Hands-on reviews, technical information, and advice on SIGMA Art, Sports and Contemporary lenses for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras.
What’s bright, gives wonderful, round bokeh and is perfect for portraits, sports, street and product photography? Give up?
It’s Sigma’s 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM lens. This beauty fits on both full frame and cropped sensor cameras.
The ideal portrait focal length is said to be twice to two and a half times the normal focal length. So before diving into the 85 let’s take a look at focal length and what it means in regards to sensor size. First, here’s a definition or two.
Photography in winter can be a challenge. And when I say “winter”, I’m not talking of winter in the sense of majestic snowcapped peaks framed by freshly powdered pines with perfect golden light and firetone brushstroke clouds, I’m talking more of the winter of dirty refrozen slushpiles downtown three frigid days after a mid-January sleetstorm around 11:17 on a grey Tuesday morning when it seems there’s nothing magical left in the world worth getting out of warm car with a camera for.
Winter has its challenges, for sure, especially in the deciduous zones, where skeleton trees thrust bony fingers at the sky, and vistas and sweeping wild scenes are brushed widely with swaths of stingy browns and grays, instead of the festive pastels of spring, the lush greens of summer and the fall fireworks palette. But winter has it own charms and own rewards, and for photographers looking to challenge themselves and experiment, it can be a great time to get out and explore with a long lens, like the new 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG HSM OS | Sports lens.
The Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Sports has been generating a ton of buzz since its announcement at photokina in September 2014. This Sports update of the 150-500mm supertelephoto zoom lens is one of two 150-600mm zoom lenses announced at the show, along with the 150-600mm DG OS HSM | Contemporary.
What a difference a couple of years makes!
Two years ago, we were gearing up for PhotoPlus, just days after the announcement of the Sigma Global Vision at photokina 2012. We were preparing ourselves for discussions and briefings to explain the philosophy behind the three new lines being offered.
At that time, many photographers and technical editors were confused as to what Art, Sports, and Contemporary was meant to convey in a lens name. We spent a lot of time that fall explaining the way that Sigma is rethinking lenses and how this relates to the three new lens markings.
Adding either of these Sigma 50mm F1.4s camera lenses to your kit is a great idea. Is the Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM | A or 50mm F1.4 EC DG HSM right for you?
I’ve spent the weekend with the dp2 Quattro, and I can tell you straight-out that this is far and away the best dp camera I’ve had my hands on. Here’s our first look at the Sigma dp2 Quattro.
Great gear ideas for the summer, from the team at Sigma. Ideas for cameras and lenses for wherever you’re heading this sunny season!
The Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM | A lens is simply amazing. This standard field of view, fast-aperture, full-frame, prime lens combines outstanding sharpness, fast autofocus, in a lens that is built with a singular vision on performance.
The Sigma 180mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro lens is the biggest, longest macro lens in the Sigma lens catalog. This telephoto lens offers true life-sized reproduction with a 1:1 maximum magnification ratio. Incredible sharpness—thanks to its state of the art optical design—Optical Stabilizer, and a three-zone focus limiter make this a serious lens for advanced macro photographers.
Our technical product information has been expanded to now include both Geometric and Diffraction MTF charts for new Sigma lenses. You can take a look at the technical information about the new Sigma 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM | Contemporary lens on the Sigma Global Vision website to see these graphs plotted as part of the total package of information we share to help photographers understand the performance of our lenses.