Out of all the photographers who ever loved a 50mm prime lens, I wouldn’t be surprised if nearly half of them eventually changed their favorite to a 35mm prime lens instead! Honestly, I prefer 35mm over 50mm myself; as both a landscape/nightscape photographer, and as a wedding and portrait photographer. I simply prefer the more “inclusive” angle of view. That is why I’m very excited to finally bring you this Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art Review! It’s one of the best 35mm prime lenses I’ve ever used.
In a modern era where exotic, enormous lenses are achieving unprecedented new focal ranges and apertures, I’ve always preferred the more modest lenses. My favorite lenses don’t break my back, and they don’t break my bank account either! And yet, I still expect optical perfection. Am I asking too much? Maybe, but lately I have been getting what I want, even to my own surprise!
The Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art is such a lens. It is relatively affordable, and it is relatively portable. Yet, somehow, the optical engineers have delivered near-perfection. I do a lot of different kinds of photography, though, and most of the lenses I review end up being “awesome” for just one or two subjects, but not everything. Can this 35mm prime be one of the rare exceptions, and be good at EVERYTHING? Read on, and we’ll find out…
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art | Specifications
- FOCAL LENGHT & ANGLE OF VIEW: 35mm, 63.4° angle of view (full-frame)
- LENS MOUNT(S): Sony E-mount, (FE full-frame) Leica/Sigma/Panasonic L-mount (full-frame)
- APERTURE & RANGE: f/1.4 to f/16, 11 blades, rounded
- STABILIZATION: No
- AUTOFOCUS: Yes, stepper motor, linear response (depending on camera settings)
- MANUAL FOCUS: Electronically controlled, dedicated physical focus ring
- OPTICAL CONSTRUCTION: 15 elements in 11 groups, 2 aspherical, 1 extra-low dispersion, 2 super-low dispersion, 1 FLD low-dispersion
- MECHANICAL CONSTRUCTION: Metal & plastic, internal movements, weather-sealed
- MAGNIFICATION & FOCUS DISTANCE: 1:5.4 magnification, 11.8 in (30 cm) close focusing
- FILTER THREADS & HOOD: 67mm, locking rubberized plastic hood
- SIZE: 3 x 4.4″ (75.5 x 111.5 mm)
- WEIGHT: 22.6 oz (640 g)
- PRICE: $789-899 (depending on savings & rebates) (B&H)
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art Review | Who Should Buy It?
A 35mm prime is such a universal lens, it’s perfect for almost anything. Whether you’re doing high-fashion editorial portraits, or candid portraits of your own kids, it’s a perfect portrait lens for when you want that slightly wider perspective. It’s easier to get head-to-toe portraits, and/or a little bit more of your surrounding environment in the frame.
It’s also a perfect focal length for weddings, and all kinds of event journalism; in my opinion, the angle of view is almost universally superior to the highly popular 50mm focal length! (No, that’s not rage-bait, that’s my honest opinion from decades of experience!)
Speaking of the “universe”, last but not least this 35mm f/1.4 prime makes an excellent “normal” nightscape or astro-landscape photography lens, too! In fact, as far as I’m concerned, all landscape photographers should just consider 35mm to be the real “normal” instead of 50mm, because it’s just so much better of an all-around lens.
With that being said, let’s talk a little more about each individual category of photography that the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art is highly suitable for…
Wedding Photography & Event Journalism
Hands-down, if you’re a wedding photographer then you need a 35mm prime. Not just any 35mm prime, either; in my opinion, I’d rather have an exotic 35mm f/1.4 prime and a more modest, compact 50mm f/1.8 prime! That is, opposed to skimping on a 35mm (settling for an f/1.8) and opting for a bigger, heavier, more expensive 50mm f/1.4 or 50mm f/1.2.
I know that opinion isn’t for everyone, however, in my experience as a wedding photographer, I just find that 35mm is what I reach for way more often than a 50mm, in almost every scenario.
It’s a great detail lens, it’s a great candid/group portrait lens, and it’s obviously a perfect choice for environmental portraits of the happy couple. (See the trio of examples below, NOT captured using this particular Sigma 35mm f/1.4, but simply added from our studio’s archive of nearly 2 decades of wedding work, as proof that 35mm is one of our all-time favorite focal lengths…
Portrait Photography
Portraits in general are also excellent with a 35mm prime, whether they’re environmental scenes, totally candid “action portraits”, or close-up intimate moments. All in all, a 35mm prime should be in every portrait photographer’s camera bag!
The only question is this: what is your creative style? Because depending on your style, you’ll probably prefer either 35mm or 50mm for very similar situations, but with slightly different creative results.
I can’t answer that question for you, however, I can say that after so many years as a portrait photographer, (again, the above examples are just randomly pulled from ~20 years of wedding & portrait photos; they’re NOT examples from this particular lens) …Personally, I find 35mm to be my favorite.
Either way, the thing is this: Because of how affordable and relatively compact both this Sigma 35mm f/1.4 is and its counterpart, the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art,
Fashion & Editorial Photography
While weddings and most types of portraiture are a lot more forgiving in terms of the technical needs of an optic, fashion & editorial portraits or other types of professional work can be a lot more demanding. Whether you’re photographing runway models for a million-dollar clothing ad campaign, or you’re photographing food or other products; things like resolution & sharpness, distortion, vignetting, and general reliability come into play a lot more.
In all of these regards, I’m happy to report that this mirrorless Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art is a true workhorse of a lens even if you plan to work at f/4 and demand extreme sharpness, etc.
Everyday Candid & Street Photography
Here is another category where this 35mm prime will absolutely shine, and possibly become your favorite lens of all time. Whether it’s just your everyday, around-the-house lens that always stays on your camera, or you’re a serious hobbyist or professional who does a lot of street photography, you will love the focal length of 35mm, and you’ll be thrilled with the results from this lens.
The only caveat I would mention is this: If your style is to try and remain as inconspicuous or incognito as possible, then the f/1.4 aperture of this prime does mean it’s quite a bit bigger than, say, a downright TINY f/1.8 alternative such as the Samyang/Rokinon AF 35mm f/1.8
Wildlife & Action Sports Photography
Of all the photography subjects that just don’t necessarily lend themselves to this particular prime focal length, I think Wildlife or action sports photography are some of those genres. You might need that exact focal length for one particular photo here or there, but honestly, this is one group of subjects where an f/2.8 zoom is likely infinitely better for those occasions when you need to “cover” 35mm for just one photo.
The same thing goes for Real Estate & Architectural Photography; I’m not even giving it a mention besides this because there’s virtually no reason to use a 35mm prime instead of either a 16-35mm type wide-angle zoom, or a 24-70mm type mid-range zoom.
Landscape & Travel Photography
A “traditional” landscape photographer, on the other hand, might be inclined to appreciate such a flawlessly sharp optic as this, since they’re much more likely to be closely inspecting the details of some images’ corners, though not all.
Having said that, honestly? Once again, modern zoom lenses are more than enough in this regard, and even in the extreme corners, you’ll get all the sharpness you need from a lens such as the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Art.
So, if you spend all of your time at f/8 or f/11 as a landscape photographer, once again a mid-range or wide-angle zoom is a better choice. However, keep reading…
Nightscape & Astrophotography
…Of course, we all know that most landscape photographers these days love to stick around long after sunset, and photograph the same landscapes by moonlight or starlight. If this sounds like you, then yes, you may want to trade that f/2.8 or f/4 zoom for this incredibly bright, super-sharp f/1.4 prime!
The only thing I can say in this regard is, you’ll want to consider all three of Sigma’s relatively similar wide-angle f/1.4 primes. This 35mm, plus the Sigma 24mm f/1.4 DG DN Art, and last but not least the Sigma 20mm f/1.4 DG DN Art.
If I could, I’d own all three of these lenses! They’re truly amazing, and I could put all of them to very good use as a nightscape photographer.
However, if I had to pick just one or two of them, I must admit that I’d probably make either the 24mm or the 20mm my first choice, with the other being my 2nd choice, and this 35mm being my last choice. That’s just my personal style as an astro-landscape photographer, though.
Video & Content Creation
Since virtually all of the above categories can include both photo and video types of content, I thought it would be easier to keep this very simple: Regardless of whether you are capturing stills or video, the same excellent performance and value applies to this Sigma 35 1.4!
Thanks to its de-clickable aperture, and other performance characteristics which we’ll get to later, all types of content creators will love this lens.
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art Review | Pros & Cons
I’ll spoil this whole review right now, if you want: The Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art is essentially perfect, with only a couple minor drawbacks that most photographers whill never notice. The image quality is excellent, the build quality is very professional, and the overall value is second-to-none thanks to the added features & customizations. Literally the only complaints I can think of are almost embarrassingly nit-picky.
(That is, it has just a bit of noticeable color fringing, which is removed quite easily. Also, as an f/1.4 prime, it is obviously quite a bit bigger, heavier, and more expensive than an f/1.8 option. However, that’s not even a real “con”, it just means that you have two excellent choices as a potential buyer.)
Image Quality
Art lenses have always had some of the best image quality around, and the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art is no exception. In fact, it’s one of the better Sigma Art lenses I have had the pleasure of using, and it’s one of the absolute best 35mm primes I’ve ever reviewed, period!
Sharpness
Even wide-open at f/1.4, sharpness is just absurdly perfect. Even off-center, indeed at the edges of the frame and almost right up to the extreme corners, sharpness is impressive at f/1.4 and only gets “absurd” when stopped down.
I’d say that this optic is more than ready for full-frame cameras with 60-100 megapixels. Even if you pixel-peep the extreme corners, (check the nightscape star test photo below) …the level of image detail is impressive at f/1.4, and basically flawless by f/2.8.
Bokeh
One of the main complaints of the oldest Sigma Art prime lenses, (indeed the oldest being their first 35mm f/1.4 prime ever, made for DSLRs) …was that although they were incredibly sharp, their bokeh was “busy”, and the overall character of background blur wasn’t as soft and smooth as more “exotic” lenses.
That has changed with virtually all of the recent Sigma Art lenses; the smoothness of background blur is just gorgeous. In the above sample, I’m testing with some of the harshest subjects possible, and you can see that even in the “nasty” texture of bark chips in the lower right, bokeh stays nice and smooth. (And the rest of the image’s background is just “buttery smooth”!
Colors & Contrast
Color and contrast are never a significant concern for modern optics, as their coatings are far more advanced today, and the quality of glass itself is crystal clear.
The biggest difference you’ll see when it comes to color & contrast is this fact: Now, Sony and Adobe are “playing nice” in terms of the in-camera picture settings, even when capturing raw images. So, if you set your camera’s color mode to “Landscape” or “Portrait”, you might see a HUGE difference on the computer, and it oculd save you HOURS of editing time!)
NOTE: Such settings are non-destructive when capturing raw stills or raw video, HOWEVER, they can be highly destructive if you are capturing JPG stills or regular (compressed) video files. So, when in doubt, leave your camera in “Natural” or “Neutral” picture mode!
Vignetting & Distortion
This is where we begin to see real problems with virtually all modern mirrorless lenses, especially the fast-aperture primes. Lens manufacturers have come to rely heavily on software, known as profile corrections, to “cover the sins” of distortion and vignetting.
In other words, you might think at a glance that the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art has flawlessdistortion and vignetting, but that’s because it’s being “erased” in-camera before you ever see it.
You can turn this setting off, and reveal the true nature of the image quality, but I honestly don’t recommend it; you just don’t need to worry about this!
Having said that, there are a few obscure situations in which you might need to turn off the profile corrections:
- In high-ISO scenes with lots of noise, be careful to either not crank up the Texture & Clarity sliders too high, otherwise they will create horrible noise patterns when the distortion correction is on.
- In special conditions such as a plain white snow, or an empty, light sky or grey sky, the
Sunstars & Flare
For a portrait lens that is also excellent at landscape photography, the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art offers excellent performance in terms of minimizing flare “dots” while still delivering a beautiful rendition of golden hour light.
Sunstars, when stopping down to f/11 or f/16, are quite “pointy”, but there’s nothing particularly outstanding about them, either.
Color Fringing, Coma & Astigmatism, Field Curvature
As you can see from the above examples, the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art makes for an absolutely excellent nightscape photography lens. At f/1.4, the sharpness is truly impressive, and by stopping down just one stop to f/2, you get nearly flawless results!
For such a relatively compact and affordable lens, this is great news for the 35mm focal length. Historically, almost all primes in this range have highly favored portrait photographers, meaning their corner image quality was “trash” if you tried to photograph stars with the lens at f/1.4.
Hands-down, I would give this 35mm prime the title as the best all-around value for nightscape or astro-landscape photography.
Unfortunately, there is one minor drawback that can be a bit of an annoyance, and that is this: Unlike the Sigma Art lenses that are wider than 35mm, (both primes and zooms) …this 35mm f/1.4 prime is prone to a fair amount of field curvature, but not much. If you make the mistake of focusing on stars in the dead-center of your image, then you’ll see more softness in the corners at f/1.4 than you ought to. (It’s not softness, technically, it’s out-of-focus blur!)
This almost completely vanishes when using f/2 or smaller, and especially if you set star focus CORRECTLY for nightscpaes, which is, somewhere around the rule-of-thirds area.
Macro & Close-Up Photography
More and more prime lenses these days are capable of geting very up-close with average subjects, even if they’re not considered dedicated macro lenses. For a wedding or portrait photographer, this makes such lenses perfect for “detail” photos, because you never really need to get extremely close; all you want is to not have to worry about the minimum focusing distance being an issue.
With that said, the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DN’s close-focusing distance of about 12 inches (30 cm) is in line with most other 35mm primes; the reproduction isn’t “true macro” but it’s more than enough to capture beautiful close-up details at a wedding, or out in nature, etc.
Design & Durability
Sigma’s modern Art series primes are all very similar in their design, both in terms of operation and build quality. They’re strong, sturdy, and generally made to stand the test of time under professional work environments.
Weather sealing and metal parts abound, however, the barrel parts that are high-grade plastic are also a gift because the material seems to absorb bumps and general use much better than the all-metal pro lenses of the DSLR era.
Ergonomics & Portability
This lens is a bit of a chonky boi, yet it’s not nearly an “oh lawd!” situation. For the professional results you get, it’s a perfect balance on a pro camera body such as a Sony A7R series, or a Sony A9 series or Sony A1.
The Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DN is considerably more front-heavy than all of the similar focal length f/1.8 primes you might have tried, though, so it should be noted that you’re bordering on the territory of needing to support the lens with your left hand; it’s not a lens that will feel perfectly balanced if you try to hand-hold your camera with just your right hand, especially on a 10+ hour wedding day.
That being said, it’s also not a “monster”, like the various f/1.2 primes out there, and considering how beautiful the images look from this lens, I really find it hard to imagine how any photographer or videographer who would forsake this amazing optic in favor of the utterly massive Sigma 35mm f/1.2 DG DN Art. That thing is a beast, has noticeably sluggish and unreliable autofocus, and costs as much as $1,500.
Autofocus Performance
As a wedding photojournalist who always loved to focus on the more intimae details and moments of a wedding day, the 35mm prime holds a special place in my heart. It’s not too wide, but not too tight, making it perfect for all sorts of action photos from “active details” to candid portraits.
Historically, it was a huge annoyance to try and use such a fast-aperture lens for these types of photos, because either the camera or the lens would fall short in terms of being able to acquire or track focus on active subjects with such shallow depth of field as f/1.4. For this reason, a lot of wedding photographers forsook their favorite prime, whether a 35mm or 50mm, in favor of a 24-70mm f/2.8 because their autofocus motors were stronger, and the depth of field was more forgiving.
TODAY, THAT HAS CHANGED. With powerful, precise autofocus motors, and with incredible subject detection & tracking algorithms in cameras, we can now trust these lenses to perfectly nail focus, even wide open at f/1.4, in any conditions no matter how active, no matter how dim the lighting may be.
With that being said, yes, I absolutely loved the performance of the Sigma 35mm f/1.4’s autofocus. It is both precise and reliable. I use it constantly for general photorjournalism now, and rarely reach for my 24-70mm f/2.8. (Well, now it’s the ultra-lighweight Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8; since I just don’t rely on mid-range zooms very much anymore, I went with the compact, affordable option so that I have more space in my wedding camera bag for more awesome primes!)
Focus Breathing & Autofocus Sound
For videographers, these things really matter a lot! Thankfully, this Sigma 35mm 1.4 Art is basically silent when focusing. Furthermore, there isn’t much focus breathing, although it is present. Most types of content creators won’t have any complaints; only the most picky filmmakers might notice a faint amount of focus breathing when doing perfectly static focus pulls.
Manual Focus Performance
As with virtually all modern digital camera lenses, (with autofocus, that is) …manual focus is performed electronically by turning the focus ring. It’s a rather large manual focus ring, actually, and its physical movements are mechanically very smooth. Thankfully, the underlying electronic control is also very smooth & subtle, offering excellent precision when focusing on tricky things like stars in the night sky.
(You would think “infinity” is easy to focus on, however, it’s actually extremely difficult! Especially at f/1.4 or even f/2.8, it is no easy task. So, I am glad to report that when you combine both the precision of the manual focusing, and the overall sharpness of the optics, you get an excellent lens for astro-landscape photography, among other things of course.
Features & Customizations
As with other recent Art series prime lenses, the Sigma 35mm f1.4 DG DN offers as many features and customizations as the Sony E-mount will allow. It has a physical AF/MF switch, and that alone has been something I’ve missed dearly on various other lenses.
I’m especially thankful that not only do these latest prime lenses have a physical aperture ring that can be de-clicked, but they also have a locking ring, so you never have to worry about accidentally finding yourself suddenly at f/16 a dimly lit church, when you had the “A” aperture setting dialed to f/1.4…
There is also a customizable button, below the AF/MF switch, and that can come in handy for a variety of reasons which you can usually program from within your camera body.
Value
We’ll talk about all the numerous competitors next, but for now, let’s just keep this very simple: for the relatively low price of $789, (or up to $999 if no rebates/savings are active) …you get one of the most professional, flagship-level lenses on the market. So, it’s an excellent value for any working professional, regardless of what type of photography or video work you do.
Having said that, considering the lens’ performance in terms of the images and the autofocus, as well as the physical quality and general features, I have to give it a 10/10 for value, without question. Simply put, I remember when lenses less than half as good cost more than twice as much. So, consider me truly delighted in this regard.
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art Review | Compared To The Competition
35mm is probably the second-most popular prime focal length behind 50mm. I didn’t tally up every 35mm prime ever made and compare it against 50mm, 85mm, etc, but I’m pretty sure. Suffice it to say, there are a LOT of 35mm primes on the market.
Even if you narrow the category down to just 35mm f/1.4 primes available on the Sony E-mount, (FE full-frame) …there are a handful. The Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM is an impressive optic, with cutting-edge autofocus motors that might persuade a full-time pro who can afford to invest in the $1,398 price tag. Indeed, the Sony GM is the only other lens that really edges out the Sigma in terms of optical performance, but you’re only getting a small %% better optics for nearly double the price.
There are also two Samyang/Rokinon options, an older one and a newer one, priced at $449 and $699, respectively. Neither of them is nearly as good as the Sigma, not in terms of the physical build quality, nor the autofocus performance, nor the image quality. (Honestly, if you’re eyeing the older one because of its ~$450 price tag, I would instead suggest checking out the much newer, even more compact and affordable Rokinon/Samyang 35mm f/1.8, at just ~$350.
In fact, that is the only other recommendation I can make. This is specifically for those photographers who are on an extremely tight budget, and/or those who want the lightest, smallest-possible package: the Rokinon/Samyang AF 35mm f/1.8. It’s only $349, it weighs just 7.4 oz, and is about the size of a “nifty fifty”. The image quality isn’t nearly as good as this Sigma, but it makes a good option for those who actually want something super compact, or are just on that tight of a budget.
[Click here to read my in-depth reivew of the Roki-Yang 35mm f/1.8 AF!]
Sony has another option as well, the much older (Zeiss glass) Distagon T* FE 35mm f/1.4 ZA. It costs $998, however, and let’s just say it leans in the direction of “character” in terms of its image quality. That is to say, yes, the images are beautiful, and have a certain “je ne sais quoi” that is rare for even the most exotic prime lenses. Since it’s a very old lens, however, the autofocus is (and I don’t use this word lightly) abysmal. Besides, I suspect that most photographers today are likely interested in a more versatile optic, and the Sigma wins again because of how well it handles everything from the erratic action of wedding photojournalism, to the extreme optical demands of astro-landscape photography.
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art Review | Conclusion
All in all, Sigma really delivered a near-masterpiece with this 35mm f/1.4, despite how crowded the category already is. Combining clinically perfect sharpneess with a beautiful aesthetic is no easy task, and yet, they delivered a lens that gives professional results across every genre of photography & videography.
The features such as the physical, de-clickable aperture and the Fn button give it the ability to more or less match what you’ll get with a flagship “GM” lens. The image quality is phenomenal, and the price tag of $789 is equally so.
What you should really be asking yourself is, if you get this lens, will you ever use your 50mm again?
