Sigma 135mm F1.8 DG HSM Art Review - Review 2022

Sigma's Art series of lenses has established itself as a go-to tertiary-party option for photographers thanks to excellent optics and, for the about part, very attractive prices. The 135mm F1.8 DG HSM Art ($ane,399) delivers on image quality, but it's too as (or more) expensive than the closest lenses from Canon and Nikon. Thankfully information technology backs upwards its price with phenomenal performance, so we're naming it our Editors' Choice for photographers shopping for a prime lens in this focal length.

Pattern

The 135mm F1.viii ($1,393.47 at Amazon) is fairly squat, about four.5 by 3.6 inches (Hd), merely very heavy for its size, at 2.6 pounds. Its front element is big, supporting 82mm filters. Sigma includes front and rear caps, a reversible hood, and a soft carrying instance. The lens itself is bachelor in versions for Canon (EF), Nikon (F), and Sigma (SA) cameras.

Sigma 135mm F1.8 DG HSM Art : Sample Image

The outer lens barrel is metal, sturdy and cool to the touch. Sigma includes a seal at the mount point in the design, and promises that the 135mm is protected from grit and splashes. I used it in a very dusty environment and survived without getting any sort of particulates inside the photographic camera.

There's no optical stabilization—it'southward a characteristic ofttimes found on telephoto zooms, but not on prime number lenses in this range. Information technology's a concern if you're using the lens in dim light and want to keep the discontinuity stopped down a bit—a stabilized 70-200mm f/two.8 is a meliorate choice in that scenario—and you can forget most handheld video. We'd consider information technology more of an issue if in that location was a similar prime lens out in that location with stabilization, but at that place merely isn't. The closest yous'll detect are stabilized f/2.viii macro lenses, like the AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED and the Catechism EF 100mm f/ii.8L Macro IS USM.

Sigma 135mm F1.8 DG HSM Art : Sample Image

Despite not bearing a macro designation, the 135mm Fine art has a pretty expert close focus range. It tin lock onto subjects as virtually as 2.ix anxiety (88cm). That means you tin projection subjects onto the image sensor at 1:4.3 life-size. The lens has a focus limiter switch to reduce the time the autofocus system will hunt for a lock—it can be set at close range only (0.88 to i.5m), at long range only (1.5m to infinity), or for the entire range of focus. I didn't feel the need to utilise information technology—the lens focuses very speedily—just it'southward in that location if you lot need it.

The only other command switch is the AF/MF toggle. Of course, you tin override autofocus at whatever time simply by turning the transmission focus band. It occupies a proficient portion of the barrel and is finished in textured rubber and so information technology'south comfortable to turn, even on common cold days. At that place's a respective scale to let you know at what distance the lens is focused.

Sigma 135mm F1.8 DG HSM Art : Sample Image

Image Quality

We tested the Nikon version of the lens along with the 45.7MP D850. I thing to remember when buying any lens, not just third-party options, is that focus might not exist spot on with your SLR body out of the box, and that was the case hither. The extremely shallow depth of field that a 135mm f/1.8 design delivers certainly compounds the issue, because even a slight wonkiness in focus will be very visible in an image.

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Thankfully the D850 supports automated focus adjustment, then I was able to right the consequence easily. About pro SLRs offer some congenital-in fine-tuning, merely you tin can optionally invest in the Sigma USB Dock to do the job; it also lets you update lens firmware. Once the aligning was dialed in, the 135mm focused perfectly on the D850.

Sigma 135mm F1.8 DG HSM Art : Sample Image

I used Imatest to see how abrupt the images the lens is able to capture are. At f/one.eight it scores an incredible 4,493 lines on our center-weighted sharpness test. That's much better than the 2,750 lines we want to see at a minimum from the D850, putting the lens right into the excellent range at its widest aperture. Epitome quality is very strong from edge to edge, and while the periphery lags behind the average score, it's non by much—the outer edges of the frame testify 4,207 lines.

There's a pocket-sized improvement in resolution at f/2, 4,606 lines. But the lens enters phenomenal territory at f/ii.viii (iv,912 lines), f/four (5,094 lines), f/five.six (4,961 lines), and f/8 (4,922 lines). It loses a bit of clarity at f/11 (4,546 lines) and underperforms at f/16 (3,951 lines), but that'southward to be expected. Diffraction cuts into prototype quality when the iris is that narrow.

Sigma 135mm F1.8 DG HSM Art : Sample Image

Baloney is nonexistent. There is a little bit of dimness at the corners when shooting at f/1.8 (-1.6EV) and f/two (-ane.1EV), but it'south gone at f/2.viii and narrower. Even the i.6-finish loss of calorie-free at f/one.8 is pretty minor every bit vignettes go. Y'all may notice it a prissy impact for portraits, but if you lot don't it'southward very easy to remove using standard software tools like Lightroom CC.

Conclusions

The Sigma 135mm F1.8 DG HSM Fine art is very sharp, focuses chop-chop, is built tough, and gathers a heck of a lot of light at f/1.8—which, combined with the long focal length, nets shots with extremely blurred backgrounds. Information technology's not without some downsides—there's no optical stabilization, it's heavy, and information technology'southward definitely priced on the high side. But even with a few marks confronting information technology, the images it delivers get in a clear Editors' Selection.

Information technology's as well a much more modern option than Canon's EF 135mm f/2L USM, which beginning went on sale in 1996, and Nikon'south AF DC-Nikkor 135mm f/2nd, a unique lens with a command system to arrange the look of bokeh, just one that's been around since the Bush assistants—the first Bush assistants. With lenses, old doesn't mean bad, but Nikon owners will have to live with a spiral-bulldoze focus system in the company's only electric current 135mm prime. If you shoot with a Nikon and don't mind going a trivial wider, the AF-S Nikkor 105mm f/i.4E ED is also a fantastic lens, but at $2,200 it's a pricier proposition than the Sigma.