Sigma’s new full frame mirrorless lenses will be a breath of fresh air for Sony full frame and Panasonic Lumix S users
This is the new Sigma 90mm F2.8 DG DN | C, and it's TINY!(Image credit: Sigma)
Sigma has announced two new lenses in its DG DN Contemporary range of compact and affordable prime lenses for full frame mirrorless cameras. The Sigma 24mm F2 DG DN and 90mm F2.8 DG DN bring a fast wide-angle and a a compact portrait lens to the line-up, which now totals six lenses.
Sigma’s new DG DN Contemporary line-up is a welcome shift for owners of Sony and Panasonic cameras, where there’s been a general trend toward ever larger, ever more expensive optics. These new lenses should balance much more nicely on Sony’s compact A7-series cameras and on Panasonic’s Lumix S range – not to mention, Sigma’s own and very small Sigma fp and Sigma fp L models.
These lenses feature quiet, high-speed stepping motor autofocus equally suitable for both stills and video, and each comes with a manual aperture ring.
The best news is likely to be the price. Both lenses will sell for $669/£549.99, which is well below the price of premium primes for these cameras, and many photographers will willingly swap the wider aperture of full-on pro lenses for the lighter weight and lower cost of these.
The Sigma 24mm F2 DG DN | Contemporary is a fast, wide-angle prime which joins the existing 24mm F3.5 Contemporary in Sigma’s affordable mirrorless sub-range. It’s larger than the existing lens, obviously, but offers better low-light capability. Here are the main specs:
Lens construction: 11 groups, 13 elements (1 FLD, 2 SLD and 2 aspherical) Angle-of-view: 84.1° Number of diaphragm blades: 9 (rounded diaphragm) Minimum aperture: F22 Minimum focusing distance: 24.5cm Maximum magnification ratio: 1:6.7 Filter size: 62mm Dimensions: 70mm×72mm Weight: 365g
Most portrait primes are big, fast and expensive. The new Sigma 90mm F2.8 DG DN | Contemporary bucks the trend by dropping the maximum aperture to F2.8 – which can still give a shallow depth of field effect for portraits – in exchange for much lighter weight and lower cost. These are the main specifications:
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Lens construction: 10 groups, 11 elements (5 SLD and 1 aspherical) Angle-of-view: 27° Number of diaphragm blades: 9 (rounded diaphragm) Minimum aperture: F22 Minimum focusing distance: 50cm Maximum magnification ratio: 1:5 Filter size: 55mm Dimensions: 64mm×59.7mm. Weight: 295g
Price and availability
The Sigma 24mm F2 DG DN | C and 90mm F2.8 DG DN | C will be available from September 24 2021, at a price of $669/£549.99 each.
Rod is an independent photography journalist and editor, and a long-standing Digital Camera World contributor, having previously worked as DCW's Group Reviews editor. Before that he has been technique editor on N-Photo, Head of Testing for the photography division and Camera Channel editor on TechRadar, as well as contributing to many other publications. He has been writing about photography technique, photo editing and digital cameras since they first appeared, and before that began his career writing about film photography. He has used and reviewed practically every interchangeable lens camera launched in the past 20 years, from entry-level DSLRs to medium format cameras, together with lenses, tripods, gimbals, light meters, camera bags and more. Rod has his own camera gear blog at fotovolo.com but also writes about photo-editing applications and techniques at lifeafterphotoshop.com
