7 Sigma 14mm F18 Dg Hsm Art Lens for Nikon F Review

The Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Fine art ($1,599) is a lens that has a lot of appeal for photographers working in sure disciplines—notably astrophotography—cheers to its ultra-wide field of view and bright aperture. Y'all'll be able to focus much more easily in dim conditions because of its f/1.8 design, ensuring that stars and night landscapes are well-baked. Information technology's not as adept of an all-arounder as some other lens from Sigma, the 12-24mm F4 DG HSM Fine art, merely if your images crave a brighter aperture, the 14mm prime number is an excellent pick.

Design

The 14mm F1.8 ($1,399.00 at Amazon United kingdom) is large. It measures 5.0 past 3.viii inches (Hard disk drive) and weighs 2.5 pounds. In gild to capture images with such a wide field of view and bright aperture, its front chemical element is huge and bulbous, and so you tin't employ front filters without a third-party accessory holder. A slip-on lens cap is included to protect both the front end glass and integrated lens hood, and Sigma as well includes a rear cap and soft carrying instance.

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Construction is solid, and in line with other Global Vision Sigma lenses. The barrel is metallic at its base, but the majority is polycarbonate. It'southward not cheap plastic, though—it feels very well made. Sigma states that information technology's protected from dust and splashes, important for a lens that's likely to go a lot of utilize for mural photography.

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The forepart element is almost sure to pick up a devious fingerprint from time to fourth dimension. Thankfully it has a fluorine front coat, which repels water and oil. That makes it easier to make clean and to keep clean.

You can purchase the lens in several mounts—Canon EF, Nikon F, Leica/Panasonic/Sigma 50, Sigma SA, and Sony E. There are a few differences betwixt them. The Nikon has an electromagnetic aperture design, the aforementioned every bit recent Nikkor lenses with an Eastward designation, so it won't work with some older Nikon DSLRs. The Canon version is the lonely one that tin can be used with an optional rear filter holder, the $36 FHR-11. You take to be comfortable with a screwdriver to install it. And the versions for mirrorless cameras are a flake longer than the SLR versions, a requirement to maintain the same distance betwixt the lens elemens and image sensor.

There'south a broad, rubberized manual focus ring, positioned at the wider part of the barrel, at the base of the lens hood. The narrower portion holds the just control switch, an AF/MF toggle, and the focus altitude scale. Information technology's marked in anxiety and meters and has depth of field markings for f/4, f/eight, f/eleven, and f/16.

The 14mm focuses as shut as 10.6 inches, measured from the epitome sensor. This lets you get right up close to a subject to shoot it, and when working that close at a wider aperture yous can mistiness backgrounds, although you lot should accept intendance in framing, every bit subjects shot close with a broad angle lens are prone to perspective distortion. The macro magnification rating is a meager 1:nine.viii, but that's because the field of view of the lens is so wide.

Image Quality

I tested the 14mm F1.8 with the 50MP Canon EOS 5DS R. It delivers solid sharpness numbers, even wide open up. At f/1.8 it scores two,963 lines on a center-weighted exam, ameliorate than the two,750 we await for at a minimum. It'due south not an even field, though. Imatest shows that the centre area of our exam chart is excellent (iii,870 lines), but gives mode to a middle expanse and edges that are a bit soft (2,250 lines) in lab tests.

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I experience those numbers skew a chip low. Edges look pretty adept in shots taken in the field at f/one.viii, although not on the same level as the middle. Field curvature is an issue when testing ultra-wide lenses, every bit we demand to place them very close to our test chart in order to frame it from edge to edge.

Lab results are about the aforementioned at f/2. At f/2.eight we see an improvement in center resolution (4,180 lines), which brings the boilerplate score to 3,149 lines. At f/4 the edge score improves significantly (ii,981 lines), as does the center area (5,575 lines), for a heart-weighted average of 4,143 lines. That'southward a sharper result than you go with the 12-24mm zoom at 12mm f/4 (three,295 lines).

The lens delivers peak prototype quality at f/5.6 (four,620 lines) and f/8 (4,668 lines), with edges that bear witness about three,500 and 4,000 lines, respectively. Those are outstanding numbers all around, specially when you consider that this is an ultra-wide angle lens.

Diffraction cuts into resolution at the two narrowest options, f/11 (3,835 lines) and f/16 (3,336 lines), but they're both still useable options, even on a high-resolution body like the 5DS R. Lower-resolution sensors are a little less prone to showing the furnishings of diffraction.

There is some visible distortion, nearly iv.3 percent. That's not overwhelming for an ultra-wide, only you will want to remove it to get the best representation of reality, particularly when shooting architectural subjects. Lightroom includes a profile for the lens that offers one-click corrections, just any editing suite with a distortion control adjustment slider will do the pull a fast one on.

We likewise run across some dimness at the edges of the corners of the frame when shooting at wide apertures. There's well-nigh a four-stop (-4EV) drop from middle to corner at f/ane.8 and f/2, cut to -ii.5EV at f/2.8, -2EV at f/four, and -1.5EV at narrower apertures. You won't notice information technology for most shots at f/five.vi and smaller, but you'll desire to dial in some correction in software if you find that a vignette distracts from your broad-aperture shots. Over again, you'll need to do this in Lightroom or another editing suite, every bit in-camera corrections aren't available for 3rd-political party lenses.

Conclusions

Ultra-wide lenses aren't everyday tools for nearly photographers, but for some disciplines they're indispensable. I tend to recommend zooms at this end of the coverage range, as they're more than versatile tools, giving you the ability to capture a wider diverseness of subjects without changing lenses. But wide zooms are typically f/2.8 or f/four designs, and there are times that yous simply need more light.

The Sigma 14mm F1.viii DG HSM Art is an specially highly-seasoned lens for landscape photographers who like to work at night and incorporate the night sky into compositions, as it'southward much, much easier to manually focus with a brighter lens and a live view system than with a dimmer one. Sadly, New York'south light pollution means that I wasn't able to practice any real astro work with the lens during my review period.

Information technology'south besides an appealing pick for architectural photographers, especially those who need to piece of work quickly and don't always accept the ability to use a tripod. The bright aperture means you'll exist able to go well-baked handheld images at a lower ISO than an f/4 zoom similar the Sigma 12-24mm ($one,399.00 at Amazon Britain) or Canon EF xi-24mm f/4L USM. Both of those zooms are Editors' Choice winners, although we give preference to the 12-24mm due to its more than affordable price. Simply if your needs require a lens that gathers more light, the 14mm is a skilful style to get.

Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Fine art

The Lesser Line

The Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Art is an ultra-wide prime lens with an extremely bright discontinuity and crisp optics.

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