…I’d like to do the same thing twice, yeah!

Baby, you so nice

I’d like to do the same thing twice

I love you so much, so-o-o

Bob & Rita Marley 1978

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A review of the Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC DN lens for Sony E mount

 

 

Have you ever bought something so wonderful that you’d wished you done it twice? Back in March 2020 I wrote about my experiences with the excellent Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC DN lens for m4/3. It’s become the mainstay of my video work and is more or less permanently attached to my Panasonic G85. At the beginning of this year I got a Sony A6500 second hand for wildlife photography, but I couldn’t really gel with it using it like that, but I have come to like the 4K video out of it so I thought I’d look for a secondhand Sigma 16mm f1.4 to put on it. Now the astute among you may see a flaw with my thinking here, which is that on a m4/3 camera the Sigma 16mm lens has a 68.1º angle of view which equates to focal length of 32mm on 35mm full frame. Put the lens on the APSC A6500 and the angle of view becomes 83.2° or the equivalent of a 24mm lens on a full frame camera which is considerably wider. I knew that when I purchased it and I quite like the 24mm focal length for general photography and it’s a good focal length for “talking head” videos.

When I wrote about the micro four thirds version I wrote:

“So how come this lens is so lardy I hear you all ask. Well this lens wasn’t designed for micro four thirds, it was initially designed for the Sony 6000 series cameras with an APS sized sensor where it equates to being a 24mm in full frame terms. To get a wide angle lens that’s fast and a good optical performance means lots of glass and glass is heavy, and this lens is large and heavy for APS format cameras.”

Well having got the lens on my A6500 it’s still a big heavy lens, but, (spoiler alert) it’s bloody brilliant at what it does and worth the size and weight penalty.

 

 

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Vital Statistics

Diagonal angle of view	83.2º
Optical construction	16 elements in 13 groups
Diaphragm	9 rounded blades
Minimum aperture	F1.4
Maximum aperture	F16
Minimum focusing distance	25cm
maximum magnification ratio	0.07X
Filter diameter	67mm
Dimensions	⌀ 72.2mm x 92.3mm (H)
Weight	405g
Internal focusing	Yes

 

 

In the hand the Sigma 16mm feels very dense and substantial. The lens body is made out of what Sigma calls a Thermally Stable Composite (TSC) which is substantially stronger than conventional polycarbonates while having similar thermal expansion properties to aluminium. The lens mount is made of chromium plated brass which should ensure a long life. The Sigma 16mm is advertised as being dust and splash proof but on closer reading of Sigma’s spec sheet there is only one seal and that is at the lens mount. The lens comes with a bayonet mount petal lens hood which has a ribbed grip to make attaching and detaching easier. There is a ribbed rubber focus ring of the fly by wire type – while it feels smooth and easy to use there no hard stops at the minimum and maximum focusing distances. There are no other controls or switches which means if you want to switch between AF and manual focus you will have to use the camera controls for that.

 

 

The Sigma 16mm has an optical construction of 16 elements in 13 groups with 3 FLD (“F” Low Dispersion) glass elements, which offers performance equivalent to fluorite which exhibits less chromatic aberration than those utilising a traditional flint glass. There are 2 SLD (Special Low Dispersion) glass elements which also help to minimise chromatic aberration and 2 ASPH moulded glass aspherical elements which work to reduce optical aberrations. According to Sigma’s website the ASPH elements are polished with a tolerance of under 10 nanometers or 0.000001 millimetres which according to Sigma reduces onion ring bokeh. 

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Optical Performance 

 

 

The optical performance of the Sony lens is a little different to that of the M4/3 version and the simple reason is that the M4/3 sensor crops the image circle that the lens produces more than the APSC sensor so it can avoid the dodgy areas. But the reality is that those “dodgy” areas are still pretty good. In the centre of the frame wide open at f1.4 the images lacks contrast and appears a little soft. Stop down to f2 and the contrast and sharpness improve and at f4 you get the best results. In the corners at f1.4 the image is rendered a little softer than the centre but by f4 the corners match the centre of the frame. Diffraction starts to set in at f11 and is really noticeable at f16.

 

 

Without lens profiles applied there is severe barrel distortion and vignetting. Once the profile is applied all is good at the expense of a little corner sharpness. There is some axial or longitudinal chromatic aberration when the lens is wide open at f1.4. The fringing clears up when you stop the lens down. When it comes to transverse or lateral chromatic aberration you  have to look really hard to find it and what little there is is easily corrected in post. Lens flare is well controlled with only a hint of veiling flare and some mild ghosting. A lens hood is included to help prevent this. Diffraction spikes or “sunstars” are not good, not bad, just OK.

 

 

In terms of bokeh the 9 aperture blades create nice round balls in the centre of the frame, they become slightly elliptical towards the edges. Onion rings are present within the balls and there is a soap bubble effect at the edges of the balls. Looking at the focus transitions they are nice and smooth.

 

 

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Autofocus Performance

For stills shooting wide open at f1.4 at 11 fps with continuous autofocus with lock on focus and balanced priory shutter release the best result out of a sequence of 40 frames was only 9 were critically in focus. Switching to 3 fps with lock on focus set to AF priority a sequence of 20 frames had all of them in perfectly in focus. The inference is that the Sigma 16mm is quick to focus providing you have the right menu settings.

 

 

 

For video the auto focus worked really well – it was responsive, smooth and accurate. Really tracking a person walking around presented no difficulties. To make things harder I tried mounting a stuffed toy to a slider at the minimum focusing distance having it move fairly rapidly and it managed this very well. I tried a smaller subject, this time Dancing Jesus, which also wobbled as it moved and again the autofocus did a good job of tracking the subject.

Talking of video I tested for focus breathing and there is only a slight amount which should make the video crowd very happy.

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Verdict

 

 

I absolutely love the micro four thirds version and use it constantly. I approached this review with a little trepidation because I thought that putting it in front of a larger APSC sensor would reveal  the Sigma 16mm’s flaws. I needn’t have worried. This is an excellent lens and I would have been happy paying the full retail price for it, but having bought it second hand for just over half the full retail price and I’m over the moon. If you’re on a budget and want a wide angle lens for Sony E mount, Canon M, Fujifilm X, Nikon Z and the L Mount Alliance then you should definitely consider this lens especially if you can find one secondhand.