Tag: photographer

Sigma 35 1.4 Review and gallery

Sigma 35 1.4 is a really interesting lens I reviewed recently for a Spanish online magazine. Here you can find the English version.

It’s obvious that a good camera helps to make good pictures, but any photographer will tell you that the most important part of the pack is always the human element. Now, we photographers have a weakness for a particular part of the stuff that come with us: lenses. A good lens allows you to work on better, gives better results and even, sometimes, a good lens gets a mediocre camera make a great job. At the end of the day, we will see through the lens, so it is very important to choose the right equipment. In addition, lenses can be used longer than camera bodies. They do not so easily become obsolete. Using adapters, you can use lenses from the 50’s or 60’s with great results in our current DSLR.

Choosing a lens is usually complicated, but we can talk about a standard that is giving great results and has appeared less than a year: the Sigma 35 1.4. With a similar angle of view to human vision, the 35mm has been, in addition to 50mm, a classic in many cameras with fixed lens and a safe for many photographers. It becomes a wide angle and, if placed in a camera with an APS-C sensor (almost all SLR cameras that you can see in the street) it is equivalent to a 56mm, very close to the absolute standard, the 50mm. By the way, the front of the lens does not rotate when focusing, so if you want to use optical filters, no problem: 67mm thread.

The attributes of the Sigma 35 1.4 are easy to point out: amazing optical quality at a reasonable price. The disadvantages are much less obvious, and always relative. It’s better if we explain this particular matter: this lens competes in the same focal length with three Canon lenses: 35 f2, 35 f2 and 35 f1.4 IS. The first two have a lower optical quality. 35 f2 is, however, considerably unexpensive. The 35 f2 IS features a stabilizer that can be useful in certain situations, but it is not essential, and with a price slightly below the target of Sigma. The 35 f1.4 Canon lens is a professional grade sealed against water and dust and similar to Sigma quality but at a price that it’s almost twice the Sigma. Also competes with two lenses without autofocus: the Zeiss 35 1.4, with higher price all previous epic and manufacturing optical quality, and Samyang 35 1.4, with good overall quality, and lower price than the Sigma. Nikon and Sony have similar lenses to professional Canon (AF-S Nikkor 35 1.4 and Sony 35 1.4G) which have very similar characteristics and the comparison terms would be equivalent.

After trying a couple of weeks the Sigma are some things that I can say is somewhat bulkier and heavier than expected, but its autofocus is fast, accurate and quiet. The optical quality is undisputed with a spectacular bokeh and is almost impossible to find aberrations like purple fringe. The biggest problem you could charge against the Sigma during the test result is it results highly addictive. The reserves I have regarding this lens are related with opinions of other people, including a camera mechanic I trust deeply and told me he had in his hands a broken unit that he had opened to repair and confirmed the comments I had read: construction is fragile. The toll paid by a lens and at a competitive price is which is less robust than a professional photographer would like, but probably for a careful amateur will not be a problem. In daily use certainly caused no problem, as we have said, beyond the farewell. This is a lens which one catches you love very easily.

Weight: 665g
Size: 77mm in diameter x 94 mm long
Mounts: Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax, Sigma.
Approximate price: € 900.

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