Sigma 12-24mm f/4 DG HSM Art

[Robert Gustafsson]

Just got my Sigma 12-24mm f/4 DG HSM Art delivered. Looks very promising and really sharp wide open at f/4. Really wide FOV and a great solution for wide shots with higher framerates at lower resolutions with the Epic-W. Also seems great for architecture, interiors or general wides at 8K.

 

[Maik Müller]

Yes, very promising lens, especially for it's price-tag and because it matches a great set of primes.

Do you have some samples you can show?

 

[Jacob Ryan]

How's the focus handling with this lens?

 

[Robert Gustafsson]

Yes, very promising lens, especially for it's price-tag and because it matches a great set of primes.
Do you have some samples you can show?

Lowres samples and R3Ds below. (8K HD and 6K HD at 12mm)

R3Ds
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rjwr7s9agm8q3iz/A013_C002_1113Z8.0000000F.R3D?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2suip7bw30haxqj/A013_C001_1113NQ.0000000F.R3D?dl=0

How's the focus handling with this lens?

Unfortunately heavy breathing. Longer focus throw than my other Sigma Art lenses and the focus ring is narrow and positioned close to the front of the lens. (I intend to use it in autofocus-mode with my Optitron 2 for more precise focus and longer rotation but I won't do any longer pulls with this lens)

 

[paulcurtis]

I've had this lens a little while, a couple of shoots with it.

It fills a focal length gap really well. I don't think it's super sharp at f4, but stopped down it's pretty good. It's practically distortion free. It's not magical though, there's softness and aberrations across the frame. But i've never seen a wide that doesn't.

Focus is tough, like all photo lenses the focus range over 1m away is tiny and it's quite difficult to spot critical focus at 12mm, but that's not the lenses fault.

The biggest downside? It's huge. Over 1kg, 110mm front element and no filters possible. Hopefully Lee Filters will sell a cap that will allow us to pop filters on.

I'm coming from a 12mm f5.6 voightlander full frame lens, which is literally 10th of the size. It's almost comical by comparison.

But it's a very solid performer and no other lens like it. I can't speak for the previous version though, i'd be curious if that was a good performer and smaller.

cheers
Paul

 

[Maik Müller]

Thank you very much Robert and Paul!

Heavy breathing and focusing difficulties narrow the usage of this lens a little down, but otherwise it looks like it's a great lens for lots of shots.

 

[Zack Birlew]

I was wondering how this compares to the stills HSM II version of the lens? Is it really all that much better? From reviews on those, the Sigma 12-24 lenses have never really been all that sharp but it's all about the character and the unique range of focal lengths the lens has, especially for full frame. I can't see it making much sense for crop cameras as the Tokina 11-16 fills that void handily but on full frame it's the only game in town for its price range. I have been keeping an eye on the ART lenses and they sound really good but I haven't heard anything as of yet as to whether it's worth paying the extra money for the ART version of the 12-24mm or not.

 

[Maik Müller]

I was wondering how this compares to the stills HSM II version of the lens? Is it really all that much better? From reviews on those, the Sigma 12-24 lenses have never really been all that sharp but it's all about the character and the unique range of focal lengths the lens has, especially for full frame. I can't see it making much sense for crop cameras as the Tokina 11-16 fills that void handily but on full frame it's the only game in town for its price range. I have been keeping an eye on the ART lenses and they sound really good but I haven't heard anything as of yet as to whether it's worth paying the extra money for the ART version of the 12-24mm or not.

In short, yes the ART version beats the old 12-24 Mark II in all kind of areas, sharpness, vignetting, distortion, CA. The Canon 11-24 is still better. There are a few samples and reviews out there. The good thing about using a FF-lens on a smaller sensor is that you are going to use just the best of the lens, the center area. For it's price the SIGMA is a great addition to the kit, and since it's a FF lens it's also more flexible to use.

It seems like this one is also not free from breathing, but i havn't seen samples.