{"id":4183,"date":"2014-11-02T17:00:47","date_gmt":"2014-11-02T22:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=4183"},"modified":"2014-11-03T19:26:17","modified_gmt":"2014-11-04T00:26:17","slug":"review-sigma-19mm-f2-8-dn-art-sony-e-mount","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/review-sigma-19mm-f2-8-dn-art-sony-e-mount\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Sigma 19mm f\/2.8 DN Art (Sony E-Mount)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sigma’s mirrorless lens lineup at the moment consists of a trinity of prime lenses, from wide-angle to short telephoto. We take a look at the widest of the current Sigma DN lenses for mirrorless lenses, the 19mm f\/2.8 DN Art. The Sigma 19mm has been around for a little while, but, along with the 30mm f\/2.8<\/a>, received an overhaul in the past year when the lens was added to the ‘Art’ lineup. The lens is available for Sony E-Mount and Micro 4\/3. I reviewed the Sigma 19mm f\/2.8<\/a> for Micro 4\/3 in January 2013, though it was obvious it was designed with the larger APS-C Sensor in mind. Sigma has made some updates with the Art version of this lens, so let’s see how this newer version fares. The Sigma 19mm retails for $199, and can be purchased at B&H Photo here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Sigma<\/a>
Sigma 19mm f\/2.8 DN Art on the Sony A6000<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Build Quality and Handling<\/h3>\n

Like the other two Sigma DN Art series lenses, the 19mm f\/2.8 DN Art is a compact lens finished with a two-tone metal body. The lens comes in both silver and black, and the black version is reviewed here.<\/p>\n

\"Sigma<\/a>
Sigma 19mm f\/2.8 DN Art<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Sigma 19mm is a well constructed lens built with high quality plastics, a metal mount and metal lens body. The rear ring of the lens is metal clad and finished with a matte black finish, while the front of the lens features the broad focus ring, which is a high gloss black metal. While the lens isn’t particularly dense, it still feels very nicely built, especially given the price. The only down side is that the focus group does rattle around in the lens body when the camera is powered down. <\/p>\n

The lens is lightweight and relatively compact, allowing for easy handling and storage. A short bayonet mount lens hood is included, and is the same hood that comes with the Sigma 30mm and 60mm lenses. <\/p>\n

The focus ring is prone to fingerprints, but the black finish fares better than the silver in this regard. The ring is well damped and easy to operate, but the smooth finish can be a bit slippery if you’re wearing wool gloves or the like. While it doesn’t offer great grip, the focus ring is still rather pleasant to use when manual focus is needed. <\/p>\n

Autofocus Performance<\/h3>\n

The 19mm f\/2.8 focuses quickly and surely. While there are faster focusing lenses around, there’s nothing to complain about with regards to speed. I found accuracy to be quite good. One down side is that it is not compatible with the phase-detect autofocus available in most of the modern Sony camera bodies, so tracking autofocus isn’t going to be particularly amazing.<\/p>\n

Continue: Image Quality<\/a><\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

Image Quality<\/h3>\n

Sharpness<\/h4>\n
\"Ohio<\/a>
Ohio Statehouse – Sony a6000 with Sigma 19mm f\/2.8 DN Art @ f\/8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have owned the 19mm f\/2.8 for Micro 4\/3 for over a year, and while that lens is extremely sharp in the center, I noted some corner softness, even on the smaller Micro 4\/3 sensor. It is, therefore, surprising that I have found that the new Art version, despite having the same optical design, performs even better on the Sony’s APS-C sensor. The 19mm f\/2.8 has the field of view of a 28mm lens on a full-frame sensor, so we’re looking at a wide-angle lens on the APS-C format.<\/p>\n

The center is extremely sharp right from f\/2.8, with good edges wide open that improve to very good upon stopping down. While the lens still doesn’t reach exceptional levels of sharpness on the edges and corners, they are still very good and quite usable for even large prints. The lens can be used without worry for most any situation.<\/p>\n

Bokeh<\/h4>\n

While the wide-angle focal length combined with a moderate f\/2.8 aperture means that background blur capabilities are limited, the 19mm f\/2.8 is capable of blurring the background at closer focus distances. The bokeh from the 19mm is relatively unremarkable. It’s a bit nervous without being overly distracting, but you won’t get creamy backgrounds from this lens. The image below shows what you can expect in real world usage. This is focused at about 0.5m and shot wide open to provide some pop to the nearest fish.<\/p>\n

\"Fishy<\/a>
Fishy Arch – Sony a6000 with Sigma 19mm f\/2.8 @ f\/2.8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Color, Contrast and Chromatic Aberration<\/h4>\n

The Sigma 19mm produces images with excellent color and contrast. There is good even contrast throughout the aperture range and nothing to complain about with regards to color. The lens produces a very neutral color rendition with well saturated color. <\/p>\n

Having extensively used all three of the Sigma DN primes, they do have a similar drawing style that is quite nice.\u00a0 While the 19mm is slightly more muted than the 30mm and 60mm primes, it still shows plenty of that rich contrast and color that seemingly defines this line of lenses.<\/p>\n

The lens does produce some lateral chromatic aberration at the edges of the frame, which can be visible if left uncorrected. Lateral CA can be cleaned up very well with most RAW processing tools, so it generally doesn’t pose much of a problem. In the right circumstances some minor longitudinal chromatic aberration can be seen, but it usually isn’t objectionable in most situations. <\/p>\n

Distortion, Flare and Vignetting<\/h4>\n

The Sigma 19mm has moderate barrel distortion like many wide-angle lenses, and can be noticeable if shooting scenes with many straight lines. Thankfully the distortion is relatively simple and easy to correct.<\/p>\n

The lens can flare with bright light in the frame or just out of frame if you aren’t using the hood, so take care in these situations. Often the flare will produce some notable green ghosting immediately around the bright light source, though overall image contrast stays high even in these situations. <\/p>\n

Thankfully, the 19mm shows only minor vignetting at f\/2.8 which is predominantly gone by f\/4, so there’s nothing to worry about here. <\/p>\n

Continue: Conclusion and Image Samples<\/a><\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n

Pros:<\/h4>\n