Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG HSM Art - Review 2022

Sigma's Art series of prime lenses delivers extremely sharp photos, even when shot wide open, at prices less than first-political party options. The 85mm F1.4 DG HSM Fine art ($i,199) continues the tendency, undercutting the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G ($ane,599) and the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L ($one,899) on price, without sacrificing any performance. It's an Editors' Choice, fifty-fifty though it omits image stabilization. If you value that feature over an f/1.4 design, don't count out the Tamron SP 85mm f/1.8 Di VC USD, which is superb in its own right.

Design

The 85mm Fine art is a big, chunky lens. It measures 5.0 by three.7 inches (HD), weighs 2.5 pounds, and supports 86mm front filters. It'south finished in black, with a polycarbonate barrel, and includes front and rear caps, a reversible lens hood, and a protective conveying case. It's much larger than the Tamron 85mm f/ane.8 (iii.vi by 3.3 inches, one.5 pounds), but captures 50 per centum more light and images with a shallower depth of field when shot at its maximum f/1.4 aperture.

Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG HSM Art : Sample Image

You lot tin buy the 85mm Art in a Canon EF, Nikon F, or Sigma SA version. Nosotros received the Nikon edition for review. The bulk of the butt is taken up by a manual focus band. It's finished in textured safety and comfortable to plow, offering plenty resistance for a true mechanical transmission focus feel. Set focus distance is displayed in a transparent window, with a depth of field scale marked at f/viii and f/sixteen.

A toggle switch on the side switches betwixt manual and autofocus operation. When I received my exam copy of the lens I noticed that autofocus wasn't quite spot on, merely thankfully that'south an easy fix. Fifty-fifty if your camera body doesn't support focus adjustments, you tin calibrate the lens using the Sigma USB Dock—it'south a very solid purchase if you ain Sigma lenses, as it also lets you upgrade lens firmware.

Minimum focus is at ii.viii feet (0.85-meter), which doesn't put the lens anywhere nearly macro territory—at its best it projects images at 1:eight.three life-size. That's pretty typical for an 85mm lens—it'southward a fine working distance for most subjects, including head-and-shoulders portraits.

There'due south no image stabilization. It'due south not a huge bargain if yous're shooting in a studio or outdoors in bright light, as the challenge will be to keep your camera's ISO low enough to work at f/1.4 or f/ii under those weather. But it is a business for outcome photographers who want to stop down a scrap to get more of an prototype in focus, and for handheld video work. The Tamron 85mm is one of the few 85mm designs on the market that is stabilized, and is a better selection if your style of photography lends itself to shooting with steadied glass.

Image Quality

I tested the 85mm Fine art with the 36MP, full-frame Nikon D810. Image quality at f/ane.four is exceptional, netting three,222 lines per flick height on a eye-weighted exam. The weighting isn't really needed, however, as the outer edges of our examination shot are just as sharp equally the center. This isn't the sharpest 85mm nosotros've seen at f/1.4—the Zeiss Otus ane.4/85 manages three,376 lines on the same D810 exam body—but it's a transmission-focus-but, $5,000 lens. The Sigma supports autofocus and is much less expensive.

There'due south a very pocket-size improvement in sharpness at f/2, at 3,259 lines. As you terminate down further the lens takes better advantage of the D810'southward high-resolution image sensor—3,728 lines at f/ii.eight, 3,943 lines at f/4, 4,054 lines at f/5.6, and peak performance (4,194 lines) at f/8. Diffraction sets in at f/11, cutting resolution to 4,087 lines, and is more detrimental at the minimum f/sixteen setting (3,756 lines). The Tamron 85mm actually delivers crisper images at its all-time—it approaches 4,800 lines at f/8. That's about every bit much resolution as we've seen from any lens when paired with the D810.

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At that place'southward almost no visible vignette in images shot with the Sigma, even at f/1.4. The Imatest Uniformity tool shows that corners lag behind the center by less than one f-end when shooting the lens wide open (-0.9EV), which is within our 1EV tolerance. This is one area where the Sigma betters the Tamron—information technology captures images with a noticeable vignette at wider apertures. At narrower apertures the deficit drops to an imperceptible -0.2EV. Likewise, the lens shows no visible distortion.

Conclusions

In that location are no complaints to be fabricated most the Sigma 85mm F1.iv DG HSM Art from an optical perspective—it's an impeccable performer, capturing images with loads of detail, even when shot wide open at f/1.iv It's the big f-end that will draw photographers to the lens. Build quality matches its optics, and the price is much less than comparable lenses from Canon and Nikon. Really, the only matter missing is image stabilization. If information technology'due south a priority, and you don't mind an f/1.8 lens, the Tamron SP 85mm is another excellent option, available for less. Merely for photographers who lust after an f/1.four lens, the Sigma 85mm is an easy pick every bit Editors' Choice.