Sigma 60mm f/2.8 DN A Lens Review

Sigma 60mm f/2.8 DN A Performance

As far as sharpness is concerned, this lens is an excellent performer, with diffraction being the main limiting factor, as is the case with many Micro Four Thirds system lenses. Sharpness is already outstanding in the centre of the frame at f/2.8 and stopping down to f/5.6 results in outstanding clarity across the frame. Stopping down beyond this results in reduced sharpness due to diffraction, although clarity is still very good across the frame at f/11.

Resolution at 60mm

How to read our charts The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column. The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple. For this review, the lens was tested on a Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3 using Imatest.

Chromatic aberrations are incredibly well controlled at all apertures, peaking at just over 0.5 pixel widths at f/22. This low level should pose few issues, even with large prints and harsh crops from near the edges of the frame.

Chromatic aberration at 60mm

How to read our charts Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software. Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. For this review, the lens was tested on a Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3 using Imatest.

Falloff of illumination towards the corners of the frame is well controlled. At f/2.8 the corners are only 0.7 stops darker than the image centre and visually uniform illumination is achieved by f/4.

Extremely mild pincushion distortion of 0.368% is present, which shouldn't pose issues in normal shooting. If absolutely straight lines are paramount, the distortion is relatively straightforward to correct as it is uniform across the frame.

A circular lens hood is supplied as standard, and this lens proved itself quite resistant to flare in testing. When shooting into the light, good contrast is retained.

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