Sigma 56mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary Lens for Sony E

It’s another winner from Sigma’s Contemporary line-up of f/1.4 primes for mirrorless crop-sensor cameras. Like the 16mm and 30mm lenses, it’s well-built but small and light, and feels right at home on a compact mirrorless body.

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  • Premium build quality but compact and lightweight, • Fast f/1.4 aperture rating, • Impressive image quality in all respects

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  • Lacks image stabilization, • Not weather-sealed

The Sigma 56mm F1.4 DC DN C is a very appealing mid telephoto prime lens, especially on the Sony E system where it has relatively few rivals.Offering a classic focal length of 84mm for APS-C compact system cameras and a slightly longer 112mm for Micro Four Thirds cameras, the third lens in Sigma's...

Still weak image quality on the edge is a drag. There is a big discrepancy between resolution results in the centre and on the edge: while in the frame centre you see resolution records putting to shame the performance of lenses produced by the biggest players of photographic market, on the edge you...

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  good quality casing,, sensational image quality in the frame centre,, decent resolution on the edge of the frame,, low longitudinal chromatic aberration,, slight lateral chromatic aberration,, lack of problems with spherical aberration,, moderate astigmatism,, good price/performance ratio.

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  untypical performance on the edge of the frame,, high distortion,, huge vignetting.

The Sigma 56mm f/1.4 DC DN C offers a fantastic performance, superb sharpness in particular, and a reasonable price tag. All round, a very satisfactory and desirable lens. A slight downside is the fiddly nature of some of the mirrorless cameras, with many functions tucked away in menus as opposed to...

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  Distortion, All controls ceded to camera body, No optical stabilisation

Micro Four Thirds variant

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  Exceptional sharpness at f1.4 Surprisingly well built for its price.

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  The lens hood doesn\'t have a filter screw to mount a lens cap on to the hood instead of the lens itself (putting on the cap with the hood on is really fiddly).

Crystal clear and stumpy , this little portrait lens very much over delivers . Only usable on apsc cameras , it is a great addition to the 6500 series of cameras . The incredible f 1.4 aperture should be enough of a deal sealer , but with a bucket load of f-stops to 2.8 , an already fast aperture ,...

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  Compact

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  Battery life

An excellent portrait and short telephoto lens - a step above Olympus 45/1.8 or Panasonic 42.5/1.7 in terms of speed and optical quality for a modest price. Never mind some softness in the far corners on Sony bodies - you\'ll never see it on your m4/3.

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  Sharp wide open up to the very corners of the frame even at longer focusing distances. Nice and smooth bokeh. Zero LoCAs (at least, I haven\'t spotted any so far) - very unusual in this price class. Fast and silent AF - about the same as M.Zuiko 45/1.8 I owned before.

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  Strong rainbow flare may show up if the front element is exposed to stray sunlight, lens hood recommended. Seems like there\'s a bit of field curvature wide open. FL can be awkward to use after an 85mm-equivalent lens, but those who prefer 105mm will feel right at home.