Comes with a nice semi-soft lens-case that is well padded but has no strap, the lens-hood is included, reversible for transport, and the lens-caps are similar to Nikon’s. [0] A lens is expected to show peripheral shading at the widest aperture settings when used on a camera that utilizes its entire image circle. I’ve been a fan of 24mm f/1.4 lenses ever since I bought Nikon’s AF-S 24mm f/1.4G for my DSLR many years ago (using it with a Nikon D7000 at the time, followed by a Nikon D800E). For years, it was my primary landscape photography lens, and I took a lot of my favorite photos with it. The Sony FE 24mm f/1.4 GM follows the same tradition and improves upon DSLR 24mm f/1.4 lenses in a number of ways, as you’ll see through this review.

Bright light reflecting off lens elements' surfaces may cause flare and ghosting, resulting in reduced contrast and sometimes interesting, usually destructive visual artifacts. So here’s my distant landscape view with the 24mm f2 angled as always so that fine details reached right into the corners. First with Distortion Compensation set to OFF and now with it set to Auto where you can see the correction in action. This was at f11, so now let’s switch to the f2 version where you can see straightaway the usual darkening in the corners due to vignetting – something that’s easily corrected. Taking a closer look in the middle of the frame reveals fine details right out of the gate at f2. In my tests closing the aperture improved the contrast a little but didn’t make any visible difference to sharpness in the middle. Heading out into the far corner and you’ll see the darkening due to vignetting, but the details still look respectably sharp even with the aperture wide-open. As you close the aperture, the darkening lifts and there’s arguably a small improvement in ultimate crispness, but overall I’d say this lens is performing very well across the frame even wide-open. Comparing it to my earlier results from the Sony 24 2.8 and Sigma 24 3.5 shows the f2 model can keep up with them on distant sharpness even with the larger aperture. There are some minor modifications to the 24 ART in the new FE version that we’ll highlight here, but this is also an instantly familiar lens to anyone who has used any of the Sigm ART series lenses. You can get a detailed, interactive look at the lens in this video: Coma is absent in the center of the frame, gets worse toward the edges/corners, and generally appears as a comet-like or triangular tail of light which can be oriented either away from the center of the frame (external coma) or toward the center of the frame (internal coma). Taking a closer look at image sharpness, I saw that for the 20mm lens, it held together really well throughout the aperture range. At the center of the image, f/8 was perhaps the best, but it was hard to tell when everything looked good. There was a slight dip at f/16, the lens’ maximum aperture. At the corners, f/5.6 through f/8 looked sharpest.

The Sigma 24mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art gives you a wide viewing perspective with a fast aperture and typical ‘Art’ line quality

With the right lens profile and software, lateral CA is often easily correctable (often in the camera) by radially shifting the colors to coincide. The Sigma 20mm f/1.4 DG DN Art uses 17 elements in 15 groups, including two SLD and three aspherical elements. The Sigma 24mm f/1.4 DG DN Art uses 17 elements in 14 groups, including two FLD, one SLD, and four aspherical elements. They both have Super Multi-Layer Coating like all current Sigma lenses and both also use Nano Porous Coating. Both of these coatings are to suppress flare and ghosting issues. 20mm at f/16 24mm at f/16 Shot with the 20mm Shot with the 24mm Still, distortion correction is destructive at the pixel level as some portion of the image must be stretched or the overall dimensions reduced.

To summarize: both lenses are very sharp in the center, with the modest difference disappearing around f/2.8. If you don’t need AF there’s a manual focus 24mm f1.4 ED AS UMC from Samyang which is the cheapest way to get a 24mm f1.4 lens: It is priced around 550 EUR. See my Samyang 24/1.4 review. Using a neutral density filter is another good solution to retaining use of f/1.4 under direct sunlight when the shutter limitation is exceeded. The shape, intensity, and position of the flare and ghosting effects in an image are variable, dependent on the position and nature of the light source (or sources), selected aperture, shape of the aperture blades, and quantity and quality of the lens elements and their coatings. A narrow aperture's advantages are related to (often significantly) reduced lens element size, including smaller overall size, lighter weight, and lower cost.Focus accuracy and repeatability is critical to consistently produce sharp shots especially with large aperture lenses. Repeatability (the accuracy of focus on the same subject after repeated focus-acquisition) of this lens was measured 97.6% in Reikan FoCal. There was no outlier over a series of 40 shots on the well lit and contrasty focus test target but I found that results depended a bit on whether the lens was coming from infinity or from closer. They both have their “handling” issues: the Sony has an annoying aperture ring, and the Sigma is big and heavy. However, the Sony’s problem can be fixed with tape, and the young and strong might not mind the Sigma’s weight. Most modern lenses have correction profiles available (including in-camera), and distortion can easily be removed using these. Soon after their arrival, the Sigma 20mm and 24mm F1.4 DG DN Art Lenses and I took a field trip to Cherry Springs State Park, an international dark sky park in northern Pennsylvania.

In this case, the about 1.4 stops of corner shading showing at f/1.4 may be visible in select images, primarily those with a solid color (such as a blue sky) in the corners. In each case, I found that the difference in the distance between the two points was +4.3%. This means that if we assume that the Sony is a 24mm lens (it’s unlikely to be wider), then the Sigma is just about 25.5mm. Here’s the lens’s construction diagram for reference: The Sony 24mm f/1.4 GM’s Optical Construction Diagram Build Quality and Handling This lens is constructed of 17 elements in 14 groups, including two 'F' Low-Dispersion (FLD) elements, one Super-Low-Dispersion (SLD) element and four aspherical elements. Sigma uses an array of coatings including its Nano Porous Coating (NPC) and a water- and oil-repellent coating on the front-most element of the lens.

Cons:

The Sigma 24mm f/1.4 DG HSM | ART was, I believe, the only ART series 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), so I thought I thought I would kill two birds with one stone by both reviewing a lens that I had missed and also expanding the sample size of ART series on FE lenses beyond the 50mm f/1.4 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 aperture of f/1.4 really expands the creative opportunities. Sigma had this Sony FE market at this focal length and aperture value to itself for a few short months, but Sony has already thrown a bit of a monkey wrench into the 24 ART’s market by announcing the new 24mm f/1.4 G Master lens. That comparison will be interesting, for the new GM lenses costs 60% more but the 24 ART weighs 73% more. If my past 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 future. With its handy dimensions, the 24mm F1.4 DG DN | Art is easy and convenient to use in any given situation, from travel and street photography to night-time photography. The wide viewing angle of its 24mm focal length makes it easy to get everything into the shot without losing focus of the subject - ideal for single or group portraits and documentary photography. The SIGMA 24mm F1.4 DG DN | Art opens up endless possibilities to anyone who values high optical performance, versatility and convenience, from professional photographers to users who are new to a wide-angle prime lens. With the lens and possibly hood lengths taking a bite out of the minimum focus distance, there is not much working distance remaining.

The SIGMA 24mm F1.4 DG DN | Art is equipped with both a front filter thread and a rear filter holder, as well as a new MFL switch that disables the focusing ring to prevent accidental changes that will be especially helpful when photographing the stars at night. The dust- and splash-resistant structure of the lens itself and the water- and oil-repellent coating of the front element will keep the lens safe and functioning even during shoots in harsher environments. This lens has an AF/MF switch, a feature that has gone missing on many modern lenses and one that I appreciate greatly. With a minimum focus distance of 9.8" (250mm), this lens has a relatively low 0.14x maximum magnification spec.The image quality comparison shows the Sony lens earning its higher price, producing sharper f/1.4 image quality. While I hoped for better corner star performance from this lens, these results are not unusual for a lens in this class. When recording video, only a 1/60 second shutter speed (twice the framerate) is needed for 30 fps capture, and wide apertures are not often required to get 1/60 in normally encountered ambient lighting. In general, the more a lens diaphragm is stopped down, the larger and better-shaped the sunstars tend to be. Sigma’s service can change the mount of the lens between Sony’s E-mount and L-mount (at a cost). This is a unique feature that no other manufacturer offers. [++]