Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM | A £699/$799

Many of Sigma’s Art lenses for DSLRs are bulky propositions, but this 35mm lens is fairly compact. It’s smaller and lighter than the competing Samyang f/1.4 lens, but still about twice the weight of the Canon and Nikkor f/1.8 lenses on test. It features a fast and whisper-quiet ring-type ultrasonic autofocus system. The generous rotational travel of the focus ring enables fine and precise adjustments, although depth-of-field markers are only available for f/16, which is impractical for zone focusing.

The optical path includes two aspherical elements, one top-grade FLD (Fluorite-grade Low Dispersion) element and four SLD (Special Low Dispersion) elements.

Performance

Image quality is pretty epic, and the Sigma retains fabulous sharpness for an f/1.4 lens when shooting wide-open.