Sigma 16 mm f/1.4 (C) AF DC DN Lens for Canon EF-M X Mount, Mirrorless

Product Information

It is not a superbly sharp lens, but it is certainly impressively sharp and more than capable of capturing detailed images and making nice prints.

Sigma 16mm F1.4 DC DN C Review | Photography Blog Sigma 16mm F1.4 DC DN C Review | Photography Blog

The result? As expected, Digital IS does make a difference with both lenses. I wouldn’t shoot handheld on the Canon M50 without it.

L-Mount

The first in this SIGMA series of prime lenses for mirrorless cameras was the standard prime 30mm F1.4 DC DN | Contemporary, now followed by the wide-angle prime 16mm F1.4 DC DN | Contemporary. Going forward, SIGMA will add a telephoto lens to the series, making it a new and complete system for mirrorless camera users. Therefore the recent introduction of three F1.4 primes by Sigma is great news for Canon EOS M owners who want to move beyond the capabilities of the zoom lenses that they initially bought with their camera body. As I expected, the out-of-focus area had a nice creamy feel. Please take note, you Micro Four Thirds naysayers, this is smooth, creamy bokeh and a shallow depth of field achieved with a wide-angle lens! Did the Images Stand Up to Inspection? Comatic aberrations are something I try to test and look for with any wide angle options that might potentially be used for astrophotograpy (stars) or similar purposes. The wide maximum aperture of this lens only heightens a lot of people’s expectations for using this lens for astro work. Unfortunately this has never been a big Sigma strength in the many Sigma lenses that I’ve tested. They aren’t the worse performers in this metric, but neither are they near the top, either. The same truth applies here. While I didn’t get an amazing astro night during my review period (this time of year brings either overcast conditions or bitter cold conditions, often with a bright moon), I did get one extremely cold (-32 C) night were I was able to go out (briefly) and shoot stars (brrrrr….).

Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary Review | ePHOTOzine Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary Review | ePHOTOzine

Before I break down the details of the lens performance, I do want to raise one more point. The Sony a6500 I’m testing the lens on has an excellent sensor. Good color, great dynamic range, and a nicely detailed 24 MP sensor. In some situations I strongly prefer full frame image quality to APS-C, even from a good sensor like this one. One of those areas is when the ISO level goes up, as I find the “look” of the pixels to be more obvious on APS-C. A lens like this 16mm f/1.4 certainly helps that problem, though, as due to the wide maximum aperture, easy to handhold focal length, and, in the case of the a6500, an excellent IBIS system (In Body Image Stabiization), there are very few situations where a high ISO level will be necessary. The lens’ strong performance at wide apertures only seals that deal! Resolution

Introduction

Like the 30mm, it has a close minimum focusing distance. With that wide f/1.4 aperture, it is possible to get an excellent shallow depth of field. If you are a videographer or vlogger, this lens should definitely be of interest to you. This is a great focal length, in either Super 35 (full APS-C frame – 24mm full frame equivalent) or 30P crop mode (where it frames a little tighter – probably closer to a 30mm full frame equivalent via a roughly 1.8x crop factor), and will give you quality footage with great detail and quality autofocus. The footage is noticeably sharper than average, and I fully expect this lens to be a favorite with videographers. Attached to my OM-1, it was nicely balanced. It’s similar in width to my Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8, but slightly longer. This lens isn’t only compatible with Micro Four Thirds; other versions fit the Sony E, Canon EF-M, Fujifilm X, and Leica L mounts. It comprises nine rounded diaphragm blades, so I anticipated the bokeh would be pleasing. In summary, an excellent overall performance and a very fine lens, living up to its claim to be almost on a par with the Sigma Art range.

Sigma 16 mm f/1.4 (C) AF DC DN Lens for Canon EF-M X Mount

The trio comprised the 16mm F1.4 DC DN C, but also the 30mm F1.4 DC DN C, and the 56mm F1.4 DC DN C. This is now the sixth mount that these lenses have become available in, following the initial introduction for Sony E mount and Micro Four Thirds, followed by Canon EOS M, Leica L and most recently Fujifilm X (which most of this review is based on). Weighing in at a modest 380g, without hood or caps, the lens is by no means a burden. It is supplied with a solid petal lens hood that bayonets cleanly into place. This surrounds a filter thread of 67mm.The only other adornment is the wide, electronically operating, manual focusing ring. This is very smooth and probably best switched off in camera if MF is not being used. Otherwise, the natural grip on the lens barrel also grips the ring, which could be accidentally moved. As the MF function works with the AF system this could be an issue for some. However, as the AF is so fast and silent, thanks to the excellent stepping motor used, there is little motivation for manual focus in general use. One exception could be macro photography, where small manual adjustments to the point of focus can be useful. As this use would probably involve mounting the camera on a tripod, there would be no issue with accidental shifting of the focus point. It’s also worth noting that although these lenses are designed for APS-C cameras, you can also use them with full-frame bodies, like the Nikon Z6 II, with the camera automatically switching to crop mode if you do. You might therefore consider it a good alternative to the Nikkor Z 24mm f/1.8 S lens, which costs more than twice that of the Sigma. The 16mm F1.4 lens gives you an equivalent of 24mm with a DX camera, such as the Nikon Z30, Nikon Z50 or Nikon Zfc. This is a good “standard” walkaround length for typical subjects such as landscape and even street photography work. It’s significantly wider than the closest Nikon DX lens prime lens, which is the Nikkor Z DX 24mm f/1.7 lens, which gives an equivalent focal length of 36mm. All in all there is a lot to like and little to criticize here. It’s a nicely made lens that has a premium look and feel to it.In addition, the SIGMA Art line includes three lenses for mirrorless cameras that cover a range of photographic needs: 19mm F2.8 DN | Art, 30mm F2.8 DN | Art, and 60mm F2.8 DN | Art. These lenses require no digital processing to correct for optical aberrations, instead using the optical system to minimize them. The Sigma 16mm F1.4 DC DN C lens has a very wide focus ring. There are no hard stops at both ends of the range, making it more difficult to set focus at infinity. Polariser users should be pleased that the 67mm filter thread doesn't rotate on focus. It's a bit of a different lens when paired with a Micro Four Thirds camera. The sensor is smaller than APS-C, so its angle of view is more like a 32mm—a more moderate swath of coverage. Here the lens has some peers, including the svelte Olympus 17mm f/1.8 and Panasonic 15mm f/1.7, both of which are a little more expensive and gather a bit less light when shot wide open, but are very light and compact. And there's the premium Olympus 17mm f/1.2, which captures more light than the Sigma and features a manual focus clutch, but is a lot more expensive.

Sigma 16mm F1.4 DC DN for FujiFilm, Sony, Canon Giá Tốt Sigma 16mm F1.4 DC DN for FujiFilm, Sony, Canon Giá Tốt

With 16 elements in 13 groups, the optical system features a multitude of high-tech and high-end components, including three FLD glass elements, two SLD glass elements, and two molded glass aspherical elements. This optical system minimizes optical aberrations and ensures outstanding resolution at wide-open aperture and throughout the aperture range. In particular, the two aspherical lens elements have ultra-high-precision surfaces polished to tolerances under 10 nanometers, minimizing the onion ring bokeh effect that some aspherical elements produce and ensuring clear image quality throughout the frame. In addition, the structure of the optical system gently bends light to minimize sagittal coma flare and deliver optimal optical performance from the center of the frame to the edges. The result is a smooth, round bokeh effect with ample light volume throughout the frame. Image quality is similarly great to that already mentioned here with the Fujifilm version. Images display excellent sharpness, fantastic detail and a lovely drop off in focus thanks to the very wide aperture. I’d highly recommend the lens for Nikon Z mount DX users, and even potentially full-frame users too looking for a fast, 24mm lens at a good price. Amy Davies. Sigma 16mm F1.4 DC DN C Verdict Focusing is usefully internal and manual focusing is possible when set via the camera body. Full-time manual focus override is also available at any time simply by rotating the focus ring. Of course, a fast, wide angle lens makes one think about using it for low-light photography. It will be great for star trails where absolute sharpness is unnecessary. Gladly, the Starry Sky AI-focusing function of the OM-1 works with this lens. MPB puts photo and video kit into more hands, more sustainably. Every month, visual storytellers sell more than 20,000 cameras and lenses to MPB. Choose used and get affordable access to kit that doesn’t cost the earth.These lenses provide an angle-of-view equivalent to a 24mm, 45mm and 84mm lens in a 35mm system. Each one offers a very bright f/1.4 maximum aperture and an iris diaphragm with nine rounded blades for excellent low-light and shallow depth-of-field shooting. Bokeh is a word used for the out-of-focus areas of a photograph, and is usually described in qualitative terms, such as smooth / creamy / harsh etc. In the Sigma 16mm F1.4 DC DN C lens, Sigma employed an iris diaphragm with nine rounded blades, which has resulted in quite nice bokeh in our view. We do realise, however, that bokeh evaluation is subjective, so we've included several 100% crops for your perusal. The optical design and stepping motor deliver smooth autofocus during video shooting. The lens design fully accommodates the Fast Hybrid AF of Sony E-mount cameras for super-fast autofocus functionality. Using face recognition AF results in consistent autofocusing on faces, even as the subjects move. In our view, their efforts have been very successful, even with the 16mm wide-angle lens - see the examples below. Bokeh - Sigma 16mm F1.4 DC DN C As previously noted, the physical design of the 16mm DN is instantly familiar to those who have used either the 30mm f/1.4 DN Contemporary or a lens like the 35mm f/1.4 or 50mm f/1.4 ART lenses. If you were familiar with the 30mm DN lens, it will seem a little large; if you were familiar with the 35/50mm lenses, it will seem quite small. This is, by a good margin, the largest lens in the DN series, but it is still a relatively compact lens by normal standards. To be fair, however, this is also the most extreme lens in the series, as all previous lenses have been very “safe” focal ranges (from 28mm – 90mm full frame equivalent). The 30mm lens has a full frame equivalent focal range (on a Sony 1.5x crop factor) of 45mm, and has a relatively simple optical formula of 9 elements in 7 groups. The 16mm lens corresponds to a classic wide angle of 24mm, and with an extremely large maximum aperture to boot. That added engineering challenge is shown in the complexity of the optical formula, which is 16 elements in 13 groups (almost twice as complex)!