A Music Photography Essential: Sigma 35mm F1.2 DG II Art Lens

There are so many things I could say about the Sigma 35mm F1.2 DG II | Art lens. With the first version being my favorite lens of all time, the amount of uses I have found for that focal length is staggering. The release of version II of my beloved lens could not have been better timed. I was already gearing up to travel overseas with rock band Wednesday 13 on their “Mid Death Crisis Tour” across Europe and the United Kingdom to tell their story through my lens.

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First Impressions

To be totally honest, I had pretty much no time with this lens before I had to get on a 10+ hour flight to Heathrow, London. But with my decades of using Sigma lenses, I didn’t have any worry about packing glass that I hadn’t spent a substantial amount of time with. I was confident it would perform. So, in the carry-on it went and off I flew!

My first opportunity to even have an impression took place during Wednesday 13’s production rehearsals in Wolverhampton, England, at the famous KK’s Steel Mill (a music venue established by English Grammy Award winning guitarist, songwriter and a founding member of the band Judas Priest). I’m not usually a part of rehearsals before a tour, so this was a unique opportunity to get my bearings on my equipment while the band and crew got their bearings for everything else!

The wide F1.2 aperture was the first thing I wanted to take full advantage of, so while the men were setting up the stage, I was focused on taking detailed shots of the various things around me. The band’s shorthand logo is striking in and of itself, and proudly branded many of their belongings.

Once the band hit the stage, every aspect of the show was being rehearsed, including their lighting director’s excellent arrangements. This provided the perfect chance to familiarize with this newer European set and what to expect from the production side of things.

After using the lens for the first day, I was truly enthralled. Much smaller than its version 1 counterpart, the version II fatigued my hands significantly less, being about 20% shorter and 30% lighter. There were no chromatic aberrations, flaring, ghosting, none of that. Sharpness was through the roof – even at an F1.2 aperture. But more on this later!

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Why the 35mm F1.2 Was My Go-To Tour Lens

To talk about why the 35mm lens quickly became my go-to, I think I first need to quickly provide some further context on what my role here is. Anyone who has spent a day with me on the road always end up calling me the band’s shadow – I follow them around wherever they are and capture what I see. But I’m not just snapping away at the band members’ every step, I’m specifically looking for stories to tell about their time on the road. Whether it be exploring a new city, connecting with fans on stage, or fun antics in the makeup room, I’m creating a series of stills that come together like a movie.

Much like a movie, we use composition and depth of field to make our point. I’ve always adored the “cinematic” look, rich color and creamy bokeh, and I feel like this definitely adds a “rockstar” feel to photographs of, well, rock bands. The 35mm focal length is just wide enough to tell context without being so wide that your band members are distorted. The F1.2 version has such a shallow depth of field that we can spotlight individual elements that we want our viewer to focus on when seeing the photograph.

With this lens’s incredible versatility and ideal length for so many aspects of music photography, I can’t imagine it not being a travel staple. I think many tour photographers would agree with me in saying that being able to transition from photographing a meet-and-greet, to catching behind-the-scenes content, to running into the photo pit to shoot the opening sequence without having to switch lenses is an absolute dream. This sounds like a fantasy, but with the Sigma 35mm F1.2 DG II | Art lens, it is truly reality.

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Beneficial Features For Music Photographers

Maximum Aperture of F1.2

An F1.2 aperture is currently the widest you can go with an autofocus lens – which already sets this lens apart from the rest. For music photographers, this ultra wide aperture is an even bigger deal for two key reasons:

The first is light, or lack thereof. Whether you’re shooting in a dimly lit bar (where most of us started) or capturing a brightly lit arena show, a wide aperture will help you maximize available light in the best ways possible. Wednesday 13’s show ranges from bright white and yellow lights to deep purples and blues, and the wide aperture helps me keep everything looking well-lit. I can also very easily increase my shutter speed to capture all of the fast paced action, as this is not a band that stands still!

The second benefit is of course the shallow depth of field. Stages are rather cluttered, between equipment, multiple band members, and stage props – this looks rad as a viewer but can be a bit chaotic as someone trying to tell a story in a picture. Shallow depth of field helps to isolate the subject and offer a good separation, while still expressing context.

What really impressed me the most was just how natural that out-of-focus background was, it is effortlessly creamy in the background. There is no color bleeding or double line bokeh. The locking aperture ring is also a nice touch, so I didn’t accidentally turn it while shooting.

Sharpness

What is the point of a lens if it isn’t sharp, right? This is something I have always been able to count on Sigma for – and there is a reason I have a full collection of their lenses. The results are incredibly sharp, jaw-dropping in some cases.

When you are photographing a band that favors darker lights (like the blues and purples seen below), keeping the subject sharp becomes a significant factor in how well that photograph turns out. That lighting (along with red) is notorious for losing contrast, and sharpness can help that problem out a lot.

Suppression of Chromatic Aberration, Ghosting, and Sagittal Coma Flare

This is huge for concert photographers, especially those shooting bands that bring their own lighting package (like W13 do). You do not want a slew of abnormalities all around your shot. The goal is to have a clear and crisp image that is unaffected by the many moving lights around.

The 35mm F1.2 DG II | Art features a sophisticated optical formula that resists flaring, pesky neon aberrations, sagittal coma flares (super common in music photography), and light ghosting. This is why I could easily shoot Ashes’ solo when all of the brightest white lights gravitate towards his side of the stage.

Fast Autofocusing with Dual HLA System

The ultimate test for a fast autofocus system is capturing an energetic and wild drummer, especially during a set of strobing lights! The dual HLA (High-response Linear Actuator) system made capturing Mike Dupke possible during his drum solo, a feat that would have been more difficult with older lens models.

Sigma lens’s ability to communicate natively with the Sony camera system is a huge benefit as well, as the lens worked in perfect tandem with my A7r V and its improved focusing capability in AF-C mode.

Design and Build Quality For Life On The Road

Aside from all of the creative things, a big factor on what equipment travels with me has to do with whether or not the lens can survive touring conditions and is comfortable to tote around.

As I mentioned earlier, this lens is all around smaller than the original 35mm F1.2 – which means that it fits into my backpack so easily! Weighing in at only 755g / 26.5 oz., it’s pretty easy to carry this guy all day long. The smaller size also makes the lens far more discreet than the other one was, helping keep our adventures a bit more private.

With international flights and their many weight restrictions, this does allow me to pack more too. On the tour bus, I tend to keep my gear in the bunk with me (I have a silly paranoia of the bus going over a bump and my gear flying all over the place), and the smaller the items at my feet, the more room I have to stretch out at night.

The lens also boasts a dust and splash-resistant structure as well as a water and oil repellent coating. Most of our tour went through Scandinavia and the weather was quite unpredictable in October in those countries. Even when it rained mid-shoot, that was no trouble for my lens.

Speaking of weather, the construction of the 35mm F1.2 DG II | Art itself is made of aluminum and TSC, which stands for Thermally Stable Composite. No matter the temperature, the lens did not react in any capacity!

The use of such strong materials makes me confident to do what I need to in order to capture the shot. I (respectfully) get right into the crowd for some of my shots, as that can be a much better vantage point than the pit alone. When people are having a good time and I’m carefully squeezing around them, they aren’t being attentive as to where I am. Gear gets bumped, it’s normal!

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My Creative Takeaways from the Wednesday 13 Tour

Wednesday 13 is an incredibly photogenic band, both in stage garb and without. Pulling inspiration from classic horror cinema to theatrical bands such as KISS, there is always something interesting to capture on camera.

In Portrait

Most of my time capturing portraits was of the singer, Wednesday 13 himself. We got dressed, found something cool around the venue, and snapped away!

The 35mm offered me a lot of creative control. The wide aperture softened cluttered and distracting backgrounds, helped lead the eye right to my subject, and handled color with incredible precision. We were both often enthralled with just the back of the camera previews, minimal editing needed to be done on all of our selected shots!

Although I did get the other lads to entertain my whims too! Such as my city explorations with Jack Tankersley and creative backstage portraits with Troy Doebbler. We could make use of busy stores, weird wallpaper textures, tight spaces, and whatever else came our way. The width of the 35mm really helped keep the environment a part of the story.

Behind the Scenes

The shots fans want to see the most – how theatrical bands get themselves ready! Admittedly, the getting-ready time was my personal favorite, this is where so many memories were made.

Although the 35mm lens did require me to get closer to my subjects than, say, a 50mm or 85mm, the wider focal length was absolutely brilliant for all of this. It was so much easier to capture shots without worrying that a key component of the image is unable to be photographed simply because the focal length was too narrow. The subtle environmental details are what make these images even more fascinating than some of the other types of shots.

A lot of backstages in Europe are also on the tighter side, so having a 35mm as a whole is easier to work with than other lenses that many photographers tend to gravitate towards.

On Stage

What can I say, music photographers shine their brightest when capturing a concert! I most definitely feel like the 35mm F1.2 DG II | Art is the ultimate workhorse for live concert photography. Not to keep talking about that 35mm length, but it really is the ultimate sweet spot.

Wide enough to capture a whole stage if you want to get that neat crowd shot, wide enough to capture the whole drum kit, yet close enough to individualize all of the band members, and definitely a brilliant length for gear shots on stage! I had not a worry in the world about fitting everything I needed into my shot.

The focal length is even perfect enough to capture intimate moments with fans from the photo pit, such as when Wednesday reaches out to the front row during the song Haunt Me.

The F1.2 aperture made sure that all of the members got their time to shine in each night’s shots, separated from whatever was going on around them.

Gear and Details

Bands are gearheads just like we are, and much like myself, these guys hold various endorsements from companies. It is important to photograph their equipment being used throughout the tour, and considering the 35mm lens has proved itself time and time again as being awesome for portraits, this is a no-brainer. It was easy to snap a nice crisp cymbal shot for Mike, and then a very detailed close-up of his branded drum sticks!

As I mentioned earlier, this band is quite theatrical and have a lot of fun attire and toys around. Some compelling close-ups of these items also help tell a further story of the band. Wednesday 13 is actually quite known for their props and memorabilia, it’s a big staple!

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Post-Tour Impressions

Although this tour was complimented by two other beloved Sigma lenses of mine (the 85mm F1.4 DG DN | Art and 24mm F2 DG | Contemporary), the 35mm spent the most considerable amount of time in my hands because of how fitting it was for all of my daily shooting scenarios. The other lenses had their uses as well, with the 85mm helping me capture shots from a bit further away and the 24mm being used for some very specific assignments, but the overall story was told by the 35mm.

The version II is an overall improvement over the version I (a lens I am still sentimentally attached to for the many adventures we had seen together). I loved the smaller size, the quick and sharp focus, and the incredible quality of that bokeh.

Back home in California, the Sigma 35mm F1.2 DG II | Art continues to be a beloved companion for all of my local work. Travel is not a prerequisite for testing out how great an optic can be, but it definitely solidifies the lens’s place amongst my top pieces of gear!

You can connect with Wednesday 13 at https://officialwednesday13.com. The band is back on the road across North America in January 2026.

Wednesday 13 is:

@wednesday13official
@troyd13
@jacktankersley
@mikedupkedrums
@official_ashes