Sigma 85mm f/1.4 dg hsm | A

£1000/$1200 This supersized Sigma puts all the other lenses on test firmly in the shade

Getting on for twice the length of the Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens and with considerably more girth, this is the biggest and heaviest lens on test.

It measures 95x126mm and weighs in at 1130g, so it’s a handful. A relative latecomer to Sigma’s Global Vision party, this Art line lens wasn’t launched until late 2016, two and a half years after the 50mm Art lens.

Similar in design to the 50mm Sigma, this lens has one aspherical elements and two rather than three SLD elements, along with a nine-blade diaphragm. Build quality and handling feel almost identical, although the newer 85mm lens adds weather-seals in its ‘dust-and splash-proof’ construction.

Again, the 85mm is supplied complete with a hood and padded soft case, and both lenses are compatible with Sigma’s optional USB Dock for applying optimization and firmware updates. The updates are worth having for both lenses, as they enable in-camera corrections for aberrations like colour fringing, distortion and peripheral illumination. Even so, the performance of these Sigma lenses is so good that in-camera corrections are almost not needed.

Performance

The ring-type autofocus system is super-fast and whisper-quiet but, as with the Sigma 50mm lens, there’s no image stabilization. Sharpness is exceptional across the entire image frame, even at the widest –lens in the group in this respect, as well as having the smallest amounts of colour fringing and distortion. Image quality is simply stunning.