Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG DN Art E-mount lens review by nandbytes
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 4 flare control: 5 overall: 4.8 | tested on:
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ownership: | I own this lens |
compared to: | Sony FE 85mm f1.4 GM Samyang 85mm f1.4 AF FE Sony FE 85mm f1.8 |
price paid: | £850 (used) |
positive: | Sharp! sharp! sharp! Small size build ergonomics rendering |
negative: | Distortion |
comment: | I have been through most of the 85mm options on Sony and in one way or another I have liked them all and I find sigma to be the best in terms of the overall compromise. FE85/1.8 was nice and light with really fast AF and sharp results. Good price too. The rendering was its weakness. I went up to the 85GM after that, The AF was noisy but still accurate. The rendering was top notch and probably my favourite of the bunch. But the slower AF did leave something to be desired and its big and heavy. Then tried the Samyang 85mm f1.4 AF FE which is actually sharper than the GM wide open. Found the AF to be worst than GM. The rendering while was slightly better than the FE85/1.8 was not as good as GM either. It was kinda fat like the GM but was rather light. But really good price for the performance. Now I have the Sigma ART 85mm f1.4 DN, Its actually rather small. If it wasn't for the weight you could easy mistake it for a f1.8 lens. Sharpest 85mm of the lot which makes cropping really easy and nice to use as a 135mm on A7RIV. The AF nearly as good as the FE 85mm/1.8. The rendering isn't quite up to GM standards but rather close. It has the ergonomics of a Sony GM lens too. So all in all makes for the best most balanced compromise of the bunch IMO at a cost that's not too prohibitive. The distortion is easily fixed while its the worst of the bunch. This one area where post-processing easily fixes the issue. And for portraits the distortion can sometimes work in its favour! |
rating summary

- total reviews: 1
- sharpness: 5.00
- color: 5.00
- build: 5.00
- distortion: 4.00
- flare control: 5.00
- overall: 4.80