Last Updated on 10/20/2020 by Brett Day
Editor’s Note: The Phoblographer’s Sigma Prime Lens Guide was not sponsored by Sigma. It was done by the Phoblographer staff with complete Editorial credibility being kept intact.
Months and months in the making, the Phoblographer staff has been working hard to finish a guide that we’re finally proud to say is ready for release. In the past couple of years, Sigma has stated that they have improved their QC measures in manufacturing lenses and released plans for a new vision of their future products. Today, they are separated into Art, Contemporary, and Sports. As one of the leading third party manufacturers of lenses, they helped to vanquish the ideology that third party products just aren’t as good as the first party. With that in mind, we bring you our guide to Sigma’s Prime Lenses–featuring the entire list of Sigma fixed focal length glass.
Sigma Nomenclature
As cited from Sigma’s own website.
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APO (APOCHROMATIC)
To attain the highest quality images, the APO lens has been made using special low-dispersion (SLD) glass and is designed to minimize color aberration.
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ASP (ASPHERICAL)
The aspherical lens complex allows freedom of design, improved performance, a reduced number of component lenses, and compact size.
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OS (OPTICAL STABILIZER)
This function utilizes a built-in mechanism that compensates for camera shake. It dramatically expands photographic possibilities by alleviating camera movement when shooting handheld.
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HSM (HYPER-SONIC MOTOR)
This lens uses a motor driven by ultrasonic waves to provide quiet, high-speed AF.
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RF (REAR FOCUS)
This lens is equipped with a system that moves the rear lens group for high-speed, silent focusing.
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IF (INNER FOCUS)
To ensure stability in focusing, this lens moves the inner lens or groups without changing the lens’ physical length.
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CONV (APO TELECONVERTER EX)
This lens can be used with the APO Teleconverter EX. It can increase the focal length and will interface with the camera’s AE (automatic exposure) function.
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EX (EX LENS)
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The exterior of this lens is EX-finished to denote the superior build and optical quality and to enhance its appearance
Sigma 8mm f3.5 EX DG Circular Fisheye
In our review, we said:
“With such an extremely wide-angle lens, focusing is literally almost irrelevant because of the inherently immense depth of field present with fisheye lenses. When the lens actually does have to acquire focus, it does so quickly and without fuss.”
Buy now Canon EF: $686.51
Buy now Nikon F: $788.10
Sigma 14mm f1.8 DG HSM Art
In our review, we said:
“The Sigma 14mm f1.8 DG HSM Art is a lens youâre not going to have any sort of trouble with as long as you combine it with a high megapixel DSLR of some sort. At the lower megapixels, you may complain about sharpness until you zoom all the way in on a computer to see how stupidly, amazingly sharp this lens is wide open. Itâs very useful and pretty fun to work with.”
Buy Now Canon EF: $1,359
Buy now Nikon F: $1,349
Buy now Sony E: $1,399
Sigma 15mm f2.8 DG Fisheye
In our review, we said:
“It is a niche perspective, but the 15mm does it wonderfully with bright colors and sharp edges. Landscape and event photographers rejoice. Youâve found a friend in the Sigma 15mm f2.8 DG Fisheye.”
Buy now Canon EF: $609
Buy now Nikon F: $609
Sigma 16mm f1.4 DC DN Contemporary
In our review, we said:
“Itâs sharp, has nice bokeh, contrast, manageable fringing, and autofocuses at a fair speed. Plus it has weather sealing. There isnât a whole lot to hate with the Sigma 16mm f1.4 DC DN Contemporary. If youâre the type of photographer who shoots wide, does documentary-style work, and needs a reliable lens in their bag, this is one of the best options youâve got.”
Buy now Canon M: $419
Buy now M4/3: $419
Buy now Sony E: $411.99
Sigma 19mm
In our review, we said:
“There is much to love about this lens: it is sharp, the color rendition is second to none, and it focuses quickly.”
Buy now M4/3: $199
Buy now Sony E: $199
Sigma 20mm f1.8 EX DG RF
In our review, we said
“The lens barrel feels sturdy in the hand and the mount is completely solid when itâs on-camera (no wiggle at all). The focusing ring is nicely ribbed and easy to use, and it also doubles as the clutch for the focusing mechanism (after toggling the switch on the lens barrel).”
Buy now Canon EF: $629
Buy now used Nikon F:Â Amazon
Sigma 20mm f1.4 DG HSM Art
In our review, we said:
“Itâs a beautiful lens that will find its home amongst architecture photographers, street photographers, and landscape photographers. As Iâm writing this review, I keep thinking about how sad I am to send it back to Sigma since the review is over. But itâs positively incredible, and there is very little to hate here.”
Buy now Canon EF: $899
Buy now Nikon F: $899
Buy now L Mount: $899
Buy now Sony E: $705.90
Sigma 24mm f1.4 DG HSM Art
In our review, we said:
When it comes to color, very few can do it like Sigma. The colors from the 24mm f1.4 are very saturatedâwhich is great for landscapes, cityscapes, sunsets and all. To be honest, we didnât have too many qualms about it for skin tones either. If youâre purchasing this lens, know that the colors will be exceptional and you wonât have a single complaint.
Buy now Canon EF: $686.16
Buy now Nikon F : $739
Buy now Sony E: $651.53
Sigma 24mm f1.8 EX DG Macro
In our review, we said:
“The combined strength of sharpness, a fast maximum aperture and close focusing capability provide the lens great versatility for any type of photography. When you add to that mix, solid construction with impressive image quality, thereâs hardly anything left to say other than if you need a lens like this, you now know where to find it.”
Buy now used Canon EF: Amazon
Buy now used Nikon F:Â Amazon
Sigma 28mm F1.4 DG HSM Art
In our review, we said:
“It has gorgeous bokeh that is smooth, and combined with the close focusing abilities, youâre bound to get photos youâre happy with. The sharpness is more than acceptable. Despite the fact that we didnât test this lens with a flash, weâre still confident in what itâs capable of doing. Couple all of this with the weather sealing, and youâve got a highly reliable lens.”
Buy now Canon EF: $1,034.10
Buy now Nikon F: $1,047.95
Buy now Sony E: $1,034.10
Sigma 30mm f1.4 DC DN Contemporary
In our review, we said:
“Iâve seen far more contrasty and saturated levels from Sigma, but this one is still fairly saturated in the grand scale of things. It produces beautiful colors in nearly every situation that are very lifelike and not at all fooling the eye out of the real thing. For portrait photographers, know that skin tones with this lens are very true to life and youâll need to do very little China Doll style retouching on skin surfaces when in the editing process. This means that youâll be saving yourself a lot of time.”
Buy now L Mount: $308.69
Buy now Canon EF-M: $309
Buy now M4/3: $286.99
Buy now Sony E: $301
Sigma 30mm f1.4 II
In our review, we said:
“Sigmaâs 30mm f1.4 is an overall very good lens. APS-C DSLR users wonât be disappointed by the sharpness, bokeh, colors, and overall build quality. If youâre an APS-C DSLR user, we recommend skipping every other single lens that anyone out there recommends and going straight for this one.”
Buy now Canon EF-S: $499
Buy now Nikon F-DX: $499
Sigma 35mm F1.2 Art DG DN
In our review, we said:
“In backlit situations with ample light outdoors, the Sigma 35mm f1.2 Art DG DN nails the focusing well. Here is where youâre not only able to appreciate the colors that the lens delivers but also the sharpness.”
Buy now L Mount: $1,499
Buy now Sony E: $1,423.32
Sigma 35mm f1.4 DG HSM
In our review, we said:
“The bokeh quality from the lens is also really quite creamy. Again, something about it almost reminds me of Mamiya or Bronica lenses that have some beautiful bokeh to them.”
Buy now Canon EF: $670
Buy now Nikon F: $649
Buy now L Mount: $799
Buy now Sony E: $649
Sigma 40mm f1.4 DG HSM Art
In our review, we said:
“If youâre using the Sigma 40mm f1.4 DG HSM Art, know that no matter what, youâre going to get great image quality and a lens that just overall performs admirably. Itâs fantastic with its build quality, its image output, the focusing speed (which is practically more than good enough) etc. But know that youâre also going to have a massive piece of glass on your camera. Itâs yuuuggggeeeeee, and youâll know the bigly size when you hold it.”
Buy now Canon EF: $1,000.32
Buy now Nikon F: $972.84
Buy now L Mount: $1,399
Buy now Sony E: $1,259.95
Sigma 45mm f2.8 DG DN Contemporary
In our review, we said:
“Overall, the Sigma 45mm f2.8 DG DN Contemporary exhibits very good image quality. If you didnât know any better, youâd say that this is easily the image quality that an Art or Sports lens in Sigmaâs lineup would have.”
Buy now L Mount: $498.93
Buy now Sony E: $454.18
Sigma 50mm f1.4 EX DG HSM
In our review, we said:
“Besides the Canon 50mm f/1.2L, I donât think bokeh in this focal length gets better than this. Yes, the Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 has âuniqueâ bokeh, but I think most photographers prefer the Sigmaâs super smooth and creamy bokeh. Also, thanks to the 9 bladed diaphragm, bokeh balls are nice and round, no hexagons here.”
Buy now Canon EF:Â $599.95
Buy now Nikon F: $599.95
Sigma 50mm f1.4 DG HSM Art
In our review, we said:
“When it comes to image quality of the Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art lens, it truly is deserving of its Art moniker. This lens delivers some of the most beautiful image quality that weâve seen and surely puts lots of the first party offerings to shame with the exception of the Sony 50mm f1.4 Zeiss lens.”
Buy now Canon EF: $949
Buy now L Mount: $949
Buy now Nikon F: $949
Buy now Sony E: $949
Sigma 56mm F1.4 DC DN Contemporary
In our review, we said:
“The Sigma 56mm f1.4 DC DN Contemporary produces some of the best images weâve seen to date of any lens designed specifically for Crop Sensory Sony E Mount cameras. In-focus areas are tack sharp while out of focus areas pack plenty of bokeh. Images produced by the Sigma 56mm f1.4 are consistently sharp in the center of the frame throughout the available aperture range (f1.4 to f16), with no significant loss in sharpness detected when moving towards the perimeter of the frame.“
Buy now Canon M: $420
Buy now L Mount: $448.55
Buy now M4/3: $419
Buy now Sony E: $479
Sigma 60mm f2.8 DN
In our review, we said:
“One of the better uses for it would definitely be street photography. Or in this case, âstalker photographyâ. I was surprised at how easy it was to photograph people without their knowledge due to the range I had. And being such a discrete lens, I didnât get any odd stares like when I bring out my DSLR gear. Street photographers, this just may be the lens youâve been waiting for.”
Buy now used M4/3: Amazon
Buy now used Sony E: Amazon
Sigma 70mm f2.8 EX DG Macro
In our review, we said:
“On a photo walk, this lens is brilliant. The Sigma 70mm is an excellent change from shooting with a 50mm. With the limiter on you are quickly focusing and shooting. When something you see requires the macro touch, just switch to full and get the shot. This lens is a great alternative for street photography if youâre the type that prefers telephoto lenses.”
Buy now Canon EF:Â $498
Buy now Nikon F: $549
Sigma 70mm f2.8 DG Macro Art
In our review, we said:
“The Sigma 70mm f2.8 DG Macro Art is capable of producing beautiful images in the right situations and with the right color editor. Portrait photographers may want to consider using the Sigma 70mm f2.8 DG Macro Art where theyâll want to shoot closer portraits but also if they need the lens to double for macro work such as at a wedding. For food photography, the image quality of course holds up.”
Buy now Canon EF: $518.99
Buy now Sony E: $518.99
Sigma 85mm f1.4 EX DG HSM
In our review, we said
“The Sigma 85mm F/1.4 produced excellent results when paired up with the Canon 5D. Sharpness, saturation, and bokeh were all top-notch. Of all the images I took, there are only a few shots that I felt needed some form of post-processing.”
Buy now Canon EF: $1,099
Buy now Nikon F: $899
Sigma 85mm f1.4 DG Art
In our review, we said:
“It focuses quickly, has a bit of weather sealing, and overall is a very strong performer. There is very little that will make me want to not award this lens the Editorâs Choice award that it so easily deserves. Itâs highly capable and available at a good price.“
Buy now Canon EF: $1,095.90
Buy now Nikon F: $944.95
Buy now Sony E: $904.95
Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG DN Art
In our review, we said:
“The Sigma 85mm f1.4 DG DN Art offers tremendous value for just $1,199. It retains the excellent image quality of its predecessor while addressing many of its shortcomings: Itâs smaller, lighter, and features markedly improved autofocus performance.”
Buy now L Mount: $1,149.95
Buy now Sony E: $1,199
Sigma 105mm f2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
In our review, we said:
“Other than the minor stabilization issue I ran into, this lens has thoroughly impressed me. This lens is definitely a worthy macro lens but can easily transition to shooting portraits. When you add up the image quality, stabilization, build quality, and everything you get with it, Sigma has a winner with this one.”
Buy now Canon EF: $569
Buy now Nikon F: $569
Sigma 105mm F1.4 DG HSM Art
In our review, we said:
Is it massive? Of course. Does it weigh a lot? You bet. But the quality of the images this lens produces is simply gorgeous. If you are a bokeh addict, the Sigma 105mm f1.4 DG HSM Art lens is the fix that youâve been after, and it will keep you crawling back for more.
Buy now Canon EF: $1,599
Buy now Nikon F: $1,599
Buy now Sony E: $1,599
Sigma 135mm f1.8 DG HSM Art
In our review, we said:
“Bokeh? Oh man, do you have it. Sharpness? Yes. Colors? Well, thatâs where some folks may be torn. Photographers who like more muted colors will enjoy this lens a whole lot. But photographers that have come to admire Sigmaâs saturation in many of their other lenses may not like this.”
Buy Now Canon EF: $1,399
Buy now Nikon F: $1,399
Buy now Sony E: $1,204.95
Sigma 150mm f2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
In our review, we said:
“This lens was a great addition to my kit for the month that I had it, and Iâm sad to see it go. Itâs another entry in Sigmaâs fantastic lineup, and itâs a strong player in third party glass. With super quiet autofocusing, optical stabilization, a fast aperture, and a wide focusing range, the Sigma 150mm f2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro will help you create many beautiful photographs.”
Buy now Canon EF: Amazon
Buy now Nikon F: Amazon
Sigma 180mm f2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
In our review, we said:
“If I had to sum up my impression of the image quality this lens delivers into one word, it would be âunexpectedâ. Having used macro lenses in the past, I know them to be typically sharp, but I have never used one quite this long before so I was not sure what to fully expect with the 180mm f/2.8. From the first images I shot I was completely impressed with the outstanding clarity and detail this lens delivered, even straight out of the camera!”
Buy now Canon EF: Amazon
Buy now Nikon F: Amazon
Sigma 300mm f2.8 EX APO DG
In our review, we said:
“The bokeh of this the Sigma 300mm f2.8 D is simply amazing. As a telephoto lens, this lens was excellent when it came to bokeh. It is beyond smooth mostly. It has to be some of my favorite bokeh, ever.”
Buy now Canon EF: Amazon
Buy now Nikon F: Amazon
Sigma 500mm f4.5 EX DG APO
In our review, we said:
“The sharpness of this lens is ridiculous. I could see people in helicopters, which were extremely far off. The detail it pulls out of things is stunning, hand-held or on a tripod. I could clearly read things of boats on the Hudson river without an issue.”
Buy now Canon EF: Amazon
Buy now Nikon F: Amazon
Sigma 500mm f4 DG OS HSM Sports
In our review, we said:
“The Sigma 500mm f4 DG OS HSM Sports is a lens that wildlife and specifically birding photographers are bound to enjoy. The combination of solid image quality, weather sealing and all will make it work out. If you canât afford Canonâs own version, then this is a solid alternative.”
Buy Now Canon EF: $5,999
Buy now Nikon F: $5,999
Sigma 800mm f5.6 EX DG APO HSM
In our review, we said:
The autofocus is quick and precise. It is also ultra-quiet due to the hypersonic motor. The limiters help a lot and speed things up even more.
Buy now Nikon F:Â Amazon
