Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary Review

Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC DN C Performance

Looking first at sharpness, a fast, bright f/1.4 optic might be expected to start off slightly soft at open aperture, but in fact the new Sigma has very good central sharpness from f/1.4 through to f/2, rising to excellent from f/2.8 through to f/8. Diffraction starts to take hold, as would be expected with the small MFT format, but performance remains very good even at f/11 and f/16.

Edge sharpness is also creditable, being very good from f/1.4 to f/2.8, excellent at f/4 and f/5.6 and then very good at f/8 and f/11. Results are softer at the edges at f/16, but can still be described as good.

CA (Chromatic Aberration) is very low centrally throughout the aperture range. It is a little higher at the edges, but unlikely to be an issue except in the most demanding circumstances. Correction can be switched on in cameras or tackled in software if desired.

Barrel distortion measures -0.08%, virtually perfect drawing. Whether this is because of the high level of correction of the lens or because of basic processing in camera that is integral to the system and cannot be switched off is impossible to say, but the result is in any event excellent.

It is quite difficult to induce any flare at all, even when shooting directly into the sun.

Bokeh, the quality of the out of focus areas, is helped by the circular bladed diaphragm. The overall effect is very smooth and backgrounds avoid any of the “busy” or “ragged” look that can happen with high resolution lenses.

In summary, an excellent overall performance and a very fine lens, living up to its claim to be almost on a par with the Sigma Art range.

Value For Money

The Sigma AF 16mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary lens costs £449. There are no other f/1.4 lenses in direct competition for these mounts, and Fujifilm users have a Fujinon 16mm f/1.4 lens, but the following may offer some alternatives that we can make a comparison to:

Olympus 17mm f/1.8 M. Zuiko, £369
Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 15mm f/1.7 ASPH, £459
Panasonic Lumix G 14mm f/2.5 II ASPH, £299
Voigtlander 17.5mm f/0.95 Nokton, £799
Samyang 16mm f/2 ED AS UMC CS, £357

The new lens seems to be very good value against these, particularly taking into account the ultra-bright maximum aperture. For more options have a look at the Top 21 Best Sigma lenses, or the Top 28 Wide-angle Landscape Lenses.

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