The Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art: Another Look at this Amazing Lens

It was just about a year ago that the Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art lens was announced at Photokina 2012 as part of the Sigma Global Vision. And what a year it has been for this amazing wide, fast prime! This lens quickly won the hearts of both technical reviewers and creative photographers around the world for its amazing optical performance even wide open at F1.4, its design and build, and of course, its incredibly competitive street price.

Fast Glass — Detail shot of the front element of the Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art lens.

Here’s a rundown of just some of the highlights of the first year of this lens

DxOMark declared it “one of the sharpest lenses ever tested on a Canon camera.”
Then they did it again, for Nikon, on the super-high resolution Nikon D800!
It was awarded the TIPA award for Best Expert DSLR lens
It was recognized by DPReview with its Gold Award
Camera Grand Prix Japan 2013 Lens of the Year
PCMag.com Editor’s Choice Award
Our First Look blog posting, published at 4PM on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving had become our most popular blog posting of 2012 by the time the office reopened monday morning!
LensRental.com raved and praised this lens for the performance in one of the very first published tests.
Hundreds upon hundreds of 5-star reviews on retailer and fan sites from happy photographers.

Recently, I headed to Sandy Hook, NJ well before dawn to catch both the sunrise, and moonset over the beach. Here, facing west, is Moonset, captured in morning twilight with the Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art lens on a classic 5D. Look very close on the horizon for the Sandy Hook Lighthouse, too! 1 second at F16, ISO 100, on a tripod, of course!

More than anything else, this is a lens that inspires creativity. Wide open and close up for razor thin focus with gorgeously soft background feel and bokeh, or stopped down for serious depth of field with edge-to-edge sharpness, on full-frame and crop chip cameras, it simply delivers gorgeous imagery time and again.

Dune Flower — A flower on the dunes at the tip of Sandy Hook, NJ, facing the early morning sun. 1/400 F4.5 ISO 100, on the 5D classic.

Early Morning Light — The early morning light plays between the trees on a ramshackle building at Fort Hancock in this HDR shot made from six bracketed source frames. Worked up in Photomatix Pro and tuned in ACR8. Shutter speeds vary at full stops, F5, ISO 100. Classic 5D. Tripod used, obviously. Note the edge-to-edge sharpness!

Grasses — Morning light plays off of a field of tall dune grasses gone to seed as WWII fortifications in the background continue their slow erosion and decay. 1/8000 F1.4 ISO 100, classic Canon 5D.

Not a week goes without a fan sending us an email, or posting to our Facebook wall, just to let us know how happy they are with this lens and wanting to share a recent photo. For example, this great lead image of two girls on John Pennwarden’s portfolio site was made with the 35mm, and it was the only lens Mark Federighi used on a recent road trip from Chicago to Yellowstone. This is the sort of customer and fan feedback that makes us all smile! (See more great fan work links, and add your own links to this Facebook thread .)

A lone crab claw sits on a plank on the beach at the very tip of Sandy Hook, NJ. 1/5000 F1.4 ISO 100, Classic 5D.

Yoga — Morning Tree stretch silhouette. I used the stick to help determine focal plane, and originally was just going to stand, quite seriously, for this self-portrait silhouette, but the bend in the stick suggested to me to mirror it with a tree pose. 1/8000 F6.3 ISO 100. 5D classic. Notice how well ghosting and flare is contained, even directly into the sun!

Handstand — A variation on the above, this time doing a handstand…

This lens simply feels good in the hands and makes fantastic images and you could leave it at that. However, knowing that it comes with a four-year US warranty and offers four-zone microfocus adjustment and firmware updates with the USB Dock and Sigma Optimization Pro means that even at that fantastic street price, this one of a kind lens offers a great degree of purchase confidence plus Sigma’s exclusive user-updatable firmware and better-than-in-camera microfocus tweaks ensure this lens is a smart investment in your long-term photographic visions. And knowing that each and every 35mm F1.4–like every new lens in the Art, Sports, and Contemporary lines–is individually tested for sharpness and performance on the A1 MTF device means that every copy is a champion.

Detail, Battery Gunnison — A detail of gearing of one of the two huge guns at Battery Gunnison, Sandy Hook, NJ. 1/250 F1.6 ISO 100, 5D classic.

Detail of a rusting door at Battery Peck, Sandy Hook, NJ. 1/200 F1.4 ISO 100 5D Classic.

Detail, Battery Peck — Another detail shot of Battery Peck. Handheld at 1/250 F1.6 ISO 100, 5D classic. Even at widest apertures, this lens is amazingly sharp edge to edge on the focal plane!

Wider shot of this same lock box at Battery Peck, Sandy Hook, NJ, drawing your eye to the Prickly Pear Cactus. Can you believe this photo was made nine miles from the Empire State Building? 1/1000 F2.8 ISO 100. Classic 5D. — Wider shot of this same lock box at Battery Peck, Sandy Hook, NJ, drawing your eye to the Prickly Pear Cactus. Can you believe this photo was made twenty miles from the Empire State Building? 1/1000 F2.8 ISO 100. Classic 5D.

It’s the sort of lens, that no matter where I’m heading and whatever I’ve got in mind to find that day, almost always squeezes its way into a corner of whichever bag I’m hauling. Fast and wide on full-frame, or fast and standard on crop-sensor cameras–it really makes me happy to use this lens on my cameras.

In fact, it recently inspired me to get up well before dawn–at 3:30PM, in order to visit one of my favorite spots, Sandy Hook, NJ (part of Gateway National Recreation area), as soon as the park gates opened at 5AM , on a morning when the full moon would be setting in the west as the sun rose over the ocean to the east.

First Light — A gull flies above the surf line as the sun climbs above the horizon on the Atlantic Ocean. 1/25 F13 ISO 100, Classic 5D.

Predawn Surf Churn — Small waves churn in predawn light along the Atlantic. 1/80 F2.8 ISO 100, 5D Classic.

Grays, Pinks, Purples — The incredibly soft and delicate colors of the predawn sky reflected on the water and wet sand. 1/60 F5.0 ISO 100. Classic 5D.

Ever changing — Every instant, the overall feel of the morning light changes. Here, its is all about the water rushing right up to the bottom of the frame. 1/60 F5.0 ISO 100, 5D classic.

And last December, it was the primary lens I used for a creative time lapse video Christmas card to share with friends and family to wind down 2012.

Self portrait Gray — A grayscale self-portrait frame from a time lapse sequence made last December with the Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM | A lens. 1/30 F6.3 ISO 100. 5D classic.

Reflections — Self portrait in Christmas Ornament, showing the Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM | A lens and 5D riding a Dynamic Perception Stage Zero motion track to bring motion to the Time Lapse project I was filming. 1/20 F1.4 ISO 200.

It’s the sort of lens that just insists on being with you, and always delivers satisfying images, without compromise, wherever inspiration takes you. And that, more than anything, is what the best photo gear is meant to do.

Please feel free to share your own photos and video projects made with the Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art lens–we love seeing what fans are making with this lens!

Comments (4)

R S Lappin says:
September 5, 2013 at 12:26 AM
How much?
Alan Moss says:
November 26, 2013 at 8:41 PM
I recently bought the 35mm f1.4 lens. Wow! What a beauty. I use it on my Canon 5D MkIII and the results are stunning. I am also very impressed with the build quality. Can thoroughly recommend this lens
Chris - Smudged Photo says:
March 7, 2014 at 7:25 AM
Just purchased this over the much more expensive Nikon equivalent and I’m not disappointed one bit. Fantastic lens, and build quality.
Ronnie Chan says:
January 16, 2015 at 3:36 AM
I brought this and I am impress with the sharpness and lack of colour fringing.Highly recommend this lens to anyone.Though,some copy required micro adjustment.