Review: Sigma 14mm 1.8 DG HSM Art Lens

Here I go again, Sigma is one helluva great company pulling off the impossible.

Who would have thought that a super wide angle 14mm could be engineered into a super fast lens with an extremely fast 1.8 aperture? The magicians at Sigma have the imagination and the ability to create such a lens which is appropriately one of their highly regarded line of finely crafted ART lenses.

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Photographing wide open at 1.8, one could explore the night sky for astrophotography, shooting at a music venue in front and backstage, use in an underwater housing with a wide angle port. At 1.8 it creates an incredible, creamy out of focus background with a razor sharp subject in the foreground.

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Let’s not forget that one can shoot stopped down for incredibly sharp and incredible depth of field foreground to background.

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This is a great lens for interiors and for landscapes. And, as all other art lenses has the most pleasing color palette which is consistent throughout the Sigma ART lenses. I was blown away by the revolving power as well, especially when blown up to a very large size on the monitor.

One of the cameras I used for my 14mm 1.8 lens for this review was the amazing Canon 5DSR and 5DS which has the look of a medium format digital camera with incredible resolution: a perfect match for this lens to see what it is capable of. And yes, the sharpness extends out to the edge of the image - no mushiness as with many other super wide lenses.

[caption id="attachment_4641" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Credit: Ralph Elliott Starkweather[/caption]

I am a fan of ultra wide angle lenses; but, it took me a few dozen exposures in different situations to get the feel for it all again.

[caption id="attachment_4642" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Credit: Ralph Elliott Starkweather[/caption]

It is amazing how the wide angle can be perfect as far as the rectilinear aspect with straight lines important for architecture; but, on the other side of the coin, the crazy movement and forced perspective can add a lot of zing to a boring mundane photograph.

[caption id="attachment_4651" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Credit: Ralph Elliott Starkweather[/caption] [caption id="attachment_4643" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Credit: Ralph Elliott Starkweather[/caption] [caption id="attachment_4644" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Credit: Ralph Elliott Starkweather[/caption]

This lens requires a lot of glass to achieve this 1.8 aperture. So, it is not lightweight; but, the results are definitely worth the effort.