which became heavier and heavier).
My 85mm fixed focal length is a classical lens that could be of great interest for portrait and fashion photographers in particular. However, I still wanted to test it while traveling. But don’t worry, I’d also like to share my thoughts about the performance as a portrait lens in the next few days.
Some technical details about the lens: With an 85mm focal length and an impressive light intensity level of 1.4, this lens counts among the tele-zoom lenses. Thanks to this aperture the lens offers a great chance to create some really nice bokeh. The detailed bokeh and high-quality build-quality of this lens guarantee first-quality photos. The closest focusing distance is 85 cm, which, speaking for myself, I found quite a pity while testing it. But well, there’s still macro lenses like the SIGMA 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM, right? Its filter diameter is 86mm and it weighs incredible 1,130 grams. The excellent quality and optical performance may balance the heavy weight in some ways, but every once in a while one would prefer a lighter alternative.
The lens comes with integrated optical image stabilization. This serves the purpose of shooting without using a tripod with up to 4 time intervals and without blurring the images.
The manufacturer describes the integrated autofocus as fast and noiseless. Despite using my Sony Alpha 7II and the MC-11 converter, I didn’t face any problems with the focus, which makes me very contented. Under bad/dark lighting conditions, the focus will be a bit slower, but everything still worked out fine without any problems. I feel that it works even a bit better and faster with a more closed aperture than with an open aperture.
Conclusion
The lens definitely has good chances to become one of my favorites. I like its focal length, I was able to take some great photos in an interesting city (I’ll tell you about it on my next photo walk) and I’m looking forward to testing the lens when doing portrait shots. A light-intense lens is a must for me as I don’t want to miss out on taking pictures even under less optimal lighting conditions. After some first tests I’m very pleased with this lens and I look forward to taking many more pictures with it!
Foto[GEN]ERELL 