{"id":9480,"date":"2019-08-24T15:23:33","date_gmt":"2019-08-24T20:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=9480"},"modified":"2024-09-05T16:11:57","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T21:11:57","slug":"review-sigma-56mm-f-1-4-dc-dn-contemporary-sony-e-mount","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/review-sigma-56mm-f-1-4-dc-dn-contemporary-sony-e-mount\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Sigma 56mm f\/1.4 DC DN Contemporary (Sony E-Mount)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sigma has had two distinct strategies when it comes to mirrorless lenses.  On the full-frame side, they simply ported their DSLR lenses to Sony E-Mount (and later the L-mount) by basically building in their mount adapter logic into the lens and extending a tube to make up the flange distance, though this is beginning to change, with the introduction of three newly designed lenses for full-frame E-mount that were recently announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For APS-C mirrorless, they have designed two series of three prime lenses that focus on small size and high image quality.  The lenses are designed for APS-C, but they also produce the same lenses in the Micro 4\/3 mount as well.  Their first foray into mirrorless was the high quality and very low-cost series of Art primes with f\/2.8 apertures.  The 19mm f\/2.8<\/a>, 30mm f\/2.8<\/a> and 60mm f\/2.8<\/a> all had very good image quality at rock bottom prices, but had a few compromises with regards to autofocus (phase detection is limited to the center point).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sigma 56mm f\/1.4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Later, Sigma began producing f\/1.4 lenses, which belong to their Contemporary line, beginning with the 30mm f\/1.4<\/a>, and later expanding to the 16mm f\/1.4 and now the lens reviewed today, the 56mm f\/1.4.  Despite the Contemporary badge, this line is perhaps better constructed than the f\/2.8 Art DN lenses, and the 30mm f\/1.4 and 16mm f\/1.4 are widely considered some of the very best lenses available for APS-C Sony E-Mount.  The new 56mm f\/1.4 has the same field of view as an 85mm on full frame, and with the wide f\/1.4 aperture, will yield depth of field similar to an f\/2 lens on full frame, which provides plenty of subject separation. The 56mm f\/1.4 is extremely affordable at only $479, which is half of what the Fuji 56mm f\/1.2 costs. Can this 56mm complete the f\/1.4 trio and become the portrait prime that Sony APS-C users have been waiting for?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sigma 56mm f\/1.4 Contemporary on Sony a6400<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you haven’t read my reviews before, I review from a real-world shooting perspective.  You won’t find any lens charts here, as there are plenty of reviews that feature that information.  I review how a lens or camera works for me in my daily shooting.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Construction and Handling<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Despite being the longest focal length of the three Sigma DN f\/1.4 primes, the 56mm f\/1.4 DC DN is actually the smallest of the three lenses. It’s remarkably compact for a highly corrected 56mm f\/1.4, and creates a compact package with Sony’s APS-C cameras.  The lens is roughly the same diameter as the E-mount itself, and only a couple of inches long.  In comparison to a very similar lens for Fujifilm, the Fujifilm XF 56mm f\/1.2<\/a>, the Sigma 56mm f\/1.4 is considerably smaller.  It’s constructed of high-grade plastics with a bit of metal thrown in around the focus ring, with a metal mount. There are no creaks or wobbles anywhere on the lens, and it feels like a very solid piece of kit.  Below is the lens next to the 30mm f\/1.4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Sigma 30mm f\/1.4 and Sigma 56mm f\/1.4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The focus ring on the 56mm f\/1.4 is covered with ribbed, grippy rubber, and is nicely damped. Manual focus is by wire, of course, but feels nice when the need arises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lens comes with a plastic lens hood that is rimmed with a fine rubber around the end, and engraved with the lens name.  It’s not the best hood I’ve ever used, but it’s better than the typical hood included with sub-$1,000 lenses.  The hood is reversible for storage, though I wish it was a little tighter to the lens body when reversed, which Sigma has done on many lenses in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Sigma 56mm f\/1.4 with lens hood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Autofocus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Sigma 56mm f\/1.4 has a very quiet and quick autofocus motor.  Focus acquisition is generally pretty fast, and in single shot mode, accuracy is fairly good as well.  On firmware 1 of my a6400, I has some instances where the lens would occasionally miss focus by just a bit, but I found it to be more consistent than the 30mm f\/1.4, which seemed to miss more often.  The recent a6400 firmware update, though, seems to have improved accuracy with this lens, putting it essentially on-par with my native Sony lenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In continuous autofocus, especially when using the great new real-time Eye AF and real-time tracking modes of the a6400, focus was outstanding, yielding consistently in-focus shots with excellent speed, and this was the case both before and after the firmware update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Image Quality<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Like the other Sigma APS-C mirrorless lenses, the 56mm f\/1.4 has been designed for good image quality while keeping the lens as compact as can be. This design priority can lead to a few compromises in image quality, which I will get to.  However, the overall image quality of the Sigma 56mm f\/1.4 is surprisingly good, especially when considering the low price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharpness<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In perhaps the biggest surprise, given the lens’s low cost and compact nature, the Sigma 56mm f\/1.4 is an extremely sharp lens.  At f\/1.4, the lens is very sharp in the central area, and that sharpness extends across almost the whole image frame.  While there is some slight loss of resolution at the edges and corners wide open, even there, resolution is quite good.  Stopping down to f\/2 brings the center to absolutely blisteringly sharp levels, though the edges and corners show limited improvement in stopping down, so stay on a very good level. The image below was taken wide open at f\/1.4.  Click here<\/a> for a 100% crop of the focus area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
CoGo – Sony a6400 with Sigma 56mm f\/1.4 Contemporary @ f\/1.4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While the stopped down performance shows a discrepancy between the center and edges, edge image resolution is good enough throughout the aperture range that the lens does well in a variety of situations, but the central area gets to absolutely insane levels of detail a stop or two down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When compared against the closest lens I own, the Zeiss 55mm f\/1.8<\/a>, which is an excellent lens, the Sigma absolutely trounces it at wider apertures, and still holds a small lead in the center stopped down.  When compared to one of my all time favorite lenses, the Fujifilm 56mm f\/1.2,<\/a> the Sigma 56mm f\/1.4 is notably sharper at f\/1.4 and maintains a lead through most of the aperture range, though the two lenses show very similar levels of sharpness when stopped down to f\/5.6 and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Sigma 56mm produces images with excellent contrast throughout the aperture range, with essentially no contrast difference between f\/1.4 and f\/8. Images are punchy, and subjects pop.  Color balance is a touch warm, which is typical of Sigma lenses, and saturation is solid.  There are no issues at all in this department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Blooming Branch – Sony a6400 with Sigma 56mm f\/1.4 Contemporary @ f\/2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Sigma 56mm also controls chromatic aberration very well.  Lateral CA is not field relevant, and even longitudinal CA is extremely well controlled, and you’d be hard pressed to see any fringing fore and aft of the focus point in any real world shooting scenario.  Sigma’s done an outstanding job here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bokeh<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Being a short telephoto with a very wide f\/1.4 maximum aperture, the quality of out of focus rendering is quite important.  The Sigma 56mm performs very well in this regard, with a nice smooth blur at wide apertures.  There is a bit of contrast in the background that prevents it from rendering a super-creamy background, but overall, the rendition is very pleasing.  Specular highlights are evenly lit and are relatively round even when stopped down a bit.  Like a lot of fast lenses, some mechanical vignetting results in a bit of a cat’s eye appearance to out of focus highlights near the edge of the frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you zoom in on the specular highlights, some faint onion ring effect can be seen on the highlight interiors due to the two aspherical elements, but the effect is minimal and really only visible upon close examination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
At the Table – Sony a6400 with Sigma 56mm f\/1.4 @ f\/1.4, 1\/160s, ISO 400<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

I mentioned at the beginning of this section that a compact design like the Sigma 56mm f\/1.4 results in a few compromises, but so far in this image quality evaluation, they’ve been largely absent.  However, they rear their head in the areas of distortion and vignetting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sigma has chosen to rely almost entirely on in-camera (or RAW profile) correction for distortion correction, which is somewhat unusual for a short telephoto lens.  The Sigma 56mm f\/1.4 shows rather severe pincushion distortion when viewing RAW files without a profile applied.  It’s bad enough that it’s even often noticeable in portrait shots.  Needless to say, it’s almost a requirement to shoot with JPEG lens corrections on or to apply the lens profile when developing the RAW file.  Lightroom has a built-in lens profile for this lens, and it essentially eliminates the distortion.  Unfortunately, for some reason, Lightroom won’t automatically recognize this profile at the moment, so you need to manually select the proper profile.  Hopefully Adobe fixes whatever is causing this little glitch.  Capture One users will have no issues, as the manufacturer’s profile is automatically applied.  Below shows a shot with the distortion profile disabled on the top, and enabled on the bottom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sigma 56mm f\/1.4 distortion – disabled (top), enabled (bottom)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Likewise, the lens shows relatively pronounced vignetting at wider apertures that eases significantly by f\/2.8.  You can correct this as well with a profile, but I honestly like the look uncorrected.   Flare is relatively well controlled due to quality coatings on the front of the lens.  When stopped down and with a bright light source like the sun near the edges of the frame, some ghosting and flare rays can occur, but it’s not a bad performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all, the optical performance of the Sigma 56mm f\/1.4 DC DN is quite impressive, especially given the extremely compact nature of the lens and the low price compared to similar lenses for other systems.  One of my favorite lenses for any system is the Fujifilm 56mm f\/1.2, and while the Fuji has a bit of character that still makes it a wonderful lens, this Sigma 56mm f\/1.4 is significantly sharper at wide apertures, has bokeh that is a touch more contrasty, but also renders smoother specular highlights, and it costs less than half what Fuji’s excellent lens goes for.  Finally, the Sony APS-C E-mount has a truly competitive portrait lens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Conclusion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Pros<\/h4>\n\n\n\n