We have the fortunate opportunity to test out Sigma’s latest pride & joy: the beast that is the 85mm f/1.4 Art lens. Unfortunately, New York weather hasn’t permitted me to test this bad boy outside of the Photo Plus Expo hall, but we did manage to take it around and get a feel for it before out full review. All images in the article were taken on a Canon 5D Mark III with the Sigma 85mm Art.
blurred frenzy
Probably the most appealing aspect of an 85mm lens is the beauty of bokeh that comes with this focal length. These display booths don’t really provide you with enough room to shoot with such tight lenses but that didn’t stop this lens from showing off its goods.
AF Improvements
The Sigma Art 50mm is easily one of everyone’s favorite lenses to have on hand at any point in time, but, there are focus issues that many have noted that force us to stop down to 1.8 or 2.0. As far as we’re concerned, Sigma definitely took those concerns and developed important improvements to the AF system. Here are a couple of shots testing motion from one of Sony’s booth displays:
When on the 50mm one may have to take several shots to make sure it locked focus, one shot from the 85mm is razor sharp at 1.4. And yes, this feature will be tested thoroughly because it is one of the highest priority concerns Sigma users wanted addressed.
The image above was more so of a low light situation, and trying to stabilize to shoot at 1/13th of a second didn’t hamper the focus whatsoever.
Look out for a full review of the Sigma 85 Art coming soon, as we can’t wait to put this lens through it’s paces. Have any burning questions about the lens you need answered, ask them in the comments below and we will get to working!
[REWIND: NIKON ANNOUNCES UPDATED 70-200MM F/2.8E & THE NEW SUPER WIDE 19MM F/4 TILT-SHIFT]
Stay tuned for more of PPE 2016 coverage!
A big thank you to our sponsors, B&H Photo, for making this trip to Photo Plus Expo 2016 possible!
