Sometimes with Tamron and Sigma lenses I find that major focus shifts involve a sound and sense of “sliding” as the elements move into place. DG DN exhibits quite heavy focus breathing, which gives the impression that you're zooming in and out as the focus distance is adjusted. In my tests with a pre-production sample, the bokeh in blurred areas was not only a step-up from the original DSLR version, but up there with models costing a lot more.

But you also get an even brighter aperture with shallower depth of field and a quick HSM autofocus drive. Not only that, but while some primes are sharp in the center but get increasingly soft as you head out across the frame, the Sigma does a stellar job of extending that sharpness across most all of the frame. if you want that narrow a depth of field) gives you a lot of flexibility as to how you choose to frame a scene. FF cine lens, Sigma decided they do what they’ve done before and utilise the same optical design, but offer it as an Art series lens for photographers and videographers who might prefer this slightly less conventional focal length.

it displays an outstanding level of sharpness right to the edges of the frame at all apertures, as well as exceptionally smooth and attractive bokeh and remarkably well-controlled optical aberrations. Above: At the small-end of the aperture scale, here’s a quick look at diffraction spikes on the Sigma 35 1. This raises the keeper rate to better than 98% – very good under the circumstances I was shooting in.

version is larger and heavier, so it’s unsurprising that it would be designed with intended dimensions between the two to cater to variant priorities. While impossible to encompass every type of shooting situation in a 4-5 week period, I feel that I used the lenses in enough of a variety of settings to be confident in my findings. DGDN and whilst it is large the only people to mention it are other photographers lens size for street isn’t going to affect anything in terms of getting the shot you want. Sigma is clearly very proud of the way the lens handles distortion, claiming a distortion figure of less than 1%.

Manually focusing the lens is also limited by a very short “throw” distance, particularly between about 6 feet and infinity. The geometric shape becomes more obvious at smaller apertures but overall I’m very happy with these results. If it's simply beyond your budget, though, there's certainly plenty to like in the crisp results delivered by the Sigma, even when shooting wide-open. I really noticed how nicely this helped when shooting handheld exposures to be combined in a panorama – everything lined up nicely.