Sigma 14-24mm F2.8 DG HSM Art

PROS

Outstanding sharpness.
Ultra-wide field of view.
Bright aperture.
Dust and splash resistant.
Available for multiple systems.

CONS

Doesn’t support front filters.
Rear filter holder only available for Canon version.
Strong vignette at f/2.8.
Barrel distortion.

BOTTOM LINE

The Sigma 14-24mm F2.8 DG HSM Art is an ultra-wide zoom lens with a bright aperture that’s extremely sharp, especially when stopped down.

Design

Like most zooms of its type, the 14-24mm F2.8 is squat and heavy. It measures 5.3 by 3.8 inches (HD) and weighs 2.5 pounds. The front element is bulbous, so you can’t use front filters—a rear filter holder is an optional add-on for Canon owners only—and a slip-on lens cap is included to protect it. You also get a rear cap and soft carrying case. The lens is sealed, so you can use it in rough weather when paired with a sealed pro-grade SLR.

Sigma sells the 14-24mm in Canon EF, Nikon F, and Sigma SA mounts. You can use the EF version with Sony FE cameras via an adapter, like Sigma’s own MC-11, but it’s a bit bulky for that, especially when Sony’s relatively compact FE 12-24mm F4 is a better option. Sigma has started to make lenses for the Sony FE system, but so far we’ve only seen SLR designs with an extended mount—hopefully the future will bring wide zooms designed specifically for mirrorless.

The manual focus ring sits just behind the integrated hood. It’s wide, turns comfortably, and is covered in rubber so you can maintain a good grip on it. (The barrel itself is a mix of polycarbonate and metal.) A cut-out window behind the focus ring shows the set focus distance, in both feet and meters, but you don’t get a depth of field scale. The focus ring can be used to override autofocus at any time, but there’s also a toggle on the lens itself to switch between autofocus and manual focus operation.

The zoom ring is close to the base of the lens, but far enough away from the mount to allow you to turn it comfortably even when paired with an SLR with a deep handgrip. It’s also covered in rubber and is marked at 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, and 24mm.

Most wide zooms focus pretty close, and the 14-24mm is no exception. The lens locks on to subjects as close as 10.2 inches (measured from the camera sensor), which is just a couple of inches from the front element. You can shove the zoom in someone’s face for an extremely unflattering portrait, or get up close and personal with an object and capture it along with a big swath of background. The maximum magnification, achieved at 24mm and the minimum focus distance, is 1:5.4 life-size.

Image Quality

I tested the 14-24mm F2.8 with the 45.6MP Nikon D850. At 14mm f/2.8 it puts up strong resolution numbers, 3,245 lines based on a center-weighted Imatest evaluation, with edge performance that lags just behind the average. At f/4 the score jumps to outstanding levels, 4,349 lines, and the edge-to-edge image quality is maintained. Resolution peaks at f/5.6 (4,650 lines) and f/8 (4,708 lines), before dropping slightly at f/11 (4,199). There is a drop at f/16, to 3,102 lines, but you may want to narrow the aperture that far in order to create the sunstar effect in shots that incorporate the sun. Resolution drops significantly at f/22, to a soft 1,896 lines, so you should avoid stopping down beyond f/16.

At 19mm f/2.8, Imatest shows 3,536 lines, but edge clarity falls a bit behind, to 3,100 lines—that’s still a sharp result, better than the 2,750 lines we want to see at a minimum from a full-frame, high-resolution image sensor. We see a jump in resolution at f/4 (4,038), before the lens hits its stride at f/5.6 (4,485 lines) and f/8 (4,679 lines). There’s a modest dip at f/11 (4,366 lines), and the expected drop in image quality at f/16 (3,530 lines) and f/22 (2,456 lines).

Average sharpness holds up at 24mm f/2.8—3,441 lines—and while most of the frame is crisp, the edges do show some softness here, recording 2,586 lines. At f/4 there’s an uptick all around, with 3,924 lines on average and edges that are acceptably sharp at 2,826 lines. The lens sings starting at f/5.6—it shows 4,204 lines there—and continues to impress at f/8 (4,452 lines) and f/11 (4,309 lines). We see a drop in resolution at f/16 (3,706 lines) and f/22 (2,614 lines).

Distortion is a fact of life with wide zooms. The 14-24mm doesn’t show more than expected, but it still shows it. We see 6 percent barrel distortion at 14mm, so expect straight lines in photos to bow outward. There’s less distortion as you zoom in—2.8 percent at 19mm and 1.4 percent at 24mm. Distortion is always more noticeable when focusing close to a subject with a wide zoom, so you’ll notice it less when shooting wide landscapes. Regardless, if you want to remove distortion, it’s possible via software—Adobe Lightroom has a one-click correction profile for this lens. As it’s a third-party solution, in-camera distortion correction is not available.

Vignetting is also a concern with wide lenses. The 14-24mm’s corners are noticeably dim throughout the zoom range when shooting at f/2.8—we see a drop of -3.6EV at 14mm and -2.5EV at 19mm and 24mm. At longer focal lengths the vignette goes away at f/4, dropping to less than -1EV, which isn’t noticeable in most shots. But at 14mm you’ll need to stop down to f/11 to achieve even illumination throughout the frame.

Our test body, the Nikon D850, does have integrated illumination correction for JPG shooting. With it set to the normal level we see the vignette all but gone at f/4 and narrower throughout the zoom range, and greatly reduced at f/2.8. Canon bodies have a similar feature, but can have rendering problems when it’s enabled for third-party lenses. And, if you shoot Raw, Lightroom’s correction profile for the lens also eliminates darkened corners and edges.

Conclusions

The Sigma 14-24mm F2.8 DG HSM Art delivers excellent image quality and, at around $1,300, it’s significantly less of an investment than the $2,000 Nikon AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED and the $2,700 Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM—Canon doesn’t have its own f/2.8 ultra-wide zoom.

It’s less expensive than Sigma’s f/4 wide zoom, the $1,600 12-24mm F4, but doesn’t have quite as ambitious coverage on the wide end. Both Sigmas are fantastic examples of what an ultra-wide lens can be. They’re sharp, well built, and, while heavy, still solid options for travel. As with the 12-24mm, we’re making the 14-24mm F2.8 an Editors’ Choice. You’ll just have to decide if you want a bit less wide angle coverage and an extra stop of light gathering, or the extreme perspective that shooting at 12mm provides.

Source: pcmag.com