Sigma C 56 mm f/1.4 DC DN review - Summary

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Sigma C 56 mm f/1.4 DC DN

22 December 2018

Arkadiusz Olech

11. Summary

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Pros:

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.

Cons:

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

Two Sigma models I’ve tested lately, the A 40 mm f/1.4 DG HSM and the smaller C 56 mm f/1.4 DC DN can be positioned on two polar opposites. The first one is a physically huge instrument, constructed without any compromises, with fantastic optics but also a high price tag. The second one is a lightweight, handy optical device, aimed at amateur photographers; its price reflects well their average budget. Small wonder such a lens features many compromises. I could accept the weaker distortion and vignetting performance without a murmur because a fast lens in a small casing has to have a significant brightness loss. Also I am able to understand lack of optics distortion correction in this class of focal lengths; after all camera software can correct that aberration easily and, with such an angle of view, cropped images are hardly an issue.

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 experience a slump as the lens never reaches 60 lpmm. Perhaps it is not a significant problem for an instrument which is going to be used to take portraits or a shallow depth of field shots; still there are uses where even performance across the frame is more than advisable, even for such a focal range as this one.

All the remarks, presented above, don’t change my very positive assessment of the tested Sigma. It is another excellent optical instrument, offered at a sensible price; it shows that pricing of other producers of mirrorless devices is really over the top.