Sigma 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM

Name: Sigma 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM
Brand: Sigma
Rating: 8.9 (14 reviews)

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Lens Review
Specifications
Description

85mm	$1,199 average price

Lab Test Results

Canon 7D
Canon 1Ds MkIII

Blur
Chromatic Aberration
Vignetting
Geometric Distortion

Blur
Chromatic Aberration
Vignetting
Geometric Distortion

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Sony A-mount - Black

SLRgear Review
November 8, 2010
by Andrew Alexander

The Sigma 85mm ƒ/1.4 EX DG HSM was announced in the summer of 2010, and released later that year in the fall. The lens is Sigma's second fast prime lens (the first being the 50mm ƒ/1.4), notable for being relatively inexpensive compared with similar lenses from major manufacturers.

The 85mm ƒ/1.4 is available in Sigma, Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Sony lens mounts and was designed as a full-frame compatible lens; mounted on a sub-frame (APS-C) camera body, the lens will produce an effective field of view of 136mm (Canon) or 127mm (Nikon and others). On a Canon APS-H camera such as the EOS 1D Mark IV, the lens will produce an effective field of view of 110mm.

The lens features a fast ƒ/1.4 aperture, nine curved aperture blades, and a SLD (super low dispersion) lens element (the lens is composed of 11 elements, in 8 groups). The front element sports a Super Multi-Layer Coating to reduce flare and ghosting.

The lens ships with a petal-shaped hood, a hood adapter for APS-C cameras, takes 77mm filters and is available now for around $900.

Sharpness
When shot wide open (ƒ/1.4) on the Canon 7D, the lens produced images with edge-to-edge sharpness in the range of 2 blur units. Stopping down further improves sharpness between ƒ/2 and ƒ/2.8, until it reaches a level of tack-sharpness at ƒ/4. It remains sharp through to ƒ/11, where diffraction limiting begins to appear, but even there we note only 1.5 blur units across the frame. Even fully stopped-down at ƒ/16, we're back to just 2 blur units.

Mounted on the full-frame Canon 1Ds Mark III, corner softness is much more prominent; wide open at ƒ/1.4, the lens still shows 2 blur units of sharpness in the center, but the corners soften to 3-4 blur units. This performance improves as the lens is stopped down; mostly in terms of the center of the frame, but the corners do become somewhat sharper. The sharpest full-frame results are achieved at ƒ/5.6, where the center of the frame shows 1 blur unit and the corners just under 1.5 blur units. There's similar performance at ƒ/8, and by ƒ/11, diffraction limiting starts to take away from the sharpness, but similarly to what we noted with sub-frame performance, it's still showing 1.5 blur units across the frame. Fully stopped-down results are just over 2 blur units across the frame.

Chromatic Aberration
The Sigma 85mm ƒ/1.4 provides excellent results with regard to its tolerance to lateral chromatic aberration - colored fringing surrounding areas of high contrast. However the 85mm ƒ/1.4 suffers, as do most ''fast'' lenses, from problems with longitudinal chromatic aberration, where fringes of magenta and green are found near the plane of focus when the lens is used at its largest apertures.

We've included a sample image in this review which highlights this issue:

Shading (''Vignetting'')
The lens shows a slight amount of corner shading when attached to the sub-frame Canon 7D - just over 1/4 EV in the corners when set to ƒ/1.4. On the full-frame 1D Mark III, it's a bit more significant: the corners are almost 3/4 of a stop darker than the center at ƒ/1.4. Stopped down, it's less significant: at ƒ/2 the corners are just over a quarter-stop darker, and stopped down further than that, the light falloff is marginal.

Distortion
The distortion results for the Sigma 85mm ƒ/1.4 are excellent: mounted on either the sub-frame 7D or the full-frame 1Ds Mark III, the lens produces virtually no distortion.

Autofocus Operation
Using Sigma's HSM autofocusing technology, autofocus results are quick and near-silent, taking just over 1 second to go from close-focus to infinity. Point to point focusing happens very quickly, and the front element does not rotate during autofocus operations. Autofocus results can be overridden at any time by simply turning the focusing ring.

Macro
With just 0.12x magnification, the Sigma 85mm ƒ/1.4 does not offer exceptional macro performance. Minimum close-focusing distance is just under three feet.

Build Quality and Handling
The lens is made of a solid and durable plastic, with a matte off-black finish. There is no rattling or flexing to be found with this lens. Its solid weight (726g, over one-and-a-half pounds) makes it balance quite easily on larger cameras, though on smaller bodies it could be slightly front-heavy. The lens uses a metal mount and plastic filter threads. There is no aperture ring.

The 85mm ƒ/1.4 offers a few distinguishing control features, including a focus override switch as well as a recessed and windowed distance scale. The scale shows distances in feet and meters, with a depth-of-field reference at ƒ/16. There isn't a lot of detail on the scale however, so its usefulness could be questionable. There's also no infrared index.

The focus ring is about 3/4 inch wide, using a rubber texture with lines running parallel to the lens body. The focus ring turns easily through its range, and an increase in resistance alerts you that you have reached the end of the focusing range. You can still keep turning the ring, however. The lens will focus a bit past infinity. Attached filters will also stay put during focusing, making polarizers that much easier to work with.

Sigma includes a petal-shaped, bayonet-mounted hood with the lens. The hood is ribbed on the interior, with a matte-black coating, and will reverse and mount on the lens for easy storage. The hood for this lens features Sigma's new design: Sigma has included an adapter that extends the depth for use with sub-frame (APS-C bodies), which adds an extra inch to the overall length of the hood. With our without the adapter attached, the lens hood reverses and attaches onto the front of the lens for storage.

Alternatives

Canon EF 85mm ƒ/1.2L II USM ~$2,000
Canon's offering in this category is the fastest you can get, with a maximum ƒ/1.2 aperture, but you'll pay for the privilege. Performance wide-open is slightly soft, but overall, the Sigma seems to match it - though the Canon is just slightly sharper at smaller apertures such as f/5.6. CA tolerance is excellent, there's slightly more corner shading, and the Canon distorts slightly more on full-frame. It's L-series, glass though, and you do get what you pay for: weather sealing and overall build quality, specifically.

Nikon 85mm ƒ/1.4G AF-S ~$1,700
Sigma meets the performance offered by the Nikon 85mm, and in some cases, exceeds it. We noted an odd patch of softness in the center of the frame when using the Nikon lens at ƒ/1.4; the Sigma, by comparison, is quite sharp. Similarly to the Canon though, when the Nikon is stopped down to its sharpest points (f/5.6 and smaller), it's slightly sharper than the Sigma. The Nikon shows less CA, but distortion and corner shading are quite similar. Please note, we have asked Nikon for a different sample of this lens to confirm our test results.

Pentax 55mm ƒ/1.4 SDM SMC DA* ~$800
The Pentax 55mm ƒ/1.4 produces an effective field of view of 80mm on Pentax dSLR cameras, so it's our point of comparison here: sharpness is similar, though while the Sigma is sharper in the center at ƒ/1.4, the Pentax has slightly better corners. Stopped down to ƒ/2.8, the Pentax is tack-sharp. CA gets a little bit noticable when the Pentax lens is stopped down above ƒ/11; the Sigma handles CA slightly better. Distortion is better on the Sigma, as is corner shading.

Sony 85mm ƒ/1.4 Carl Zeiss Planar T* ~$1,300
The Sony 85mm ƒ/1.4 provides excellent results for sharpness. The Sigma produces images with slightly more central sharpness when used at large apertures, but the Sony has better edge-to-edge performance; its corners are sharper at wider apertures. Corner shading is similar between the two lenses; the Sony has slightly more CA in the corner regions, and distorts slightly more than the Sigma.

Carl Zeiss 85mm ƒ/1.4 Planar T* 1.4/85 ~$1,000
It's a fair amount to pay for a lens that doesn't have autofocus, but if you have no need for it, the Carl Zeiss 85mm ƒ/1.4 Planar is an excellent alternative: it's as sharp as the Sigma wide-open, and stopped down, even sharper at ƒ/2.8 and smaller. CA is minimal, corner shading is on par with the Sigma, and it also offers almost zero distortion.

Conclusion
Sigma has produced an excellent lens here: as sharp as any of its contemporaries, even wide open at ƒ/1.4. As well, the lens offers remarkable tolerance to chromatic aberration, marred only by the presence of longitudinal chromatic aberration that seems to be common with fast glass. Distortion and corner shading are also excellent. With the Sigma 85mm ƒ/1.4 producing results on par with its competitors, it's easy to recommend, especially given the cost savings that will result. However, its build quality isn't as strong as some, so how you use a lens in this category, and what environments you'll take it into, should be a factor in your purchasing decision.

Sample Photos

The VFA target should give you a good idea of sharpness in the center and corners, as well as some idea of the extent of barrel or pincushion distortion and chromatic aberration, while the Still Life subject may help in judging contrast and color. We shoot both images using the default JPEG settings and manual white balance of our test bodies, so the images should be quite consistent from lens to lens.

Still Life shot

VFA target

As appropriate, we shoot these with both full-frame and sub-frame bodies, at a range of focal lengths, and at both maximum aperture and ƒ/8. For the ''VFA'' target (the viewfinder accuracy target from Imaging Resource), we also provide sample crops from the center and upper-left corner of each shot, so you can quickly get a sense of relative sharpness, without having to download and inspect the full-res images. To avoid space limitations with the layout of our review pages, indexes to the test shots launch in separate windows.