Dpreview: Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG DN Art field review

Sigma 35mm f/1.4 FE lens at BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera.

Dpreview published the full Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG DN Art field review and concluded:

Both E-mount and L-mount versions of the Sigma 35mm F1.4 are very sharp lenses, and in most respects can deliver great image quality even when shooting wide-open. Although there are issues with ghosting and cat’s eye, in many situations you’ll be able to work around these.

And while it’s perhaps a tad front-heavy on smaller bodies, handling is otherwise excellent. We’re fans of the lockable aperture ring, silky-smooth focus ring and rubberized, lockable lens hood in particular.

A bigger concern is the Sigma’s modest autofocus performance, especially when compared to Sony’s very swift-focusing G Master lens if you’re an E-mount shooter. And videographers will also want to bear in mind its significant focus breathing, although that’s also an issue for the Sony lens to a somewhat lesser extent.

For E-mount shooters, we think the Sony 35mm F1.4 GM represents an even better option thanks to its smaller, lighter body, faster AF, lack of ghosting and lesser cat’s eye and fringing; if you can stomach the substantially higher price.

If it’s simply beyond your budget, though, there’s certainly plenty to like in the crisp results delivered by the Sigma, even when shooting wide-open.

Sony 14mm F1.8 GM review by Marc Alhadeff: “a must have”

Preorders: Sony 14mm f/1.8 GM at BHphoto, Adorama, Focuscamera, Fotokoch, Calumet DE, Park Cameras UK, Wex UK.

Marc Alhadeff from SonyAlphablog reviewed the new 14mm GM lens and concluded:

The Sony 14mm F1.8 GM (1600 euros) is a new masterpiece from Sony and a new demonstration you can achieve outstanding results in a very small from factors. All the recent GM are a demonstration of this level of excellence (Sony 35mm F1.4 GM, Sony 50mm F1.2 GM, Sony 24mm F1.4 GM…)

Image quality is excellent : excellent to outstanding sharpness wide open , corners are also very good to excellent, color rendition and contrast are excellent, distorsion is minimal, coma is minimal. background blur is quite soft for a wide angle lens. AF is fast , silent and efficient, Ergonomics are excellent (small, light, click or click-less aperture ring) and the price stay reasonable for a GM lens compared to the Sony 12-24 F2.8 GM (3300 Euros!)

The lens will also be at ease on all situations : Astrophotography, Landscape, architecture and will also perfom very well in video handled or on a gimbal or for Vlog to film yourself providing a big frame around you and allowing for an important stabilisation crop if need be

  • The only competitor with the same specs is the Sigma 14mm F/1.8 DG HSM Art , at same price, that is 50% bigger and almost 3 times heavier ! for a sharpness that is clearly less good wide open and with corners that never reach the level of The Sony GM. If you like Sigma then the Sigma 14-24mm F2.8 DG DN Art will offer the same optical performance than the prime at a same price but with more versatility and much less weight and size
  • If you own the Sony 12-24mm F2.8 GM, you won gain a lot in term of image quality but you will gain in term of weight size and price
  • The Samyang AF 14mm F2.8 FE (600 euros) is a good price/quality option for a 24Mpix camera or if 14mm is a focal length you won’t use often. but there is a clear image quality gap between the Samyang and the Sigma/Sony lenses a better alternative is the very good NiSi 15mm F4 (479 euros) , a manual lens with a more modest aperture but providing better sharpness , color rendition and very nice sunstars and compatible with classical filters (72mm thread)

A must have for pro Landscape / Architectural / Indoor real estate / Close Actions / Astro photographer or for vlog

Voigtländer 35mm f/2.0 Lanthar FE lens review by Lenstip

You can now preorder the new lens at BHphoto.

Lenstip reviewed the new lens and concluded:

The Voigtlander Apo Lanthar 35 mm f/2 Aspherical has everything that is needed to be called a top-of-the-range, premium lens. Its build quality is excellent, its optical properties – beyond reproach. In many categories it is able to outclass its direct rivals. Still high quality costs and, accordingly you can hardly call this lens cheap as you have to spend about $1150 on it.

However the high price tag doesn’t change our assessment which is very favourable indeed; in this case we feel such a high quality is worth paying for. When a lens comes with a long list of assets and is practically devoid of flaws we always grant it our ‘Editors’ Choice’ badge. We feel the Voigtlander fully deserves it.