Review of Sigma 24mm F/14 Dg Hsm Art Lens for Sony E-mount

Sigma has faced a flake of an uphill boxing with the Atomic number 26 versions of their Fine art series if the anecdotal feedback I have received is a valid indicator of the market place.  Size matters, and the Fine art series lenses were already typically either the largest and heaviest in their grade or close to it…and that was on the larger DSLR bodies from Catechism, Nikon, and (to a much bottom extent) Sigma.  Sigma's decision to retrofit a number of its Art serial lenses with new FE versions was one that I both applauded and criticized.  I'm all for option, and, since I own several Sony cameras, I was glad for more native options there…though it is debatable how "native" these retrofitted lenses are.  They are essentially modified versions of the DSLR lenses with a born adapter for Sony mirrorless.  Sigma's MC-eleven lens converter is already my favorite lens adapter, and the Sigma ART series in a Catechism EF mount were already the easiest and best lenses to adapt to Sony mirrorless bodies, so Sigma took information technology a logical step forward by essentially building a defended adapter into each lens within a longer housing to allow both the proper "flange altitude" (more on that in a moment) and for a more complete sealing of the lens (the MC-11 does not characteristic any weathersealing.)  The final designs are clean and functional, but with i serious caveat – the Iron versions are both larger and heavier than their DSLR counterparts.

Gulp.

Inappreciably the right management, considering that mirrorless bodies are, by nature, smaller and lighter.

Some of it was unavoidable.  The Sigma MC-eleven does non but enable proper communication for a Sony torso to control the autofocus and aperture iris of a Canon EF lens, simply information technology as well moves the elements the advisable distance from the sensor of the Sony system so that, for example, infinity focus is doable.  The lack of a mirrorbox in a mirrorless photographic camera means that the sensor is much closer to the front end opening of the lens mount.  If you look into a Canon or Nikon DSLR (and lift the mirror), you will discover that the sensor is quite deeply recessed from the lens mount.  On a Catechism EOS camera (EF mount), the flange distance (from the lens mount to the sensor) is 44mm.  On a Sony Due east-mount mirrorless camera the flange distance is only 18mm.  Lens that are designed for Due east-mount will take that into account, merely in this case the original design is for that EF mount, so the elements are all in the wrong position and need to be moved abroad from the sensor to properly marshal.  The byproduct of this is that the lens housing must essentially include a spacer roughly the thickness of the MC-eleven built into the lens, which is what nosotros find.  The extra lens housing and electronics to adapt the lens mountain add weight, and the byproduct is that all of these ART series lens are heavier past roughly 100g and grow in length by around 25mm.

At present some people don't heed size and weight, and it is for these people that I'm thankful for the FE versions of the Fine art series, as the ART serial has always represented a stiff value when you examine the functioning-to-price ratio.  Sigma has not increased the cost of the ART series lenses on Sony Fe, which is meaningful when one considers that there is actress manufacturing these lenses along with increased internal complication.  These lenses remain a strong value when compared to competing lenses, and that is particularly true on Sony E-mount, which has both 1) fewer lenses compared to the DSLR market and ii) many Sony E-mount lenses are more than expensive than their DSLR counterparts.  I retrieve it makes sense for Sigma to brand this move, as information technology gives them a chance to leverage some optically excellent lenses into a new arrangement and thus expand the market for them.

These lenses are not for everyone, all the same, and I think information technology is imperative for Sigma to augment these releases with some dedicated lenses for Sony Atomic number 26.  I've reviewed all of their DN series lenses for Sony APS-C E-mount, and have been impressed by a number of them (and own a few of them), so I know that Sigma is capable of doing so.  It is still very early in the development bicycle for the brand new Nikon Z-mountain and Canon RF-mountain systems, and so it remains to be seen whether or not Sigma, Tamron, and others volition be able to develop cross-platform lenses for these 3 systems.  Interesting days are alee, though, I'm certain.

The Sigma 24mm f/one.4 DG HSM | ART was, I believe, the only ART serial lens that I missed reviewing when it was initially released.  In the past few months Sigma has been releasing new versions of its ART series in Sony FE (full frame E-mount), then I idea I thought I would kill two birds with i stone past both reviewing a lens that I had missed and likewise expanding the sample size of Fine art series on FE lenses beyond the 50mm f/i.4 ART Review on FE I did a few months ago.  The 24mm focal length is obviously a very popular one, and combining a great focal length with a great maximum discontinuity of f/ane.iv really expands the creative opportunities. Sigma had this Sony Iron market at this focal length and aperture value to itself for a few short months, but Sony has already thrown a fleck of a monkey wrench into the 24 ART's market by announcing the new 24mm f/ane.4 G Main lens.  That comparison will be interesting, for the new GM lenses costs 60% more only the 24 Fine art weighs 73% more than.  If my by experience bears true, the optical performance will be competitive between the two lenses, with some give and take from them both.  I'll probably revisit this when I review the 24 GM lens in the hereafter.

And then if size and weight and not deal-breakers for you, this lens will surely be interesting if yous are looking for a high performance, huge aperture prime lens at this focal length.  Read on to discover the pros and cons of Sigma's offering.

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Sigma 24 Art Build and Design

There are some minor modifications to the 24 Fine art in the new FE version that nosotros'll highlight hither, but this is also an instantly familiar lens to anyone who has used any of the Sigm Art series lenses.  You tin can get a detailed, interactive wait at the lens in this video:

Sigma pioneered a unique manner of its own when it launched its Global Vision await in 2013, and, while familiarity with the serial has eliminated any excitement over the design language  (this will exist the 14th ART series lens that I've reviewed plus some of the Contemporary and Sport lenses that share similar design philosophy), I nonetheless feel like these are beautifully and cleanly designed lenses.  Sigma has cleverly employed texture variations rather than color variations into the design language that adds both style and practicality.  The ART lenses similar the 24 ART take plenty of "grippy" surfaces that make it easy to handle and use the lenses.

The focus ring is wide, substantial, and easy to grip. You will also notation from the photo that this lens differs from lenses purpose-designed for mirrorless (and the focus-by-wire manual focus systems they use) by the inclusion of a distance window.  I don't listen this inclusion at all, though it is worth noting that mirrorless bodies rely on difference focus aids to help enable accurate transmission focus (should you use it), and so there is a proficient gamble you lot won't actually use the focus window much.  This lens does not have a particularly long focus throw – particularly between 1m and infinity – so manually focusing is a chip of a job in that range.  Far more useful to nigh people will be the fact that the part of the frame with the active focus betoken will automatically magnify in the viewfinder or LCD when input on the focus ring is detected.  Y'all withal probably won't utilise the MF band a lot, but this is a very useful aspect of Sony mirrorless.

Of unquestioned usefulness is the AF/MF switch on the lens barrel, which is something that many E-mount lenses exercise non take.  I always welcome it, as it gives y'all a "shortcut" to making that switch without relying on irresolute focus modes within the camera.

The lens comes with an included lens hood and padded case for the lens, which are always welcome.  The lens hood is petal-shaped, and one highlight for me on Sigma Fine art series lens hoods is the soft-touch transition area where the hood mounts onto the lens.  The lens hood itself is fairly standard plastics, while the lens body is a mixture of metals and what Sigma calls "thermo-blended materials", or high-grade engineered plastics.  The byproduct is robust, attractive, and…heavy.

Not in an absolute sense, as the 24 ART is really one of the lighter lenses in the Fine art series.  The Canon version weighs in at 1.46lb (665g), merely this FE version adds on a bit of weight.  Sigma has proven a trivial coy about the weight and length of the Fe versions of the lens thus far, with most retailers (and their own website) only listing the size and weight of the Canon/Nikon/Sigma versions for the FE listings, every bit if they are all one and the aforementioned.

They aren't.

I had to put the lens on my own scale, but, without caps, I weighed information technology in at 768g, or 103grams heavier than the EF version.  If there is any consolation, it is that the MC-eleven/EF philharmonic weighs 24g more (the MC-11 weighs 127g), so you have technically saved a bit of weight.  The incoming Sony 24mm f/1.4 GM weighs fifteen.7oz (445g), which ways that the FE version of the 24 ART is some 73% heavier.

Ouch!

The lens likewise grows a off-white bit in length, from about 3.55″ (90.2mm) to virtually 4 three/iv″ (126mm) past my measurement.  If you look within the rear of the lens, you lot volition mostly see a fair corporeality of space before the rear element.  The sides of the inner barrel are ribbed, and I suspect that at that place are electronics underneath them that role similarly to those in the MC-11 except tuned for this specific lens.  I've noted non only some improvements in the quality of focus of the Fe versions of the lenses vs adapted Sigma EF lenses only likewise improved smoothness in the performance of things like the discontinuity iris.  When using adapted lenses you get some extra noise when the discontinuity is beingness changed, and I've fifty-fifty seen a little quirky behavior there in the past.  With the Atomic number 26 versions discontinuity changes are smooth and silent…every bit they should be.

While the 24 Fine art has not received any kind of extensive redesign to improve internal sealing, Sigma has added a rubber gasket to the lens mount to assist improve grit and moisture resistance.  This isn't a substitute for true weather condition sealing, only information technology is certainly amend than null!

The original diameter of three.35″ (85mm) remains unchanged.  The resulting lens is on the larger side of medium, and quite a fleck larger than the GM lens (which is fairly shut in size to the Catechism EF version of the 24 Fine art).  Information technology's still a moderately sized lens, though, and I didn't have a hard fourth dimension with the balance on my Sony a7R3 that I used for a test, though it should be noted that I utilise the Modest Rig grip-extension on my a7R3 which does help to balance larger lenses.  Upwards front there is 77mm filter thread, which is large but common.  Hither is i intrinsic advantage over the 20mm f/i.iv Art, which has a bulbous front end element and cannot take traditional screw on filters.

Similar other Sigma ART lenses, the 24 Art is eligible for Sigma'southward mountain conversion service if you alter camera systems in the time to come, and, while you cannot use the FE versions of the lenses on the USB dock, you can receive firmware updates by downloading them from the Sigma website and running the update through the camera body.

All told, this is an attractive, modern, well-made lens that, different many competing lenses, is actually fabricated in Japan.  The only existent criticism is the size and weight, which definitely hit the high cease of the spectrum of lenses in this class on the Sony mirrorless platform.

Sigma 24 ART Autofocus

The pregnant claiming for Sigma is that these Art series lenses were not originally designed with Sony in mind.  I practice believe that Sigma has become more than witting of the expanding role of adapted lenses on Sony mirrorless since their market share has grown, but that wasn't as true when the earlier Art lenses (including the 24 Art) were beingness adult.  Furthermore, my experience has been that the poorest adapting experience of the ART series has been with the wider angle lenses.  Many of the normal and short telephoto options adapt to a about-native performance, but for some reason the wider angle lenses have a few more than glitches.

That brings us to the advantages of the FE version.  The commencement is that while the MC-11 oftentimes does an splendid job with adjusted lenses, it is i device that needs to multitask for a variety of dissimilar focus needs.  The 24 Fine art, similar other ART lenses in an Atomic number 26 mount, has defended hardware pattern to span the gap for that specific lens from the original focus system to the unique needs and advantages of Sony's hybrid AF system.  And, with a few exceptions that I'll detail in a moment, it does quite a proficient job of doing so.

In that location are some intrinsic advantages to Sony mirrorless focus.  Outset of all, the need for focus calibration is eliminated.  It's a treat to mountain a new lens on the camera and not worry about whether or not information technology is going to focus accurately.  The need for the USB dock is eliminated, and I have seen the best autofocus functioning out of Sigma lenses on Sony bodies that I've ever seen.  Focus is mostly authentic in a wide diversity of focus situations.  The lens fully supports Sony-specific attributes like Eye-AF.  And, when focus is nailed, the lens is capable of some impressive results equally this photograph at f/1.4 and its crop show:

Unfortunately I did experience some occasional glitches where the focus would accurately lock (as I could visually confirm through the viewfinder), but inexplicably would shift away when I clicked the shutter button.  Await at these 2 images.  The focus point was set in the aforementioned place for both images, but in the starting time image the lens shifted away focus at the final moment to, well, nothing.  Nothing is accurately in focus.  In the 2d prototype I redid focus and got authentic results (on the moss-covered co-operative).

I had a few other occasions where something like happened, and a few of these were even more surprising every bit they were at smaller aperture values like f/5.vi and f/8 where nailing focus should be very easy.  The lens just didn't go focus correct sometimes, which bluntly is pretty rare on Sony mirrorless.

I call back this is probably a solvable problem via a firmware update, only I did want to study that it did happen on occasion, though not regularly.  Most of the time I got very good focus results, even at f/1.four:

You may accept noticed that some of these images testify off the power of the 24 Fine art to focus downwards very closely (ix.84″/25cm).  This allows for a fairly robust one:five.3 reproduction ratio, or a 0.19x maximum magnification.  That'southward a useful figure, and I really appreciate the way that the close focus power of the lens increases the flexibility of the type of images that y'all can create with the lens.

In AF-C way the lens focuses silently and quickly.  In AF-S or single shot modes the autofocus is even so quiet, but you can hear the elements slide along a footling with major focus changes.  I don't know why y'all don't hear this with continuous autofocus, but I've observed this previously with other lenses, too.  All focus modes are available, and other than the glitches I've previously described, the autofocus functioning is very much like a native FE lens.

In that location's room for improvement, apparently, just for the nearly part this lens does what I would want it do in terms of autofocus.  It's certainly leaps and bounds alee of many other broad angle lenses that I've tried to adapt to apply on Sony.

Sigma 24 ART Iron Image Quality

Here is where the safe meets the route, in my mind.  When a company like Sigma elects to completely carelessness the idea of building a compact lens, their lenses must stand solely on their optical performance.  And, in fact, that is largely what Sigma has successfully done.  Many people associate the ART brand with optical excellence.  Is that true of the 24 Fine art, particularly since it is (by a fair margin) the largest option of its focal length in the Sony system?  We'll explore that in this section, equally the respond is a little, well, nuanced.  Information technology should be noted that optical formula of the Fe version of the lens is identical to Canon EF or Nikon F mount lenses, so if y'all are considering the lens in those mounts my observations will be as applicable.

My coverage of image quality falls into two categories: 1) Resolution, where I cover sharpness and contrast and ii) Rendering, which looks at the global await of images in areas like color rendition, bokeh, flare resistance, chromatic aberration, etc…  I would recommend that you picket the following video episode where I interactively breakdown the optical performance of the 24 Fine art in detail:

Sigma 24 Fine art Resolution

It should be noted that the 24 ART is fully supported by Sony'southward in photographic camera corrections, simply I'll be examining the uncorrected RAW images in this section to really come across the optical functioning.  All of the examination shots are taken on a 42MP Sony a7R3 camera body, which is a fairly demanding platform for lens operation due to the loftier resolution. Things like baloney and vignette will be corrected in-camera for JPEGS.  Every bit nosotros tin can see from the comparison below, however, there is some mild distortion (a tiny chip which remains afterward the Lightroom/ACR profile is applied) and some adequately heavy vignette (close to iii stops in the extreme corners).  The practical contour clears up the vignette nicely.

A await at the resolution and contrast shows an impressively precipitous center at f/1.iv with fairly skilful contrast, only the edge performance is quite soft by comparison.  The farthermost corners are worse withal.

A look at both sides of the frame simultaneously shows that the left side looks better than the right side.  This could betoken some decentering, though the 24 ART does suffer from some fairly farthermost field curvature which prioritizes a very abrupt center at the expense of the border performance.

Case in point is this shot, which shows an prototype composed with the subject near the edge.  Even when focused there, the image isn't peculiarly abrupt as the crop shows.

When the subject is nearer the centre, still, the image is very sharp fifty-fifty at f/i.4:

If your photographer way includes composing inside the center 2/3rds of the frame, this is a very sharp lens.  If edge sharpness is a priority, however, this won't be the lens for y'all.

Moving on to F2 we find that the edge sharpness improves merely a bit compared to F1.four:

In that location is some improvement in the center, withal, particular in improved contrast (due to some minor longitudinal chromatic aberration clearing up).  Levels there are at present exceptional, where they remain through the discontinuity range:

Nosotros start to encounter some significant comeback to edge operation at F2.8 (the eye is now perfect):

Optimal border performance (landscape discontinuity) arrives at F5.6, where finally the edge performance starts to more closely match the center functioning, though the edges are never quite as precipitous as the center at any aperture:

Simply there is one more strange phenomenon hither.  Wide open we noticed that the left side looked much better than the correct side.  But as the lens is stopped downwardly and the right side improves, the left side has not sharpened at the same rate.  Information technology now looks softer than the correct side (at F5.6).

In fact, equally I critically reviewed a large number of real-world images, I found that I essentially never got equal sharpness across the frame.  I side would always be sharper than the other, though that side might modify depending on where focus was.  I'm left to conclude that this lens has some centering problems, which other reviewers have also reported in the past.  If your priority is shooting landscapes in that location are probably meliorate choices.  When I compared the diminutive (but expensive!) Loxia 21mm f/2.viii Distagon, I noted that it was the sharper lens (and more even) selection for landscape work.

That'south not to say that you lot can't go cute landscape results from this lens (I got a number of them), but when I pixel peep them I realize that I've definitely achieved better results with other lenses at typical mural apertures.  Here are a few landscape samples that I think look pretty corking in an accented sense:

I would say that the target market for this lens is more than hymeneals or event shooters who need a strong center performance at F1.4.

Sigma 24 Fine art Rendering

We've looked at baloney and vignette previously, but how near color rendition, flare resistance, bokeh, and coma?  Some of these measurements are subjective, so in part you lot may demand to trust my feel with a wide variety of lenses.

Case in point is the color rendition from the 24 ART.  Afterward shooting with it for a while, I began to get a sense that the colors were a little flatter than what I was accustomed to.  I felt like I needed to inject a little more vibrancy into images in post than I was accustomed to.  I did a few comparisons to the Zeiss Loxia 21mm f/ii.eight that I had on paw, merely, to be fair, the differences weren't as pronounced every bit I expected.  The colors were a picayune more accurate from the Zeiss lens (see the grass and sky), and the vibrancy in the yellows was a footling ameliorate, merely I suspect most people volition look at this example and wonder what I'm talking about.

At the same time, on a central, instinctual level, I preferred the color rendering from the Loxia images that I took in similar situations.  At the aforementioned fourth dimension, like most lenses, when you start to get a sense of how they handle color, you can make some minor adjustments in postal service to produce color that yous really similar.  Hither's an paradigm that I think the color looks great on:

I did do a few extra steps in post to pump upward that outcome, though.  Hither's another that I did very fiddling to and I think looks good, though:

I'm less ambivalent about the flare resistance, however, which I consider to exist quite good.  The third epitome in the serial below is most the worst occurrence that I saw, and it showed that the lens is a fiddling more susceptible from side flaring than straight on bright lights.

While a 24mm lens isn't a prime "bokeh-maker", the 24mm isn't bad.  Information technology can focus down closely and has that huge maximum aperture, so there are a surprising corporeality of opportunities to create bokeh with the lens.  The first case beneath was actually shot with the lens stopped down, and besides shows that Sigma has washed a skillful job with the aperture shape remaining round with the lens stopped down.

I didn't notice chromatic aberrations beingness a meaning issue (either lateral or longitudinal).  The very minor corporeality of green fringing in this shot represents worse-case scenario during my test, and it was very mild.

Comatic aberrations (or coma) are another story, nonetheless.  While the lens is capable of sucking in a lot of lite at f/1.4 (always great for astro work!), it suffers from a fair bit of coma at every aperture brusque of f/2.viii, and there are ameliorate options at f/2.eight.  Even at relatively brusque exposure times (10 seconds in the shot beneath), I had an outcome with stars "stretching" or becoming a piddling more like dashes than points.  I shot another lens at the aforementioned time with a similar focal length, then it wasn't an issue with star movement.  It was more of a distortion.

I saw a similar event when I did a review of the 24-35mm f/2 ART zoom lens, so it must be a "Sigma thing".  The new 14-24mm f/ii.eight ART lens is vastly improved in this regard, and was the starting time Sigma lens that I wholeheartedly embraced for astrophotography.  The 24 ART left me a little underwhelmed even at f/ii.8, as star points were still not equally crisply defined equally what I would like.

In conclusion, the lens has some some excellent strengths, including great center sharpness, low distortion, skillful flare and chromatic aberration control, along with reasonably good bokeh (focal length notwithstanding).

This is countered past somewhat poor corner functioning at broad apertures, uneven centering, and poor coma functioning.  I don't recall that any of these things are deal-breakers, merely I recall the people that will well-nigh appreciate this lens are those that practice weddings, events, or reportage more than those who shoot landscapes or night skies.  Use the lens to its strengths and I recollect it will reward you.  Check out many more images in the Image Gallery here.

Conclusion

Ironically my time spent with the Sigma 24mm f/1.four Fine art made me realize how far the Sigma ART serial has come in the past three years.  They've improved so many of the weak areas of this lens and other earlier ART series lenses, from AF performance to color rendition to coma control.  I practice think that the Sigma 24 ART has a office for both DSLR shooters and Sony mirrorless shooters, but the lens is essentially a series of compromises.  On Sony, you are compromising size and weight to get a more reasonable cost compared to the Sony 24mm f/1.iv GM lens.  Optically y'all are compromising edge performance to get great center performance.  I besides noted a few focus glitches here and at that place along with a centering issue.  This lens remains a stiff value for those looking for this focal length to utilize at weddings, for portraits, and other events, but neither is it a home run as a multipurpose lens or dedicated landscape option.  If you opt for information technology, do so with an intent to use it its strengths, and I retrieve you volition be happy with it.  Only if you are a Sony shooter looking for lite and meaty, you lot will need to wait elsewhere.

Pros:

• Offers a strong value of price to performance
• Very stiff center sharpness from f/1.iv
• Good flare and chromatic aberration control
• Fairly low distortion
• Supports all Sony focus modes and Eye AF works fine
• Nicely constructed

Cons:

• Edge operation lags far behind heart performance
• Some occasional focus glitches
• Field curvature and some centering problems
• Poor coma control
• Larger and heavier than competing lenses

Thanks to Sigma Canada for the loaner!

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Keywords:  Sigma 24mm, Sony FE, Sigma 24mm 1.four, Sigma 24mm F1.4, f/1.4, Review, Art, Sony a7R3, Sony a7riii, Dustin Abbott, Sigma 24mm Review, Sigma 24 ART Review, Sigma 24 one.4 Review, Coma, Sharpness, Chromatic Abnormality, Autofocus, MC-11, Emount, Due east-Mount, Easily On, Video Test, Sample Images, 24mm GM, 24mm 1.iv GM, 24mm, 1.iv, G Master, GM

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Source: https://dustinabbott.net/2018/10/sigma-24mm-f1-4-art-review/

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