Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HS M | A £650/$900

What’s good: Superb build quality, excellent handling, stunning image quality. What’s bad: Fairly large and weighty, no weatherseals and no stabilization. Our verdict: The Sigma 24mm and 35mm Art lenses come out on top for quality. For all-round performance and top-notch image quality, the Sigma 35mm Art is an epic lens. It’s also incredibly well-crafted and has great handling in both autofocus and manual focus modes. It’s our top choice for street photography on FX format cameras, and the 24mm Sigma sibling is similarly spectacular for taking to the streets with a DX body.

However, there’s something to be said for sacrificing a little sharpness and going with the stabilized Tamron 35mm for street photography. Pretty much all street shooting tends to be handheld, and the Tamron’s highly effective stabilizer can yield sharper shots in practice.

For manual-focus puritans, the Zeiss Milvus is a gorgeous lens with a real feel-good factor to how it handles. However, for straight-up image quality, it isn’t better than most of the other lenses in the group, and the Samyang manual-focus lens is rather better value at less than half the price. Nikon’s own 24mm, 28mm and 35mm lenses are solid performers but lose out to the competing Sigma and Tamron lenses for build quality, features and overall value for money.