Sigma 135mm F18 Dg Hsm Art Lens for Sony A7ii

If you're a fan of the Sigma 85mm f1.iv Fine art lens, then you're bound to fall head over heels for the Sigma 135mm f1.viii DG HSM Art lens. When it comes to portrait lenses, photographers are typically tied to the 85mm and 135mm focal lengths: and so that makes this latest decision even harder. Both are good. In fact, both are fantastic. Only with the new Sigma 135mm f1.eight Art lens, you go what seems like a smaller and lighter lens though surely longer. Plus it has weather sealing and a archetype quality about it with just a scrap less contrast than many of the other Sigma Art lenses.

Merely is it the right portrait lens for you?

Pros and Cons

Pros

Precipitous
Beautiful bokeh
Fast autofocus
Not as contrasty, so better for skin tones
f1.eight discontinuity
Atmospheric condition sealing
Not equally heavy as the 85mm f1.four

Cons

Not a darn affair.

Gear Used

We tested the Sigma 135mm f1.8 Art lens with the Canon 6D, Canon 5D Mk 4, and the Adorama Flashpoint Zoom Lion Flash with transmitter. ExpoImaging gels were also used.

Tech Specs

Specs taken from the Sigma listing page.

Lens Construction

xiii Elements in 10 Groups

Bending of View (35mm)

18.2°

Number of Diaphragm Blades

9 (Rounded diaphragm)

Mininum Aperture

F16

Minimum Focusing Distance

87.5cm / 34.4in

Filter Size (mm)

φ82㎜

Maximum Magnifications

1:iv.3

Dimensions
(Diameter 10 Length)

Φ91.4mm × 114.9mm / 3.6in. x 4.5in.

Weight

1,130g / 40.9oz.

Respective Mounts

Sigma	HSM DG
Nikon	HSM DG
Canon	HSM DG

HSM -Hyper-Sonic Motor
DG – DG for Digital Full Frame and APS-C
* The advent, specifications, and the like of the production are field of study to change for comeback without find.

Ergonomics

The Sigma 135mm f1.viii DG HSM Art lens is a long and fairly skinny offering. When you look at it, the lens has all the hallmarks of a Sigma lens. There's a metal-ish material, the massive rubber focusing ring, a pretty useless focusing calibration, and the Signature A in silver and white to designed the Art series.

Plow to the forepart of the lens and what you'll find is the 82mm filter thread. The lens is smaller without the lens hood on.

The Sigma 135mm f1.8 DG HSM Art lens has 2 switches on the side. I switch is for AF/MF while the other is the focus limiter. Generally speaking, I've never had to use the focus limiter. But prototype stabilization would have made more sense.

Build Quality

The Sigma 135mm f1.8 DG HSM Art lens is built with a bit of atmospheric condition resistance into it. It's not equally much as Tamron's, but information technology'due south there. You tin see it on the mount with the rubber gasket band which completes the seal when attached to the camera you're using.

This lens can more than withstand most of what a typical portrait photographer volition throw at information technology.

Ease of Utilize

This is a long telephoto lens–it's useless to use in manual focus. But you can utilise it in autofocus mode with ease. Just pop information technology onto your camera, choose a focusing betoken, focus, shoot and enjoy the prototype. That's all.

My only complaint, and it'southward perhaps very personal, is that the Sigma 135mm f1.eight DG HSM Art lens should have incorporated prototype stabilization. That would make handheld shooting easier overall. Still though, the lens isn't all that incredibly heavy and if y'all use proper techniques when shooting in portrait orientation, you lot won't have much of a problem.

Autofocus

When using the Sigma 135mm f1.8 DG HSM Fine art lens, you can trust in fast focusing abilities that are generally reliable. In our tests, the focusing only didn't piece of work out that well in low lite and using the outer focusing points of the Canon 6D. But otherwise, it was pretty snappy even in very low light.

For portrait photographers, this is more than all you need.

Note: at i point, the focusing didn't work out all that perfectly when a portrait subject'due south hair was flying about. Merely that's sort of to be expected.

Epitome Quality

The Sigma 135mm f1.8 DG HSM Art lens is really incredible when information technology comes to image quality. Like many of the other art lenses, at that place isn't a whole lot to complain about. Bokeh? Oh human being, exercise you have it. Sharpness? Aye. Colors? Well, that's where some folks may be torn. Photographers that like the more muted colors will enjoy this lens a whole lot. Simply photographers that have come up to admire Sigma'south saturation in many of their other lenses may not similar this.

Bokeh

The bokeh of the Sigma 135mm f1.eight DG HSM Art lens is arguably the best of any Sigma prime lens designated for portraiture. At all times it is very creamy. Then when y'all consider how close this lens can focus, information technology's no contest. Nevertheless, portrait photographers will not find it that much ameliorate over the Sigma 85mm f1.iv Art to justify having both lenses or perhaps "upgrading to it."

The bokeh as well isn't majorly emphasized here due to micro-contrast or vignetting amongst other tricks.

Chromatic Aberration

There's zero chromatic aberration with the Sigma 135mm f1.8 DG HSM Fine art lens. In fact, I'k sort of sad about that. I wish that this lens didn't control flare so well as it would add a bit more character to the lens and offer a bit more differentiation from the Sigma 85mm f1.iv Art.

Luckily, there's no imperial fringing or other problems to complain near.

Color Rendition

Let me show you something. This image above is from the Sigma 135mm f1.eight DG HSM Fine art lens.

Now this epitome above is shot in a similar fourth dimension and identify with the Sigma 85mm f1.four Art.

This isn't a direct comparison, but the tonalities, times shot and the settings are all similar. Merely I experience like the Sigma 135mm f1.viii DG HSM Art lens offers a more muted look when information technology comes to skin tones. And I genuinely appreciate that more despite my pre-disposition to working with an 85mm lens instead. It volition merely hateful that I do less post-production.

Sharpness

The Sigma 135mm f1.8 DG HSM Art lens exhibits its all-time sharpness when a wink or strobe is used. And to that end, I believe that the Sigma 85mm f1.4 is only slightly sharper. But when you lot're looking at output from both lenses, it'south going to be tough to discern the two.

Extra Epitome Samples

Conclusions

Likes

Pretty much everything about it

Dislikes

OIS would have been a very welcome add-on.

In that location isn't a single reason why the Sigma 135mm f1.8 DG HSM Art lens shouldn't receive our Editor'due south Choice award. It has great bokeh, is sharp, focuses chop-chop, has color that will appeal to one segment of the photography population more than the other, and has no existent "problems" per se. But very personally, I wish that it had more than atmospheric condition sealing, optical epitome stabilization, and I was able to go some flare out of it the way that I tin with Zeiss lenses. That would put this lens over the top.

In comparison, it's a different lens from the Sigma 85mm f1.4 Fine art lens just probably not enough besides focal lengths.

With that said, the Sigma 135mm f1.8 DG HSM Art lens receives non simply our Editor's Selection laurels but also 5 out of five stars . Want one? Get set up to drib $1,399 on Amazon; though it may come up downward in toll soon.

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Source: https://www.thephoblographer.com/2017/06/12/review-sigma-135mm-f1-8-dg-hsm-art-canon-ef/