Sigma 14mm F18 Dg Hsm Art Lens for Sony Emount Review

The Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Fine art ($one,599) is a lens that has a lot of entreatment for photographers working in certain disciplines—notably astrophotography—thanks to its ultra-wide field of view and bright discontinuity. You'll exist able to focus much more than easily in dim conditions because of its f/ane.viii design, ensuring that stars and night landscapes are crisp. It's non as good of an all-arounder equally another lens from Sigma, the 12-24mm F4 DG HSM Art, but if your images require a brighter aperture, the 14mm prime is an excellent pick.

Design

The 14mm F1.8 ($i,399.00 at Amazon United kingdom) is big. It measures 5.0 by three.8 inches (Hard disk drive) and weighs 2.v pounds. In lodge to capture images with such a wide field of view and bright discontinuity, its front element is huge and bulbous, and then yous tin't use front filters without a tertiary-party accessory holder. A slip-on lens cap is included to protect both the forepart glass and integrated lens hood, and Sigma also includes a rear cap and soft carrying case.

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Construction is solid, and in line with other Global Vision Sigma lenses. The barrel is metal at its base, but the majority is polycarbonate. Information technology's not cheap plastic, though—it feels very well made. Sigma states that information technology'south protected from grit and splashes, important for a lens that'due south likely to go a lot of use for landscape photography.

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The forepart chemical element is nigh certain to pick up a stray fingerprint from fourth dimension to time. Thankfully it has a fluorine front end glaze, which repels h2o and oil. That makes it easier to clean and to keep clean.

You can buy the lens in several mounts—Catechism EF, Nikon F, Leica/Panasonic/Sigma 50, Sigma SA, and Sony Eastward. At that place are a few differences between them. The Nikon has an electromagnetic aperture design, the same as recent Nikkor lenses with an Eastward designation, then information technology won't work with some older Nikon DSLRs. The Canon version is the lone i that can be used with an optional rear filter holder, the $36 FHR-11. You have to exist comfortable with a screwdriver to install it. And the versions for mirrorless cameras are a bit longer than the SLR versions, a requirement to maintain the same distance between the lens elemens and epitome sensor.

There's a wide, rubberized manual focus band, positioned at the wider office of the butt, at the base of operations of the lens hood. The narrower portion holds the merely control switch, an AF/MF toggle, and the focus distance scale. It's marked in feet and meters and has depth of field markings for f/4, f/8, f/11, and f/xvi.

The 14mm focuses as shut as 10.vi inches, measured from the paradigm sensor. This lets you go correct up close to a subject to shoot it, and when working that close at a wider discontinuity you tin can mistiness backgrounds, although you should take intendance in framing, equally subjects shot close with a wide angle lens are decumbent to perspective distortion. The macro magnification rating is a meager 1:9.8, just that's because the field of view of the lens is so broad.

Image Quality

I tested the 14mm F1.viii with the 50MP Canon EOS 5DS R. It delivers solid sharpness numbers, even wide open. At f/ane.8 information technology scores 2,963 lines on a center-weighted examination, ameliorate than the two,750 we look for at a minimum. Information technology's not an fifty-fifty field, though. Imatest shows that the center area of our examination chart is fantabulous (iii,870 lines), merely gives way to a middle surface area and edges that are a scrap soft (two,250 lines) in lab tests.

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I feel those numbers skew a bit low. Edges wait pretty good in shots taken in the field at f/1.eight, although non on the aforementioned level as the center. Field curvature is an event when testing ultra-wide lenses, as we need to place them very close to our exam chart in order to frame it from edge to border.

Lab results are about the same at f/2. At f/2.8 we see an improvement in center resolution (iv,180 lines), which brings the average score to 3,149 lines. At f/4 the border score improves significantly (2,981 lines), equally does the centre expanse (v,575 lines), for a center-weighted average of four,143 lines. That's a sharper issue than you get with the 12-24mm zoom at 12mm f/4 (3,295 lines).

The lens delivers peak epitome quality at f/5.six (4,620 lines) and f/8 (iv,668 lines), with edges that show about 3,500 and 4,000 lines, respectively. Those are outstanding numbers all around, especially when you lot consider that this is an ultra-broad angle lens.

Diffraction cuts into resolution at the ii narrowest options, f/xi (3,835 lines) and f/16 (3,336 lines), only they're both nevertheless useable options, even on a high-resolution body like the 5DS R. Lower-resolution sensors are a little less decumbent to showing the effects of diffraction.

There is some visible distortion, about iv.three percent. That'due south not overwhelming for an ultra-wide, but you volition want to remove it to get the best representation of reality, especially when shooting architectural subjects. Lightroom includes a profile for the lens that offers one-click corrections, merely any editing suite with a distortion control adjustment slider will practice the trick.

Nosotros also see some dimness at the edges of the corners of the frame when shooting at wide apertures. At that place's about a 4-stop (-4EV) drop from center to corner at f/1.8 and f/2, cut to -2.5EV at f/two.eight, -2EV at f/iv, and -one.5EV at narrower apertures. You won't notice it for almost shots at f/5.vi and smaller, but you'll want to dial in some correction in software if you notice that a vignette distracts from your wide-aperture shots. Over again, you'll need to do this in Lightroom or another editing suite, as in-camera corrections aren't bachelor for third-party lenses.

Conclusions

Ultra-wide lenses aren't everyday tools for most photographers, just for some disciplines they're indispensable. I tend to recommend zooms at this finish of the coverage range, as they're more versatile tools, giving you the power to capture a wider variety of subjects without irresolute lenses. Simply wide zooms are typically f/2.8 or f/4 designs, and there are times that you just need more light.

The Sigma 14mm F1.eight DG HSM Fine art is an especially appealing lens for landscape photographers who like to work at night and incorporate the night sky into compositions, equally information technology's much, much easier to manually focus with a brighter lens and a live view system than with a dimmer ane. Sadly, New York'south lite pollution ways that I wasn't able to do any real astro work with the lens during my review menses.

Information technology'south also an highly-seasoned option for architectural photographers, especially those who need to work quickly and don't ever have the ability to use a tripod. The bright discontinuity ways you'll be able to become crisp handheld images at a lower ISO than an f/iv zoom similar the Sigma 12-24mm ($1,399.00 at Amazon UK) or Catechism EF 11-24mm f/4L USM. Both of those zooms are Editors' Choice winners, although we requite preference to the 12-24mm due to its more than affordable price. Only if your needs require a lens that gathers more calorie-free, the 14mm is a good way to go.

Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Art

The Bottom Line

The Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Fine art is an ultra-broad prime lens with an extremely bright aperture and crisp optics.

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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/sigma-14mm-f18-dg-hsm-art

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