LENS TEST
Sigma’s new 50mm prime for Sony E and L-mount offers a traditional handling experience married with excellent optical performance, says Damien Demolder
The world isn’t exactly short of 50mm lenses for full-frame cameras, so one might wonder whether we really need another. Sigma clearly believes we do, and has recently introduced two such lenses in quick succession – this Sigma 50mm F2 DG DN in the Contemporary series, and a 50mm F1.4 DG DN in the Art range. While at first this might seem a little excessive, on closer inspection we will see that the two lenses serve quite different purposes and are aimed at different types of user. The f/1.4 Art model is big, heavy and costs £849, while this f/2 Contemporary lens is small, half the weight and, at £619, has a somewhat more accessible price.
It’s some time since I used an f/2 50mm lens, as I’m generally attracted to wider maximum apertures such as f/1.2 or f/1.4. These super-wide apertures usually come with a price premium, but 50mm f/1.8 lenses – or Nifty Fifties – are generally pretty cheap and plentiful in most mounts. It seems odd then that the model on test here stops at f/2, and comes at a more-than budget price, but I’m hoping that the compromise in the maximum aperture value pays us back in image quality when the lens is used wide open.
Features
This Sigma 50mm F2 DG DN lens is designed for full-frame mirrorless cameras, and sits in the range of Sigma’s Contemporary lenses along with eight other fixed focal lengths and three zooms designed for the same mounts. The prime lenses in the series stand out for their external design – nice metal barrels, metal rings and a manual aperture ring. Their relatively moderate maximum apertures allow them to be quite compact, though their extensive use of metal means they are not as light as lenses that use 50 modern polycarbonate bodies. So, they are small, tough and nice-looking, rather than simply small and light.
The lens uses 11 elements in total and groups them into 9 clusters, with three aspherical elements and one Super Low Dispersion element in the construction. The iris is made from nine curved blades to create a rounded aperture, and the lens allows us to focus on subjects just 45cm from the camera sensor. The L-mount unit I was using measures 68mm in length and is 70mm across at its widest point – the Sony E-mount version is very slightly longer – and it weighs 350g (345g in E-mount). The lens comes with a
