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Sigma 35mm f/2 DG DN Contemporary Review - Performance

Sigma 35mm f/2 DG DN Contemporary Performance

Sharpness leaves nothing to be desired. Centrally, it is excellent from f/2 to f/4, outstanding at f/5.6 and f/8, excellent at f/11 and f/16 and still very good at f/22. The edges are very good at f/2 and f/2.8, excellent at f/4, outstanding at f/5.6 and f/8, excellent at f/11, very good at f/16 and it is only at f/22 that things soften to still being reasonably good. Still, this is an outstanding result generally and even at f/22 the lens can be used to obtain very satisfactory results.

Sigma 35mm f/2 DG DN Contemporary MTF Charts

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How to read our MTF charts

The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges.

The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution and sharpness as LW/PH and is described in detail above. The taller the column, the better the lens performance.

For this review, the lens was tested on a Sony Alpha A7R III using Imatest. Want to know more about how we review lenses?

CA (Chromatic Aberration) is measured with any in-camera corrections switched off, as far as we can know anyway, and the end result is almost no CA at the centre. The edges do show colour fringing in demanding subjects such as branches against the bright sky. If this is a problem then the corrections in-camera can be switched on or other software can be used.

Sigma 35mm f/2 DG DN Contemporary Chromatic Aberration Charts

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How to read our CA charts

Chromatic aberration (CA) is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software.

Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more.

For this review, the lens was tested on a Sony Alpha A7R III using Imatest.

Distortion measures -2.16% barrel, again with corrections switched off, and this is quite obvious when we have straight lines at the edge of the image. Of course, many subjects will not find this to be a problem, but if it is either in-camera or software solutions are available.

Bokeh is helped considerably by the rounded diaphragm and is very pleasant. It may not be so critical in a wide-angle lens where the objective may be to maximise depth of field, but if out of focus backgrounds are required then the bokeh is very easy on the eye.

Flare resistance is excellent and no flare is generally visible, even under quite demanding situations.

Vignetting is obvious wide open, but stopping down soon sees it brought under control to quite reasonable levels. Again though, with the right subject matter, vignetting can be useful, and correction can be switched on in-camera or other software can be used.