BLOG 2017
SIGMA 85MM 1.4 ART LENS REVIEW
13/02/2017
After having the Sigma 50mm 1.4 Art lens for a year now the addition of an 85mm portrait lens was next on my list. Head to head against the Nikon equivalent it performs better in tests against the Nikon 85mm lens and is also a few hundred pounds cheaper, also it is a little heavier and longer which suits my style of shooting more, especially when fixed on to the bulky D4S body. After a weeks use with the lens it has been subjected to portraits, training workshops and a political debate in low lighting conditions, fair to say so far so good.
The beauty of the Art lens range is they are sharp all the way through, at a wide open aperture of F1.4 it works in all occasions and at 85mm it works perfectly for candids, portraits and even for product photography. The newly updated Hyper Sonic Motor allows for fast and efficient autofocus. A 9 blade rounded diaphragm creates beautiful background bokeh to isolate and accentuate the subject. Full Time manual focus can be engaged by rotating the focusing ring, even when shooting continuous autofocus and a state-of-the-art electronic diaphragm is included for lenses in the nikon mount.
I have recently been using prime lenses for a lot of my work, most noticeably the Nikon 20mm F1.8 wide angle that has covered over one hundred pub location shoots for brewery Shepherd Neame, the 85mm is a welcome addition to the kit bag and will be an ever present piece of glass in the line up. It does have one strange element though and that is the 86mm filter thread, due to the large and robust lens hood I will leave the lens filter free.
The beauty of the Art lens range is they are sharp all the way through, at a wide open aperture of F1.4 it works in all occasions and at 85mm it works perfectly for candids, portraits and even for product photography. The newly updated Hyper Sonic Motor allows for fast and efficient autofocus. A 9 blade rounded diaphragm creates beautiful background bokeh to isolate and accentuate the subject. Full Time manual focus can be engaged by rotating the focusing ring, even when shooting continuous autofocus and a state-of-the-art electronic diaphragm is included for lenses in the nikon mount.
I have recently been using prime lenses for a lot of my work, most noticeably the Nikon 20mm F1.8 wide angle that has covered over one hundred pub location shoots for brewery Shepherd Neame, the 85mm is a welcome addition to the kit bag and will be an ever present piece of glass in the line up. It does have one strange element though and that is the 86mm filter thread, due to the large and robust lens hood I will leave the lens filter free.
