24mm F14 Dg Hsm Art Lens for Sony E Mount
This is an in-depth review of the Sigma 24mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens that was announced in Feb of 2015. Being a professional person-form wide-bending lens, the Sigma 24mm f/1.4 Art was made to claiming similar offerings from both Nikon and Canon, but at a much lower price point. Previously, Sigma had a lot of success with its Fine art-series lenses such equally the 35mm f/1.iv Art, and then it fabricated sense that the company would continue to make like course lenses as great, budget-friendly 3rd-party alternatives.
Without a doubt, Sigma did succeed with making the 24mm f/1.4 Fine art a remarkable lens with very impressive sharpness characteristics, something lenses like the Nikon 24mm f/one.4G struggle with when shooting at the wide apertures on loftier-resolution cameras. And with its MSRP of $850, it simply makes other like-form lenses look expensive in comparison. However, the lens does accept its weaknesses that are worth looking into, which is something we will explore in detail in this review.
I had a few encounters with this lens in 2015 and 2016 when traveling domestically and internationally, so aside from being able to utilize it for extended periods of time, I have also been able to test a few samples of information technology to make sure that I did not bargain with any sample variance issues, especially when measuring the optical performance of the lens. Sadly, I have not had a chance to actually review the lens due to my busy schedule until now.
It is articulate that Sigma was aiming high when designing the 24mm f/1.4 Art lens. With its impressive optical formula comprising of a total of 15 elements in 11 groups, four of which are low dispersion, three of which are low-dispersion (FLD) and two of which are of aspherical type. That'due south a lot of loftier-quality glass to use in a lens! In comparison, the Nikon 24mm f/1.4G has a full of 12 elements in 10 groups, two aspherical and only 2 depression dispersion drinking glass elements. Equally a outcome, the Sigma 24mm f/1.4 Fine art obviously gained some size and mass – the lens is both bigger and heavier than its Nikon counterpart. However, a few millimeters and grams here and there should not upset a potential buyer, since the performance gain is definitely worth it. If one is interested in going for a smaller and lighter 24mm lens, the Nikon 24mm f/i.8G would be a better candidate, at most half the weight.
Because that at that place are other, more than versatile lens options such as the Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 Art, who is a lens like the Sigma 24mm f/one.4 Art aimed for? Primarily, such lenses are aimed for photographing / video recording events and portraits, where the photographer or videographer wants to capture individual or group portraits in depression-light environments. The departure of ii stops between an f/i.iv and an f/2.8 lens is a pretty big deal, merely like shooting at ISO 800 vs ISO 3200. Being able to shoot at such large apertures with a wide bending lens also allows photographers to isolate subjects from the background, creating pleasing images with their subjects popping out of the scene. However, the lens can also be used for other types of photography such as mural, astro and travel photography.
In this review, I volition exercise my best to provide a thorough analysis of the Sigma 24mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art, along with image samples and comparisons to other wide-angle lenses with the aforementioned focal length, such as the Nikon 24mm f/i.4G, Nikon 24mm f/ane.8G and Samyang 24mm f/1.4.
Sigma 24mm f/ane.four DG HSM Fine art Specifications
- Mount Type: Nikon F, Canon EF, Sigma SA
- Focal Length: 24mm
- Maximum Aperture: f/1.iv
- Minimum Aperture: f/xvi
- Maximum Angle of View (DX-format): 61°
- Maximum Angle of View (FX-format): 84°
- Maximum Magnification: 1:five.3
- Lens (Elements): xv
- Lens (Groups): 11
- Diaphragm Blades: ix (rounded)
- Special Low-Dispersion (Elements): 4
- F Low-Dispersion (Elements): 3
- Aspherical (Elements): 2
- Super Multi-Layer Coating: Yes
- Autofocus: Yes
- Hyper Sonic AF Motor: Aye
- Minimum Focus Altitude: 25 cm / nine.eight in.
- Filter Size: 77mm
- Accepts Filter Type: Screw-on
- Dimensions: 85mm ten ninety.2mm / 3.3 in. x 3.half dozen in.
- Weight: 665 g / 23.5 oz.
Detailed specifications for the lens, forth with MTF charts and other useful data can be found on the Sigma 24mm f/ane.four DG HSM Art folio of our lens database.
Build Quality and Treatment
The Sigma 24mm f/1.iv Fine art is built very well, like to other Sigma Art-serial lenses – it has a overnice all-metal barrel and a metallic mount. The lens feels solid in hands and balances nicely on both lighter and heavier DSLRs. Focusing with the Sigma 24mm f/1.iv Fine art is a breeze – the focus ring is located on the front of the lens barrel and information technology is very smooth and easy to rotate, making the lens a not bad candidate for manual focusing. The front element of the lens does not extend or rotate during focusing. Exist warned though, if you accept been shooting with Nikon lenses, go along in mind that all Sigma lenses rotate in the opposite direction similar Canon lenses do. Not an issue for most people, but tin take some fourth dimension to get used to.
The Sigma 24mm f/1.4 Art features a 77mm filter thread, which is what one would normally encounter on all professional person-grade lenses. In that location is a switch on the side of the lens to motility between Autofocus and Manual Focus, similar to the switches institute on Nikkor lenses. The lens comes with a plastic petal type hood that stays deeply locked once mounted on the front end of the lens. In that location is a small plate with the letter "A" on the side of the lens, indicating the "Art" category of the lens.
Unfortunately, just like some of the earlier Sigma Art-series lenses, the 24mm f/1.four Art does not have a condom gasket on the rear mount. This means that you accept to watch out for dust, moisture and other debris between the lens and the camera mount or it might make it into the camera (and potentially into the lens). For this reason, I would recommend to try to proceed the rear metal mount surface area clean at all times.
Autofocus Performance and Accuracy
The Sigma 24mm f/1.4 Art features the same high quality "HSM" hyper-sonic motor plant on other Sigma lenses, which provides fast and quiet autofocus performance. I really don't have any complaints with AF speed, but when information technology comes to AF accuracy, I had some bug with the get-go lens sample. While the lens did well for focusing manually, I had AF accurateness bug when shooting at wider apertures. For example, have a look at the below prototype:
That's a dandy moment, except the photo is very out of focus. I did not imagine that AF accuracies could take been this bad – I had to dial +20 to get reasonable results, but fifty-fifty then there were all kinds of issues. Thankfully, the Sigma dock was a lifesaver and it did the chore, but this shows just how important it is to have a properly calibrated lens. If you are going to invest in Sigma lenses, the Sigma dock is a must-have, menstruum. The second sample was much amend, merely information technology as well had to have some AF adjustments to it to get the all-time results.
It is important to point out that these issues are non necessarily specific to Sigma lenses – any DSLR lens is prone to AF problems, due to the way phase detection autofocus works.
Source: https://photographylife.com/reviews/sigma-24mm-f1-4-art