January 25, 2017
Sigma Art Lenses Review
As a photographer, finding the right collection of equipment for your needs and budget isn’t always black and white. With so many options and brands out there, it’s hard to know what will work best for you and your business. When buying lenses, the safest bet is to get something that is “brand name”. Basically Canon or Nikon. The reputable high quality brand that is sure to produce high quality and reliable equipment. But when the Sigma Art series came about, I was definitely intrigued by all the chatter and hype!
When I first started my business, I had a Nikon D600, Nikon 85 1.8g and Nikon 50 1.4g. The next lens on my list was a 35mm. Being that I was still a new business and didn’t have a lot of cash to spare, I wasn’t exactly willing to spend $1.7k on the Nikon 35mm. But it was around this time that one of the first Sigma Art lenses had come out, the 35 1.4. After looking into it and reading up on it, I realized that it had amazing reviews and many said it was even better than it’s much more expensive name-brand counterpart. With this lens be under $1k, I was sold and grabbed one fore myself.
The reviews were definitely right. The image quality was fantastic, it focused quickly and really had the weight and feel of a nice lens. Then the Sigma 50 1.4 came out. Even though I already had the Nikon version, I wasn’t completely thrilled with it’s performance and image quality. So I made the decision to replace it with the Sigma 50 1.4. And boy am I glad I did! Much better image quality and focused much faster! Here’s a example of a shot I took (unedited) with the Nikon 50 1.4g (left) and Sigma 50 1.4 (right) and cropped really close. Don’t mind the gynecological jargon. This was a paper of my husband’s that was sitting on the table. But it’s really clear how much sharper the image with Sigma lens is! And this is wayyyy cropped in and the letters are still that sharp! 
So after that, I was totally sold on the Sigma Art series. Any time they announced a new lens that would be a good addition to my lens lineup, I got on the wait list asap! It’s so crazy that now the majority of my lenses are Sigma and not Nikon! I can’t help but sometimes feel like I’m not a ‘real’ photographer if I all my equipment isn’t Nikon or Canon. But there is just no denying the quality and value of these lenses! I really love them! I will say, that I have had some focusing issues with some of them, but they were easily resolved with some little tweaks. I’ll touch more on that later. But here’s the breakdown of the Sigma lenses that I currently own!
Sigma 24 1.4. Before buying this lens, my widest lens was my 35. While that was fine for most situations, there were always a few occasions at weddings where I just needed something wider, especially for reception dancing! So it was a no brainer to get the Sigma 24! It is especially great for reception dancing photos. Focuses really fast, always sharp and plenty wide without being distorted. 
Sigma 35 1.4. As I mentioned previously, this was my first Sigma lens. It’s great for all types of scenarios on a wedding day. Ceremony wide shots, reception dancing, family formals, big wedding parties and more! 
Sigma 50 1.4. This little (well, not that little) guy is definitely on my camera the most on wedding days. You can tell by the way the focus ring is a little more banged up than the others. It’s so well rounded and very reliable. Although, it did break on me recently when a screw came loose, but Sigma sent me a free screw in the mail and that fixed it! Phew! One other thing I meant to mention about these lenses is that their minimum focusing distance is often quite significantly smaller than their name brand counterparts. That has been such an amazing change! I love being able to use this lens in particular for detail shots throughout a wedding day and be able to get really close! 
Sigma 85 1.4. This is the newest lens to join my bag and my main reason for doing this post since so many of you have asked about it. Up until I got this lens, I was using the Nikon 85 1.8g for the majority (like 90%) of my portraits. It was by far my favorites lens. And honestly, it worked just fine. Very reliable, sharp images. Couldn’t complain. But when I compared the sharpness of those images to those taken with my Sigma lenses, I could see a slight difference. So when Sigma announced that they were coming out with an 85 in their art series, you better believe that I was all over it!! I was so excited when it finally came in the mail after months of being on the wait list. But then I went out to play with it and was disappointed. All the images were just slightly soft. No matter how carefully I tried to focus, they all come out that way. So I did some research and read that this was a common problem, but that it could be fixed by fine-tuning your camera body’s auto-focus. So I ended up setting the ‘AF fine-tune’ value on my camera for this lens to +20. And that fixed the problem! So now I LOVE this lens! Super sharp, focuses fast and I’m really loving the lower aperture compared to my Nikon 85 1.8! I probably shoot below 1.8 way more than I should, but I can’t help it! This image of the lovely Jessica above was shot at 1.4! My only complaint about this lens would be the size. It is huge. And heavy. But the added image quality makes it worth it to me!
So there is my honest review of my experience with the Sigma Art lenses! If you interested in trying them out, but not ready to take the plunge, try renting one! Or you could even buy one that allows free returns so you always have the option to send it back!
For more photography tips, check out these blog posts!
Where to Invest When You’re Start Out
5 Tips for Nailing the Ring Shot
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