Sigma 321954 85 mm F1.4 DG HSM Art Canon Mount Lens - Black

Product Information

Typical of Canon’s up-market L-series lenses, this one’s solidly built and weather-sealed. Like most modern prime designs, it has a complex optical path, based on 14 elements in 10 groups. Canon’s specialist ASC (Air Sphere Coating) is applied to combat ghosting and flare. At least as important as sharpness, and arguably more so for this class of lens, is the quality of bokeh (appearance of defocused areas within images). The lens scores very highly here as well, with buttery smooth bokeh. It delivers impressively soft edges for bokeh discs, commonly caused by defocused lights or bright spots within images. The ‘onion ring’ effect often seen within bokeh discs is a non-issue with this lens. Bokeh also remains very good when stopping down, helped by a particularly well-rounded 11-blade aperture diaphragm.

In general autofocus is fast and reliable. Eye AF works like a charm on my a7RIII. For portraiture I have absolutely no complaints. The bokeh (quality of defocused areas) can be equally important as sharpness for portraiture and still life photography. This facet of performance is sublime, with a wonderfully creamy smoothness in blurred regions, and excellent quality in the transition between focused and defocused areas. I dont need to justify this buy - an unbeatable value lens which I can pitch against nikon counter part.The lens balances well on my Sony a7RIII, although it’s not a light lens it is very light for what it is. Weight & Size– This is definitely a huge factor to pose against its opponents, and in more ways than one. The overall weight and size of the Sigma 85 Art proved to be a hindrance/ cumbersome aspect of the lens. What sold me beyond it’s bulk? Its outstanding image quality and performance on all fronts.

Let’s get to our main topic, the “Sigma 85mm Art”. There’s no question, this is a great lens. The competitors are all more expensive than the Sigma, but Sigma nearly achieves the same performance at all apertures. The bokeh quality is also great. Pros However when you are in the market for a 85 mm lens with very fast AF this will be the better option. The Sigma 85mm Art is up against several lenses in it’s same class, considered alternatives. Although Canon doesn’t have an identical f/1.4 equivalent, there are still options that it can be weighed against:In our guide to the best 85-135mm portrait lenses you can find a lot more portrait lenses, native and adapted. Conclusion Good 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.