Review: Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art by TDP

[Canon Rumors Guy]

Bryan at The-Digital-Picture has completed his review of the brand new Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art and came away as impressed as most other reviewers.</p>
<p>From TDP</p>
<blockquote><p>While zoom lenses typically win the popularity contests, fixed focal length models generally have some strong advantages and the Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art Lens is a “prime” example. Exceptional image quality, including impressive sharpness and negligible distortion, is right at the top of this lens’ advantages. Having the f/1.8 aperture at a telephoto focal length can be a game-changer and there is a special wow factor in the background blur this combination creates.</p>
<p>The 135 Art lens brings more than just great image quality – it is the full package. Great looks, quality design … perhaps the only missing feature is optical stabilization. <a href="http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Sigma-135mm-f-1.8-DG-HSM-Art-Lens.aspx">Read the full review</a></p></blockquote>
<p><strong><a href="https://bhpho.to/2nKJ2WO">Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DF HSM Art at B&H Photo</a></strong></p>
<span id="pty_trigger"></span>

 

[[email protected]]

Bryan, this is a really well done review, even comparing to your other work.

That you are finding the autofocus slightly more or less quick with different bodies makes me think that this might be a matter of MFA with the Sigma dock.

I find that my Sigma 135 is almost supernaturally quick to AF. Here is an example from yesterday evening. I was taking a picture of my daughter (breaks my heart to see yours growing up so quickly in your review examples... I hope mine takes longer blowing dandelion seeds. I did not intend to have the AF follow the seeds, but it was so accurate and fast, it quickly focused away from the dandelion and followed the seeds towards the camera....

 

[ricky_005]

What a bummer No IS you cant get tack sharp without tripod .....

 

[Jopa]

Bryan, this is a really well done review, even comparing to your other work.

That you are finding the autofocus slightly more or less quick with different bodies makes me think that this might be a matter of MFA with the Sigma dock.

I find that my Sigma 135 is almost supernaturally quick to AF. Here is an example from yesterday evening. I was taking a picture of my daughter (breaks my heart to see yours growing up so quickly in your review examples... I hope mine takes longer blowing dandelion seeds. I did not intend to have the AF follow the seeds, but it was so accurate and fast, it quickly focused away from the dandelion and followed the seeds towards the camera....

I would love to see your picture. I'm also a father of 2 daughters: 3 and 5 y.o., they are the reason of me getting involved into photography

 

[Jopa]

What a bummer No IS you cant get tack sharp without tripod .....

It's not a deal breaker though, as long as you can stay @ 1/320 or faster. If I take pics of my kids "running around" I would never go less than that.

 

[[email protected]]

What a bummer No IS you cant get tack sharp without tripod .....

It's not a deal breaker though, as long as you can stay @ 1/320 or faster. If I take pics of my kids "running around" I would never go less than that.

Tried again to upload pics, but no joy.

Moving subjects don't benefit from IS anyway. I'd love for it to have IS. That's my one complaint about the Art series. But if you're photographing a twitchy little girl, you're at 1/320th or faster anyway.

 

[jebrady03]

Moving subjects don't benefit from IS anyway.

Not true. IS stabilizes the viewfinder allowing the AF point to follow a moving subject

 

[[email protected]]

I find that my Sigma 135 is almost supernaturally quick to AF. Here is an example from yesterday evening. I was taking a picture of my daughter (breaks my heart to see yours growing up so quickly in your review examples... I hope mine takes longer blowing dandelion seeds. I did not intend to have the AF follow the seeds, but it was so accurate and fast, it quickly focused away from the dandelion and followed the seeds towards the camera....

Here are links to the photos served elsewhere (dropbox). They're not great pictures, but they're great for showing how eerily fast the 135mm Art is at picking up the leading edge of the closest dandelion seeds as they're blown with some velocity toward the shooter...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cnrgbub3s1a87fd/untitled_17-05-23_57838.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wc54z5wpru4flh1/untitled_17-05-23_57840.jpg?dl=0

 

[YuengLinger]

Great review! Again!

With what appears to be weird bokeh, and weighing in at nearly a pound heavier than the Canon, I have no interest whatsoever. If something bad happened to my Canon today, I'd get another one. I'm very happy with its AF, sharpness, color, and its beautiful background blur.

No IS, no compelling reason to spend more, in my opinion.

Glad, though, that Sigma continues to put some competitive heat on CanoNikon!

 

[infared]

Love this one. The Sigma Art Lenses just keep getting better and better....I don't mind hauling the extra weight around because the sharpness, bokeh and rendering are just stunning with this lens. What a great chunk of glass. For me, it has WOW factor.
Don't get me wrong...I like image stabilization and low ISO's....I do......but when I look at the medium ISO images coming out of my 5D IV....I can put some of the IQ obsession aside and just enjoy shooting with this lens. iSO 1600 or 3200 is just not the end of the world any more......

 

[heretikeen]

I'd be in if I didn't already have the Canon. Don't see any reason to upgrade here.