I don't feel like testing the performance of this lens during hurricanes and tsunamis, but for everyday and normal use, the lack of weather sealing doesn't seem like a real flaw to me. I've never had any problems with this lens in rain showers. Both concerns have simply never bothered me since purchasing this lens. When purchasing the lens, my main concerns were two things: the F16 maximum aperture (which seemed fairly low compared to most Canon lenses) and the lack of weather sealing. That sturdiness also reminds you of how dignified the glasswork of the lens is. That difference in weight really only seems to be an issue when unpacking the lens, not during use. My very first use of the Sigma 35mm was during a city trip to Berlin: after an hour or so I was already crazy about the good grip and the slightly heavier weight. When using the lens, that feeling of discomfort disappears ridiculously quickly. If you are used to light lenses, holding this one for the first time is a bit of a shock.
Sigma 35mm 1.4 manual#
Manual override, still manually adjusting the focus during AF, goes very smoothly by the way. A detail indeed, but it just shows that they have really thought out this lens at Sigma. That makes it super easy to quickly notice in the dark that you are still on manual focus. A nice detail is that at Sigma they have thought of making this clearly visible when that button is set to MF through the white background of the button (which is simply black with AF).
The only button Sigma has put on the lens is one for AF/MF. If you have a steady hand you can also easily go up to 1/20 and one of my favorite shots I took with this lens (and where I didn't want to make any further concessions in ISO) was even hand drawn at 1/ 10. Using shutter speeds shorter than 1/50 is no problem at all. There is no image stabilization available, but to be honest I have never had any problems with that. Having to "zoom with my feet" was an educational (and, thanks to this lens, never frustrating) experience. with the beautiful red "L" edge.īy the way, this was my first ever purchase of a prime lens. Between F12 and F16 (the other extreme aperture value) you can suffer from diffraction in certain circumstances (whereby, despite the smaller aperture, a certain and unintentional "flou" is created), but I've seen that worse with Canon lenses. In portraits, for example, I often have to stop myself from shooting at 1.4 constantly. aperture, but I would strongly doubt that with this lens. You often hear that you only get the best quality at "1 stop less" than the max.
Sigma 35mm 1.4 full#
What I am also (and actually mainly) pleased with is the fantastic image quality at full aperture (F1.4). That makes this lens perfect for street photography and portraits in a slightly smaller space. I work with a Canon APS-C crop sensor camera on which the "35mm" actually becomes a "56mm" ("52.5mm at Nikon). This is simply a brilliant lens, both in build and image quality. I've had this lens for a year and a half (when it was still a good 100€ more expensive here) and have never complained about the quick purchase.