Quick Informal Lens Comparison: Canon 35mm f1.4 L vs Sigma 35mm f1.4

I recently wrote about selling all of my Canon glass and going all Sigma. One of the biggest reasons: Canon has been letting me down as of late and one of the best and most affordable ways to take advantage of what my 5D Mk II can do is to use newer glass. As it is, Sigma’s 50mm f1.4 is better than the Canon 50mm f1.4 and Canon’s 85mm f1.2 L USM II is only a bit better than Sigma’s 85mm f1.4, but the latter beats Canon’s 85mm f1.8 USM.

That left one lens in the bag: the 35mm f1.4. Initial tests have come out testing the lens. Here’s a super quick and very informal comparison of the two; and this will be the first of a couple.

Test Procedure

The Canon 5D Mk II was set down on a tripod with the Sigma 35mm f1.4 attached. The shutter speed was set to 1/160th of a second. The camera/lens was then set to focus on the words, “Bessa R” then set the lens to manual focus mode to lock the focusing in place. Photos were shot at f1.4, f2, f2.8, f4 and f5.6. While the shutter speed remained the same, I needed to use a manual light meter to adjust my Paul C Buff Einstein E640. The lights were set off by PocketWizard Plus III units.

When the time came, I switched to the Canon L lens.

No post-product at all were done to these photos except for sizing them down for the web. The images are set to 72 PPI and set to 1.7MB large for ease of download and load speeds.

Image Samples

f1.4

Sigma f1.4

Canon f1.4

f2.0

Sigma f2

Canon f2

f2.8

Sigma f2.8

Canon f2.8

f4

Sigma f4

Canon F4

f5.6

Sigma f5.6

Canon f5.6

So What Do You Think?

Leave us a comment below and lets hear your thoughts! Full review of the new Sigma is yet to come.

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Tagged as: 35mm f1.4, 50mm f1.4, 85mm f1.2, 85mm f1.4, 85mm f1.8, canon, comparison, image quality, L Lens, sigma

Mike Aubrey

At f/1.4, the focus looks like its a little further back for the sigma. The shutter speed dial is perfectly sharp for the sigma and out of focus for the canon.
- ChrisGampat
  
  I noticed that myself. But earlier on the focusing was always perfectly right on. It could mean that the lens needs to be calibrated but out of the box it didn’t seem that way at all.
  
  Look at them both stopped down though. The Sigma is killing it.
  
  *Chris Gampat*
  Editor in Chief
  - http://www.facebook.com/bjdelr Bj Del Rosario
    
    Agreed! The sigma seems to have a bit better color rendition as well. And when you have stopped down to f/4 the Canon still had some trace signs of C/A, while it was non existent on the Sigma. Time to sell the L!
- tom
  
  Looking at this, it looks as if the focal point is slightly different between the 2 shots. the Bessa R, is perfectly clear in the canon, but a little out of focus on the sigma. @1.4
- toriicelli
  
  Indeed… Look at the longitudinal chromatic aberration at the entire front plate in the Sigma’s photo. For me the focus is in the middle of the hot shoe.
  
  Is it really a back focus issue??
  - http://www.facebook.com/trokhim Oleksandr Trokhymchuk
    
    I think you could also see chromatic aberration on Canon’s image (not so much as on Sigma’s) if it would be focused exactly the same as Sigma, because Canon’s shot also have CA, but they are a little more before the focus – on the BESSA-R’s lens.
http://byazrov.com/ Vladimir Byazrov Photographer

A little bit better actually means a lot to a pro.
edmond2406

looks like sigma have better contrast wide open but canon is sharper at f/1.4
- ChrisGampat
  
  I saw that too! But I’m really curious about this though; going to do another test sooner or later.
  
  *Chris Gampat*
  Editor in Chief
http://www.facebook.com/jonathon.hackett Jonathon Hackett

I can’t quite tell on the full size pictures, but is it my imagination or do the black levels just look better with the Sigma on the smaller sized pictures?
http://www.goglanianphoto.com/ Abram Goglanian

I will say that those Sigma samples look good, but I wonder if your 35L is a bit off? The copy that I own seems to be much better at f/4 than your posted example. Regardless though, the Sigma samples look quite nice!
gary morris

the Sigma had more CA at 1.4 than the Canon. otherwise about a wash.
Paddy C

At 1.4 the Canon is doing a much better job with CAs but the Sigma isn’t bad.

The Sigma appears to be focused on the back of the shutter speed dial and I can’t quite tell where the Canon is focused (Bessa R text?). My guess: If they were to be focused identically, the Sigma is sharper.
Patrick

I’d love to see a MA/AF fine tuned Sigma / Canon comparison and to be a bit more specific a Bokeh comparison.
phil

wtf! Your test does not prove anything. Take better pictures
mustafa nazif

you should take close-up photos (or you should crop)… sorry but this is not test…
chip

the Canon looks sharper
- ChrisGampat
  
  You should see our full review.
  
  - Chris Gampat
  Editor in Chief
  The Phoblographer
jasonts

Hi there. I really like your review, but could you please do another comparison shot at 1.4 for me? The sigma one is focused slightly to the back side of your leica and this makes some croma apparent in the front. I’d like to see another shot, because I can’t decide which one to buy. Actually could you take a picture of something with a lot of contrast from front to back? like a ruler or a carpet. thank you very much!
- ChrisGampat
  
  Take a look at our full review instead.
  
  *Chris Gampat*
  Chris Gampat Photography
Spycamera1

To my eye the sigma looks sharper, scarey to think the mighty canon lenses are getting toped