Sigma 85mm F 1 4 DG HSM Art Review | 54 Data compared

The Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM ART is a massive, high-performance portrait lens that trades compact design for exceptional optical capabilities. On the positive side, it delivers outstanding sharpness across the frame even when wide open at f/1.4, heavily outperforming competitors like the Tamron 85mm f/1.8 VC at similar apertures. Thanks to its gargantuan 86mm front element, the lens boasts an incredibly low amount of vignette and excellent light transmission (hypothesised to be a true T1.5). Furthermore, its updated Hyper Sonic Motor provides very fast, quiet, and generally improved autofocus repeatability near the centre focus points, and it produces perfectly circular bokeh highlights across the frame when stopped down to f/2. However, these structural and optical gains introduce several distinct drawbacks. Structurally, the lens is exceptionally big and heavy, weighing 1,139 grams naked and over 1,227 grams with the hood and caps attached, which makes it feel front-heavy and prone to motion blur on high-resolution bodies without built-in optical stabilization. Optically, the reviewer notes a frustratingly high presence of chromatic aberrations at wide apertures that rob the lens of overall...

The Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens is lauded by The-Digital-Picture as a top-tier, high-performance portrait lens, offering exceptional center sharpness and contrast even at f/1.4 for excellent low-light performance and bokeh. It features a robust build and a fast, accurate, and quiet Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM) autofocus system. However, this heavy and large lens lacks optical stabilization and exhibits some color fringing at wide apertures. Additionally, the 86mm filter thread is costly, and the lens can be challenging to handle during long, handheld sessions due to its weight.

The Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG HSM Art lens earns a 93% rating for exceptional sharpness, smooth bokeh, and professional-grade performance, making it a high-value option for portraits and low-light photography. While it offers superior subject isolation and competitive imaging capabilities, the lens does exhibit noticeable lateral chromatic aberration when shooting wide open at F1.4. DPReview The primary downside is this color fringing in harsh, backlit conditions, which can be mitigated by stopping down to F2.5 or using post-processing techniques. Despite this, the review concludes the lens is a premier choice, offering stellar image quality that often surpasses more expensive, first-party alternatives.

Despite its optical excellence, the lens has notable physical and mechanical trade-offs. It is a very big, chunky, and heavy piece of gear, weighing 2.5 pounds and measuring 5.0 by 3.7 inches, which makes it significantly bulkier than lower-aperture alternatives like the Tamron 85mm f/1.8. Crucially, it omits built-in image stabilization, which poses a challenge for handheld video recording or event photographers needing to shoot steadily in low-light environments without boosting their ISO. Finally, out-of-the-box autofocus may not be perfectly accurate and can require custom calibration adjustment. However, users can resolve this minor focus discrepancy by utilizing a separate Sigma USB Dock to fine-tune the lens and upgrade its firmware.

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The Imaging Resource review characterizes the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art as an optical masterpiece, delivering exceptional sharpness across the frame from f/1.4 with excellent control over chromatic aberrations. It is lauded for its fast, redesigned Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM) and robust build quality, making it a superior choice for portraiture. Conversely, the lens is notably large and heavy, requiring 86mm filters, and suffers from significant corner shading. Despite lacking optical image stabilization and having a high price point, it is considered a top-tier performer for DSLR users.

The Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art is a highly impressive, top-tier portrait lens designed for modern, high-resolution full-frame cameras. The review highlights its exceptional, corner-to-corner sharpness—even when shooting wide open at f/1.4—with performance peaking beautifully at f/5.6. Its optical design delivers a fantastic, smooth bokeh featuring soft-edged bokeh balls that remain round even when stopped down to f/2.8, free from distracting onion-ring patterns. Additionally, it features a quiet HyperSonic autofocus motor that offers precise focusing essential for narrow depth-of-field portraits, lacks visible distortion, and is competitively priced compared to camera-brand alternatives. However, the lens does come with some notable drawbacks, primarily concerning its physical design. Weighing a hefty 1,130 grams and utilizing a large 86mm filter size, it is a very big and heavy tool that is not ideal for casual travel photography. It also completely lacks extra weather resistance and has no protective rubber gasket at the mount, which might limit its usefulness for outdoor documentary work in rainy conditions. Minor optical flaws include 1.5 stops of vignetting at full aperture in uncorrected RAW files and occasional "cat's...

The ePHOTOzine review highlights the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art as a highly competent, modern portrait lens engineered for exceptional clarity, featuring outstanding, sharp performance right from its maximum f/1.4 aperture. The lens earned a "Highly Recommended" rating due to its snappy, quiet autofocus, robust build quality, and beautiful bokeh, marking it as a superior choice for portrait and low-light photography. Conversely, the review notes significant compromises, including the lack of built-in optical vibration reduction and weather-sealing. Furthermore, the lens is heavy at over one kilogram and requires expensive 86mm filters, prioritizing performance over portability.

Overview and Lens Handling The Sigma 85mm f/1.4 HSM DG Art is a highly regarded, premium prime lens designed for multiple camera mounts, retailing at US$1,199. The reviewer notes that the lens is incredibly large and heavy, weighing 39.9 ounces (1130g), which creates a front-heavy combination when paired with lighter DSLR bodies like the Nikon D750. On the positive side, it features an exceptionally large, smooth focus ring and produces a highly desirable, smooth bokeh with very little "onion skinning" or edge brightness. Furthermore, it is almost completely free of linear distortion and lateral chromatic aberration. Optical Performance and Autofocus Quirks Optically, the lens delivers outstanding, "knife-blade" sharpness. It is exceptionally sharp in the center at f/2.8 and remains highly usable even wide open at f/1.4. However, the reviewer highlights a few notable drawbacks, including a slight focus shift to the background as you stop down the aperture, visible coma in the extreme corners, and about 1.67 stops of vignetting when shot wide open. Autofocus performance also shows minor weaknesses; it exhibits a noticeable "slide-to-focus" action, operates more loudly than...

Tahir Yildiz's review highlights the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art as an exceptional portrait lens, praising its outstanding sharpness and minimal chromatic aberration even at maximum aperture. The lens outperforms competitors by delivering consistent image quality across the frame and excellent sharpness when stopped down, marking it as a top performer in the 85mm category. Medium · However, the review outlines significant drawbacks, noting the lens is massive, bulky, and exceptionally heavy, making it cumbersome for extended use. Additional cons include the requirement for expensive 86mm filters and the lack of built-in image stabilization.

The DPReview evaluation of the Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG HSM Art lens crowns it as one of the finest portrait primes ever produced, earning a 93% score for its exceptional, industry-leading sharpness and resolution consistency across the frame, even at f/1.4. This weather-sealed, solidly built lens produces smooth background bokeh and offers fast autofocus, making it a high-performance, cost-effective choice for professional portraiture. However, the lens exhibits noticeable purple and green longitudinal chromatic aberration when shooting wide open at f/1.4 in high-contrast situations, which can be mitigated by stopping down to f/2.5. Additionally, the autofocus may exhibit minor hunting in low-light conditions. Despite these minor drawbacks, the lens is considered an exceptional value due to its optical quality.

The Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG HSM Art lens for Nikon delivers elite performance, scoring 50 points and achieving a peak sharpness of 36-Mpix to set a new benchmark in its category. Optically, the lens features a complex design of 14 elements in 12 groups, including two low-dispersion SLD elements and one aspherical lens to control aberrations. Its standout pros include exceptional, highly homogenous sharpness across the frame even when shot wide-open at f/1.4, as well as an absolute lack of distortion. Furthermore, it showcases excellent correction for lateral chromatic aberration, outperforming expensive rivals like the Zeiss Milvus and Nikon Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G. It also benefits from a powerful sonic-type HSM autofocus motor, an electromagnetic diaphragm for stable burst exposures, and basic weather sealing at the mount. Despite outclassing more expensive lenses, this Art series prime has a few prominent drawbacks tied to its physical size and vignetting. It is exceptionally bulky, weighing a heavy 39.9 oz (1,132g) and utilizing a large 86mm accessory thread. Optically, the main con is corner vignetting of –1.4EV at maximum aperture, which becomes noticeable starting...

The Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art is a premium, full-frame compatible portrait prime lens designed for Canon EF, Nikon F, and Sigma DSLR mounts. It features a complex optical path consisting of 14 elements in 12 groups, including one aspherical and two Special Low Dispersion (SLD) elements, which completely eliminate distortion and keep chromatic aberrations negligible. Reviewers praise the lens for its spectacular image quality, weather-sealed construction, and smooth, precise mechanical autofocus override. Performance testing shows that it retains superb contrast and sharpness even when shooting wide-open at f/1.4, while its 9-blade rounded diaphragm delivers silky-smooth bokeh with virtually no "onion ring" artifacts. The primary pros of this lens are its excellent build quality, refined handling, and outstanding optical performance that delivers edge-to-edge sharpness with zero distortion. However, these benefits come with significant physical drawbacks, which serve as its main cons. The lens is exceptionally large and heavy for an 85mm prime, measuring 95x126mm, requiring an oversized 86mm filter thread, and tipping the scales at over a kilogram (1,130g). Additionally, it lacks built-in optical image stabilization. Ultimately, it is...

The Sigma 85mm f/1.4 Art lens is a high-performance portrait lens that delivers exceptional image quality, tack-sharp results, and beautiful, buttery bokeh at an affordable price point compared to its direct competitors. Built with a solid metal barrel, rubber weather sealing, and a powerful hypersonic motor for fast autofocus, it is highly versatile for low-light shooting, portraiture, landscapes, and sports photography. However, the lens is exceptionally large and heavy at 2.5 pounds, lacks optical image stabilization, and suffers from some focus breathing that might concern video creators. Pros: 📸 Incredible sharpness & image quality 💰 Much cheaper than Nikon/Canon rivals 🪵 Premium, durable build quality ⚡ Fast and quiet autofocus motor 🌌 Excellent low-light performance Cons: 🏋️ Heavy beast at 2.5 pounds (1113g) ❌ No built-in image stabilization 🔍 Minor focus breathing during pulls 🎯 Initial front-focusing calibration issues

The Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art is a highly capable full-frame portrait lens that offers professional-grade build and optical quality, serving as a competitive alternative to first-party Canon and Nikon lenses. In real-world sharpness tests conducted across various apertures, the lens proved to be incredibly sharp even at its maximum aperture of f/1.4. Its overall sharpness and pleasing background bokeh performance closely rivaled much more expensive options, such as the Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM and the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4G, making it an excellent value proposition for portrait photographers. A major advantage of this lens is its exceptional optical performance, featuring rapid autofocus, excellent construction, and a complete lack of chromatic aberration issues. However, these premium optics come with significant physical drawbacks, as the lens is notably large and heavy, and utilizes an uncommon, massive 86mm front filter size. Ultimately, the review concludes that while the lens's physical footprint can be burdensome to carry, its elite performance and lower price point compared to rivals make it a highly recommended f/1.4 investment.

The Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens is a highly capable short telephoto prime designed to meet the demands of high-resolution full-frame sensors. A major advantage of this lens is its exceptional optical performance, delivering the best full-frame corner sharpness and the softest bokeh background isolation compared to any competing 85mm lenses evaluated by the reviewer. Additionally, it demonstrates impressive resilience against harsh contra-light flare and offers fast, nearly silent autofocusing speeds at a highly competitive entry price relative to its rivals. It is also built with a weather-sealed rubber grommet at the lens mount and is fully compatible with Sigma's USB dock for custom firmware updates and calibration. Conversely, the lens has notable drawbacks, primarily its massive, bulky footprint and heavy weight of over 1.1 kilograms, making it significantly more cumbersome than alternatives like the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G. It also requires larger, more expensive 86mm filters and suffers from noticeable focus breathing during video recording, expanding the image magnification by 13% when switching focus. Optically, it lacks image stabilization, is not the absolute sharpest option in the dead...

The Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens is an exceptionally sharp, high-performing prime lens designed for professional wedding and portrait photographers. Its standout features include a very affordable price tag of $1,200—making it the least expensive f/1.4 lens in its class—as well as quiet, responsive, and accurate autofocus performance. Optically, the lens delivers remarkable edge-to-edge sharpness, beautiful silky-smooth bokeh, and strong resistance to lens flaring even when shooting wide open at f/1.4. It is solidly constructed and comes bundled with a lens hood, a padded soft case, and a four-year limited warranty. However, the lens has several notable drawbacks, primarily concerning its massive physical footprint. It is built like a tank, making it heavily intimidating at 39.9 ounces and measuring a large 3.7 x 5 inches, which can cause significant fatigue during long shooting sessions. Additionally, it lacks built-in image stabilization, which can result in noticeable camera shake or minor chromatic aberration along high-contrast edges when shooting wide open. Lastly, the lack of weather sealing may pose a concern for photographers working frequently out in the field. If you'd...